Whirlpool (1949) - Otto Preminger

Well Otto Preminger once again teams with Gene Tierney, although no Dana Andrews. The result is what can loosely be called a trilogy of psychological film noir. Whirpool fits in easily with Where the Sidewalk Ends and Laura, not so much in it's plot, but in it's psychology. Each film features lots of lying, and each deals with a topic far more intricate than a mere thriller. Tierney here gets to parade as the star of the show, no longer supporting or even alluring, instead it is her film, the men only seem to support her.

The men of this film are regulars but still remarkable. Jose Ferrer who was just about to win an Oscar plays the "villian" of the picture, a hypnotist swindler who's too damn clever for his own good. Richard Conte, a long standing Fox regular plays her husband, a noteworthy Psychoanalyst who's a bit of a celebrity doctor, in the same way everyone in Hollywood seems to be a celebrity of some kind.

Not to read too much into the notion of celebrity here, that's not what really mattes. Tierney gets to stretch here first as the kleptomaniac bored housewife, and then as the somnambulist. She goes through a wide range of emotions just in the first 15 minutes of the film. She is the cool dignified lady, next thing you know she's fainted, playing dumb, getting hysterical, and finally returning to a loving wife, all of this takes place before even a shred of the plot has set itself into motion.

Jose Ferrer plays David Korvo with utter perfection. In my opinion it is his best performance. He is free of the gimmicks used in Cyrano and Moulin Rouge, instead he gets to simply act, from a dignified man of medicine, to a seducer, to the helpless victim, constantly manipulating, and always convinced of his own immortality. You get a sense quickly that Lt. Colton (Charles Bickford) is on to him, and you know that Conte's Dr. Sutton is more than on to him, but Korvo never seems to figure it out. It is the player getting played, who's own vanity prevents him from seeing his downfall.

This is an oddball of a mystery. We know who did it, even without seeing the murder take place, and we know that eventually Korvo and Colton will figure it out, but the quesiton is how? How will Korvo slip up, when will they discover the records, when will Mrs. Sutton start to remember? This is what makes the film interesting, just like watching a gangster film and knowing that the charismatic bootlegger is going to get killed, we just aren't sure how. The fun isn't the destination, but the journey there, and Preminger keeps this one interesting.

The notion of hypnotism and kleptomania could have been more fleshed out, but the point is made, psychology has it's place in a murder mystery, perhaps too much medical talk would bore viewers. This film is hardly boring, but it isn't exactly a diamond in the career of Preminger. Ferrer and Tierney may very well be at their best here, but overall the film lacks a little compassion and interest.

Grade B