Whirlpool (1949 film)

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Whirlpool

Directed by	Otto Preminger
Produced by	Otto Preminger
Written by	Guy Endore novel Methinks a Lady Ben Hecht Andrew Solt
Starring	Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer
Music by	David Raksin
Cinematography	Arthur Miller
Editing by	Louis R. Loeffler
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	November 28, 1949 (U.S. release)
Running time	98 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Whirlpool is an Otto Preminger-directed film, considered film noir, starring Gene Tierney as the kleptomaniac wife of a psychoanalyst. Produced in 1949 from a Ben Hecht screenplay (under the blacklist pseudonym 'Lester Barstow') and bears a striking resemblance to another Hecht thriller, Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound. The script was adapted from Guy Endore's novel Methinks the Lady..., the film combines psychological thriller (the heroine is controlled by a murderous hypnotist) with melodrama, as the central character's distant marriage is threatened.

1 Plot
2 Critical reaction
3 Main cast
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Gene Tierney, the star of Laura, director Preminger's first big success, is Ann Sutton, the wife of a successful psychoanalyst (Richard Conte). When arrested for shoplifting, Ann is saved from scandal by smooth talking hypnotist David Korvo (José Ferrer). Korvo is not what he seems to be and soon she soon finds herself involved in blackmail and murder. Ann is unsure whether or not she committed a crime. Her distant, but loyal, husband stands up for her and eventually sets up the hypnotist who he thinks is behind all the misdeeds.

Richard Conte and Gene Tierney in Whirlpool

[edit] Critical reaction

Many critics compare this film to Preminger's Laura. Channel 4's 2005 review is no different. The review also comments on the cast:

"Tierney carries the role of the innocent beauty with ease and has a particularly good line in gliding around blank-faced as if under hypnosis - and in showing her character's subsequent distraught confusion. Conte is stiff and wooden - but no more so than his formal man-of-science role requires, while Ferrer is a compelling cartoon villain." [1]