Drama

Romance

Magnificent Obsession

Universal Pictures

United States of America

Deutsch

English

Jane Wyman

Rock Hudson

Barbara Rush

Agnes Moorehead

Otto Kruger

Gregg Palmer

Paul Cavanagh

Sara Shane

Richard H. Cutting

Judy Nugent

Helen Kleeb

Rudolph Anders

Fred Nurney

John Mylong

Alexander Campbell

Mae Clarke

Harvey Grant

Joseph Mell

Will J. White

William Leslie

Greta Ullmann

Herschel Graham

Robert Blees

Douglas Sirk

Lloyd C. Douglas

Wells Root

Emrich Nicholson

Frank Skinner

Leslie I. Carey

Milton Carruth

Russell Metty

Bud Westmore

William Holland

Gordon McLean

Russell A. Gausman

Ruby R. Levitt

Bill Thomas

Joan St. Oegger

Ross Hunter

Bernard Herzbrun

Corson Jowett

Sarah Y. Mason

Victor Heerman

Joseph Gershenson

David S. Horsley

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

Magnificent Obsession (1954) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

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Magnificent Obsession

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Cast

Jane Wyman

Rock Hudson

Barbara Rush

Agnes Moorehead

Otto Kruger

Gregg Palmer

Paul Cavanagh

Sara Shane

Richard H. Cutting

Judy Nugent

Box office

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