Gene Tierney & José Ferrer in Otto Preminger's "Whirlpool" (1950)
61.2 هزار بار بازدید -
3 هفته پیش
-
In a Los Angeles department
In a Los Angeles department store, unorthodox therapist David Korvo (José Ferrer) watches as Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney), wife of famous psychoanalyst Dr. William "Bill" Sutton (Richard Conte), is stopped for shoplifting. After convincing the manager that arresting her would mean a scandal for the store, he arranges to meet her the next day.
Although Ann assumes that Korvo is a blackmailer, he gives her the store records to destroy, and invites her to a party a few days later. There, Korvo informs her that he can tell that she is a kleptomaniac, and is tired and hurt by emotional pressures. When Ann admits that she cannot sleep, Korvo assures her that he can help and then hypnotizes her without her knowledge. A patient of Bill's, Theresa Randolph (Barbara O'Neil), sees them together and moments later warns Ann that Korvo must be after her money.
A few nights later, under a hypnotic spell, Ann retrieves the recordings of Theresa's therapy sessions with Bill. She trips an alarm, then sits calmly next to Theresa's body, which has been strangled with Ann's scarf. Ann is arrested, and when she can't tell Lieutenant James Colton (Charles Bickford) what she did that night, he assumes that she loves Korvo and killed Theresa out of jealousy.
Bill does not believe Ann's pleas of innocence, and then remembers a therapy session during which Theresa claimed that Korvo stole her daughter's inheritance and that she had threatened to expose him. Bill suspects Korvo may have killed Theresa because of the accusation, but Colton soon discovers that Korvo is recuperating from surgery that was done on the day of the murder.
Bill comes to believe Ann was hypnotized into stealing the records and that Korvo then hypnotized himself to rise immediately after surgery to kill Theresa.
Meanwhile, Korvo, hearing that the police believe the records will pinpoint the murderer, hypnotizes himself so that he can go to Theresa's without pain and destroy the recordings. There, he hears Colton, Bill and Ann enter, and hides while Bill assures Ann that she can trust him to heal her. As Ann regains her memory, Korvo desperately holds them at gunpoint and plays the records while making his way to the door. Before he can escape, Korvo dies from internal bleeding, and Colton calls for an ambulance as Ann and Bill embrace.
A 1950 American Black & White film-noir crime thriller film produced & directed by Otto Preminger, screenplay by Ben Hecht and Andrew Solt, adapted from Guy Endore's novel "Methinks the Lady" (1946), cinematography by Arthur C. Miller, starring Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer, Charles Bickford, Barbara O'Neil, Eduard Franz and Fortunio Bonanova. Screen debut appearance of Sue Carlton. Final screen appearance of Constance Collier.
Otto Preminger previously directed Gene Tierney in "Laura" (1944). They would work together twice more in "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1950) and "Advise & Consent" (1962).
At one point in the film, Theresa Randolph (Barbara O'Neil) tells Ann (Gene Tierney) that she is old enough to be her mother. However, in reality, O'Neil was only ten years older than Tierney.
This film is a very free adaptation of the novel "Methinks the Lady"(1946) by Guy Endore, a Hollywood screenwriter who had been blacklisted by the time the film was released.
The first two drafts of the script were much closer to the original novel than the final movie - not too surprisingly, as they were co-written by the source novel author, Guy Endore (in collaboration with a studio contract writer, Harry Kleiner). The second of these versions was submitted in April, 1946, and both were rejected by the studio. The project was put on hold for about two-and-a-half years, but then another writer, Andrew Solt, came up with an entirely new approach - one which changed the names of the leading characters, greatly altered the plot and changed the identity of the villain, substituting a new character who has no counterpart in the original. The final draft of the script was written by Ben Hecht, and it is likely that all the dialogue in the film is Hecht's. However, he was greatly displeased with his own contribution and later disparaged the film.
Owing to anti-British statements screenwriter Hecht had made in the recent past concerning the United Kingdom's involvement in Israel, prints of the film initially circulated in the country replaced his credit with the pseudonym Lester Barstow.
Variety liked the film and wrote, "Whirlpool is a highly entertaining, exciting melodrama that combines the authentic features of hypnosis. Ben Hecht and Andrew Solt have tightly woven a screenplay [from a novel by Guy Endore] about the effects of hypnosis on the subconscious, but they, and Otto Preminger in his direction, have eliminated the phoney characteristics that might easily have allowed the picture to slither into becoming just another eerie melodrama."
Part psychological drama, part film-noir. An interesting and divisive film. Worth seeing.
Although Ann assumes that Korvo is a blackmailer, he gives her the store records to destroy, and invites her to a party a few days later. There, Korvo informs her that he can tell that she is a kleptomaniac, and is tired and hurt by emotional pressures. When Ann admits that she cannot sleep, Korvo assures her that he can help and then hypnotizes her without her knowledge. A patient of Bill's, Theresa Randolph (Barbara O'Neil), sees them together and moments later warns Ann that Korvo must be after her money.
A few nights later, under a hypnotic spell, Ann retrieves the recordings of Theresa's therapy sessions with Bill. She trips an alarm, then sits calmly next to Theresa's body, which has been strangled with Ann's scarf. Ann is arrested, and when she can't tell Lieutenant James Colton (Charles Bickford) what she did that night, he assumes that she loves Korvo and killed Theresa out of jealousy.
Bill does not believe Ann's pleas of innocence, and then remembers a therapy session during which Theresa claimed that Korvo stole her daughter's inheritance and that she had threatened to expose him. Bill suspects Korvo may have killed Theresa because of the accusation, but Colton soon discovers that Korvo is recuperating from surgery that was done on the day of the murder.
Bill comes to believe Ann was hypnotized into stealing the records and that Korvo then hypnotized himself to rise immediately after surgery to kill Theresa.
Meanwhile, Korvo, hearing that the police believe the records will pinpoint the murderer, hypnotizes himself so that he can go to Theresa's without pain and destroy the recordings. There, he hears Colton, Bill and Ann enter, and hides while Bill assures Ann that she can trust him to heal her. As Ann regains her memory, Korvo desperately holds them at gunpoint and plays the records while making his way to the door. Before he can escape, Korvo dies from internal bleeding, and Colton calls for an ambulance as Ann and Bill embrace.
A 1950 American Black & White film-noir crime thriller film produced & directed by Otto Preminger, screenplay by Ben Hecht and Andrew Solt, adapted from Guy Endore's novel "Methinks the Lady" (1946), cinematography by Arthur C. Miller, starring Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer, Charles Bickford, Barbara O'Neil, Eduard Franz and Fortunio Bonanova. Screen debut appearance of Sue Carlton. Final screen appearance of Constance Collier.
Otto Preminger previously directed Gene Tierney in "Laura" (1944). They would work together twice more in "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1950) and "Advise & Consent" (1962).
At one point in the film, Theresa Randolph (Barbara O'Neil) tells Ann (Gene Tierney) that she is old enough to be her mother. However, in reality, O'Neil was only ten years older than Tierney.
This film is a very free adaptation of the novel "Methinks the Lady"(1946) by Guy Endore, a Hollywood screenwriter who had been blacklisted by the time the film was released.
The first two drafts of the script were much closer to the original novel than the final movie - not too surprisingly, as they were co-written by the source novel author, Guy Endore (in collaboration with a studio contract writer, Harry Kleiner). The second of these versions was submitted in April, 1946, and both were rejected by the studio. The project was put on hold for about two-and-a-half years, but then another writer, Andrew Solt, came up with an entirely new approach - one which changed the names of the leading characters, greatly altered the plot and changed the identity of the villain, substituting a new character who has no counterpart in the original. The final draft of the script was written by Ben Hecht, and it is likely that all the dialogue in the film is Hecht's. However, he was greatly displeased with his own contribution and later disparaged the film.
Owing to anti-British statements screenwriter Hecht had made in the recent past concerning the United Kingdom's involvement in Israel, prints of the film initially circulated in the country replaced his credit with the pseudonym Lester Barstow.
Variety liked the film and wrote, "Whirlpool is a highly entertaining, exciting melodrama that combines the authentic features of hypnosis. Ben Hecht and Andrew Solt have tightly woven a screenplay [from a novel by Guy Endore] about the effects of hypnosis on the subconscious, but they, and Otto Preminger in his direction, have eliminated the phoney characteristics that might easily have allowed the picture to slither into becoming just another eerie melodrama."
Part psychological drama, part film-noir. An interesting and divisive film. Worth seeing.
3 هفته پیش
در تاریخ 1403/04/19 منتشر شده
است.
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