Obsession (1949) (Blu-ray review)

• Reviewed by: Stuart Galbraith IV
• Review date: 12 August 2024
• Format: Blu-ray Disc

• 

review

obsession (Original title USA: The hidden room1949) is a real surprise: a very intelligent, admirably unpredictable crime thriller, characterized by its uniquely dark tone and two outstanding actors. Structurally similar to Hitchcock’s later Murder on call (1954) – both based on clever plays – it is the better film, although Hitchcock’s film is also quite good.

Rich London psychiatrist Clive Riordan (Robert Newton) comes home early one night and catches his selfish, unfaithful wife Storm (Sally Gray) with her latest lover, the loose American Bill Kronin (Phil Brown). Clive threatens her with a gun and the lovers try to talk their way out of the situation, but to no avail. Clive leaves the apartment with Bill, presumably to kill him, and days later the search for the missing, presumed dead American makes headlines across Britain.

Bill, however, is alive and well and is kept chained in a hidden room that Clive has prepared in the flash-bombed ruins next to his house. Clive visits him daily and provides him with food and drink. Each day he also brings a rubber hot water bottle filled with acid, which he systematically pours into a bathtub that is out of reach of Bill’s chain. Once the police have completed their search and Clive is sure that he is not suspected of Bill’s disappearance, Clive plans to kill him, dismember his body and dissolve his corpse.

One day, however, Storm’s miniature poodle follows Clive into the secret room. Clive can’t risk the dog leading the police there, and he hasn’t tested the bathtub of acid yet, so…

Canadian-born Hollywood director Edward Dmytryk worked in films since the late 1920s, then after years of modest B-movies he made his big breakthrough with several major works, including Murder, my sweet (1944), Back to Bataan, Cornered (both 1945) and Crossfire (1947), but the former communist was summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and became one of the Hollywood Ten, charged with contempt of court and sentenced to prison. He fled to England, where he obsession And Give us this day (also known as Christ in Concrete), the latter an excellent neorealist film starring Sam Wanamaker, also on the blacklist. After returning to the United States, he spent four months in prison, but appeared before HUAC and gave the names of about two dozen colleagues. This enabled him to return to the film industry, where he made major studio films such as The Caine was her destiny (1954), The young lions (1958) and others, his last film directed being in 1979. Both he and blacklisted screenwriter Abraham Polonsky later taught at the USC School of Cinema-Television, where I occasionally ran into one or the other. Polonsky, who never named names, never forgave Dmytryk and loathed him until his death.

Dmytryk’s later films tended to be rather pompous (Alvarez Kelly, Anzioetc.), but in the late 1940s his crime/noir films were a real smash. The actors’ compositions and blocking are particularly good, as are all the performances. (If one or two actors are excellent, praise the actors; if all are good, the credit usually goes to the director.)

Alec Coppel’s screenplay, based on his novel and play, written more or less at the same time, is extremely intelligent. It is one of those stories in which the supposedly “perfect crime” has been meticulously and cleverly planned, and every eventuality has been carefully foreseen. Coppel’s screenplay wisely reveals nothing; the audience is left to guess Clive’s next move, and most of the time Clive is several steps ahead of the audience. Clive’s murder plans are clever, yet plausible, even sensible.

In the third act of the film, Police Superintendent Finsbury (Naunton Wayne from Hitchcock’s The lady disappears). He is as wonderful a creation as Clive, he is as intelligent and cunning as Clive, but while Clive enjoys explaining his murder plan to the imprisoned Bill, Finsbury is modest and level-headed, quite an English prototype for Peter Falk’s Columbo character. Both actors are superb. In later years Dmytryk claimed that the notorious alcoholic Robert Newton was drunk most of the time on set, but this seems very unlikely; Newton’s performance is too focused and measured to believe this.

Phil Brown is almost as good as the imprisoned Bill, who hides his growing fear with gallows humor. Like Dmytryk, Brown started out in Hollywood B-movies (Strange woman, Prisoner in the jungle) before he starred as Nick Adams in The Killers (1946). As one of the founders of The Actors’ Lab in Hollywood (with Jules Dassin, Lloyd Bridges, Jeff Corey and others), he too was blacklisted and moved to England, where he lived until 1993. Brown continued to appear in films shot in Britain or on the European continent, including Chaplin’s A King in New York, The camp on Blood Island, Valdez is coming, The Pink Panther strikes againAnd Supermanbut achieved immortality as Uncle Owen in the original star Wars (1977). Amusingly, Bill, who is held captive for months, grows a beard in the cavernous secret room, and in one shot of him eating chicken, he looks exactly like his future character from George Lucas’ space opera.

A 4K restoration, the Indicator/Powerhouse Films Blu-ray release of obsession is a stunning black and white release in standard 1.37:1 aspect ratio, with remarkably deep blacks and excellent contrast. The LPCM mono sound is supported by optional English subtitles, and the disc is region-free.

Supplements consist of a new audio commentary by film historians Thirza Wakefield and Melanie Williams and a new visual essay/interview with writer Richard Dyer. Also included is a 1972 audio interview with director Dmytryk, a 1988 audio interview with sound engineer Gordon McCallum, and a gallery of images. We only received a check CD for this review. The booklet included with the final release includes a booklet with a new essay by Fintan McDonagh, archive material focusing on Dmytryk and actor Wayne, and quotes from contemporary reviews.

A truly outstanding crime thriller in every respect, obsession is a title you shouldn’t miss.

– Stuart Galbraith IV