Magnificent Obsession (1954)

Doc Rock and the playboy redemption.

Magnificent Obsession is adapted from a novel by Lloyd C Douglas, and it had been previously filmed back in 1935 with Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor in the leads. Here the piece is directed by melodrama maestro Douglas Sirk and features Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson as the emotionally charged leads. The story revolves around Bob Merrick (Hudson), a playboy who is inadvertently responsible for the death of Helen Phillips' (Wyman) husband. As he starts to find a soul in amongst his playboy image, he desperately wants to make peace with Helen, but during his efforts to apologise she is tragically blinded in an accident. As Helen recuperates, Bob worms his way into Helen's life by posing as someone else, they amazingly start to fall in love, but the truth will out and tragedy seems to permanently hover over this newly formed alliance.

As with the best of Douglas Sirk, Magnificent Obsession is loaded with drama and unashamed assaults on the viewers emotional fortitude. It is quite simply a weeper, a stress relief server for those so inclined. No bad thing that, though, just as long as the viewer is fully aware of the type of film they are getting. To only market it as a romance piece is something of a disservice because at the core it's one of redemption, where even religion is neatly threaded into the deftly assembled script. Technically it has a lot going for it, Frank Skinner's score is smoothly gorgeous, with Chopin's Études perfectly accompanying the blossoming romance, while the colour photography from Russell Metty is sensibly unobtrusive. Rock Hudson would jump on to the map with his performance here (proving he could act if given the meat to chew on), and Wyman would get Oscar nomination for her emotionally driven turn. All in all it's a film that's well worth watching, on proviso if you choose to be in that weeper frame of mind! 7.5/10

I felt a bit sorry for poor old “Bob” (Rock Hudson) in this. Sure, he’s an obnoxious and selfish playboy but when he gets involved in an accident that requires the resuscitator he awakens to quite a lot of disdain from those in the hospital. Why? Well it seems that at the same time, a local surgeon got into difficulties of his own and as the machine was busy elsewhere, well he perished. “Bob” is fairly upset by this news, so offers the hospital $25,000 to pay his bill and get it another gadget. This only seems to make matters worse for the recently widowed “Helen” (Jane Wyman) who gives him short shrift. Then she, herself, gets into an accident that robs her of her memory and her sight. Determined more than ever to help, “Bob” resurrects his own former medical career; assumes a fake identity then also pays for the world’s top specialists to evaluate her - all while they fall in love. When the physicians reluctantly admit defeat, she absconds with instructions he leave her be and time marches on. What chance, though, that medical science might advance and maybe they could reconcile their love - a love based on one huge great lie? With quite an effective effort from Otto Kruger’s inspirational “Randolph”, the character of “Bob” evolves quite profoundly before our eyes and I have to say that the usually quite soporific Hudson does rise to the occasion, especially as the film nears a conclusion that treads the line between sentimentality and plausibility quite precariously. Wyman also contributes strongly as a grief stricken woman whose judgment is clearly compromised by the tragic death of her husband and clouded by a few somewhat unfair assumptions of her own. There is plenty of chemistry on display here, some strong supporting efforts from the likes of Agnes Moorhead and Barbara Rush and all in all I was surprised at how well this stayed away from the pitfalls of melodrama. Worth a watch.