Magnificent Obsession
Tags: melodrama, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Spoiled playboy Bob Merrick's (Rock Hudson) reckless behavior causes him to lose control of his speed boat. Rescuers send for the nearest resuscitator, located in Dr. Phillips's house across the lake. While the resuscitator is being used to save Merrick, Dr. Phillips suffers a heart attack and dies. Merrick ends up a patient at Dr. Phillips's clinic, where most of the doctors and nurses resent the fact that Merrick inadvertently caused Dr. Phillips's death.
Helen Phillips (Jane Wyman), Dr. Phillips's young widow, receives a flood of calls, letters and visitors all offering to pay back loans that Dr. Phillips refused to accept repayment of during his life. Many claimed he refused by saying "it was already used up." Edward Randolph (Otto Kruger), a famous artist and Dr. Phillips's close friend, explains to Helen what that phrase means. This helps her to understand why her husband left little money, even though he had a very successful practice.
Merrick discovers why everyone dislikes him. He runs from the clinic but collapses in front of Helen's car and ends up back at the hospital, where she learns his true identity. After his discharge, Merrick leaves a party, drunk. After running off the road, Merrick ends up at the home of Edward Randolph, who recognizes him. Randolph explains the secret belief that powered his own art and Dr. Phillips's success. Merrick decides to try out this new philosophy. His first attempt causes Helen to step into the path of a car while trying to run away from Merrick's advances. She is blinded by this accident.
Merrick soberly commits to becoming a doctor, trying to fulfill Dr. Phillips's legacy. He also has fallen in love with Helen and secretly helps her adjust to her blindness under the guise of being simply a poor medical student, Robby.
Merrick secretly arranges for Helen to travel to Europe and consult the best eye surgeons in the world. After extensive tests, these surgeons tell Helen there is no hope for recovery. Right after this, Robby shows up at her hotel to provide emotional support, but eventually discovers that Helen has already guessed his real identity. Merrick asks Helen to marry him. Later that night, Helen realizes she will be a burden to him, and so runs away and disappears.
Many years pass and Merrick is now a dedicated and successful brain surgeon who secretly continues his philanthropic acts, and searches for Helen. One evening, Randolph arrives with news that Helen is very sick, possibly dying, in a small Southwest hospital. They leave immediately for this clinic. Merrick arrives to find that Helen needs complex brain surgery to save her life. As the only capable surgeon at the clinic, Merrick performs this operation. After a long night waiting for the results, Helen awakens and discovers she can now see.

Review: "Magnificent Obsession" is the first film in which this vision is realised.To understand why this happened at all one must remember that Sirk was under a long term contract with Universal throughout the fifties, when they were by all accounts an inferior studio.
It is Randolph who despite Merrick's crass behavior perceives a potential for greater things and leads him towards self fulfillment.Similarly it was Sirk who first spotted Rock Hudson's star potential.
While Hudson was no heavyweight in the acting stakes, under Sirk's direction he gave some very respectable performances, "Magnificent Obsession" amongst his best.
His post Sirk career would soon take him to Doris Day territory, a far cry from the likes of "Written on the Wind", "Tarnished Angels" and "Battle Hymn".All of Sirk's films are worth taking a close look at, particularly from "Magnificent Obsession" onwards.
This is a remake of the film of 1935, which had been a vehicle for Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor.Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson seemed to be unlikely candidates for playing a romantic couple in the movies.
In a way, it's easy to see why fans were attracted to it, with its many twists and turns and the impossible love between Helen and Dr. Bob Merrick, the playboy who becomes contrite after he causes the accident that makes Helen blind.
Looking back on the abbreviated career of Douglas Sirk, "Magnificent Obsession" rises above being just another "woman's film" or "weepie".
Despite the film's lame-brained premise and endless implausibilities, Sirk takes the material and dishes out a sweet, moving drama that is a thinly disguised tale of Christianity.Hudson stars as Bob Merrick, a millionaire playboy with no cares in the world.
Dr.Phillip's widow, Helen(Jane Wyman)tries to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, while at the same time resisting the advances of Bob Merrick.
In a convoluted and corny twist, Bob tries to redeem himself by giving selflessly to others and devoting his life to medicine to find a way to restore Helen's eyesight.Every stereotype of every soap opera convention is used in overwhelming doses to tell the story of "Magnificent Obsession".
But this film is saved by the always-savvy direction of Douglas Sirk(who himself hated the plot)and an elegant, understated Jane Wyman who brought her own brand of sophistication to every role she played - and was Oscar-nominated for this role.
But I can forgive all this because the acting is good--Wyman, Kruger, and Moorhead are excellent--and Sirk showed that Rock Hudson could act if properly directed.
Douglas Sirk is known as the melodrama man,but all his movies are not exactly what we call melodrama:"All that heaven allows" and"tarnished angels" are closer to realist stories;"A time to love and a time to die" transcends melodrama to become a tragedy.Three major movies seem to belong to the  genre:"written on the wind" "imitation of life " and of course this one."Magnificent obsession " has a plot so unlikely,so incredible that,in the hands of a lesser talent,it would have gathered nothing but horse -laugh:The beginning of the film is a succession of coincidences and combinations of circumstances so improbable you wonder whether Sirk will get away with it.Against all odds,he succeeds in this absurd task.Someone tells the hero that the one who devotes his life to others has chosen the rocky road,someone has been crucified for that.But once he has begun,this task will obsess him,and it's a magnificent obsession.So the selfish hero will undo the harm he's done .
Bob Merrick (Rock Hudson) gets his commuppance and learns to be not such a reckless rich twat, with the help of a fairy godfather and falling in love with a woman he made go blind!If you've never heard of Douglas Sirk, be prepared that this will be melodrama city.
Performances by Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson (reunited the next year for Sirk's "All That Heaven Allows") are tolerable but do not set off cinematic sparks.
I watched MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION yesterday, for the first time in a few years, as I worked my way through the Douglas Sirk Box Set.Like all of Sirk's Hollywood movies, there's a lot more going on in the movie than there appears to be.
Well, you've got yourself a classic 1950's melodrama starring the always-excellent Jane Wyman; a buff, but stiff Rock Hudson; and directed by director-extraordinarre Douglas Sirk.
dated soap opera with every cliché in the book works best as a look at good production values of the time along with period furnishings, clothes and women's perms; but even if you can stand the plot ploys there are some colossal flaws; one, wyman is a stick, unattractive, prissy, and generally a drip; yet rock falls for her- and wants to date her in the car before she has her accident and he becomes obsessed with guilt; two, he was not responsible for wyman's husband's death; he didn't ask for a respirator, know they had only one, or that someone else might be needing it; three; he didn't cause her accident; he was trying to offer money for the hospital and befriend the cold stick when she bolted out the other door into traffic; four; she could be his mom, and he goes from glamorous girls in the bar to her, again, before he even knows who she is; five, wastrel drunk playboy rock becomes a great doctor; rock, a brain surgeon?; but there is nothing the actors can do about the story; poor agnes moorehead, a firebrand, reduced to head shots with a slight turn and wistful look- no agnes, more wistful than that; it's just dreadful, with score to match.
The technicolor of the 50's means that it's plastically perfect, the soundtrack with shades of Chopin's "Tristesse" gets the waterworks functioning correctly right from the outset, Jane Wyman was perfect in the role she had, not overdoing it, Agnes Moorhead as magnificent as she ever was, Rock Hudson perfect too as the cocky idle young rich man who, after an almost unbelievable act of selfishness, clumsily ( this being the operative word here ) tries to put is life in order with the wise-looking Edward Randolph lending a hand.I am not sure whether this film could be remade and distill the same amount of emotion, as it's the mix of characters chosen at the time that gives it that "verging-on-perfection" quality.My only beef on this one is that I just cannot understand how such a masterpiece has still not yet been issued on DVD - considering all the junk that is now brought out on this medium, I just fail to understand why no one has had the intelligence to issue this - as lesser Sirk Films such as Written on the Wind have already been issued.
Magnificent Obsession is even better than "All That Heaven Allows" on a plot level, but the plastic beauty and musical score of both films are on a par - indeed the autumn scenes, notably the opening scenes of the latter are quite simply UNFORGETTABLE !.
Or solely because it is the right thing to do.For those who think of Rock Hudson only in terms of his partnerships with Doris Day, a film like Magnificent Obsession might be an eye opener.
Based on a sanctimonious novel by the sanctimonious Lloyd C Douglas, (he wrote "The Robe"), and already filmed in 1935 with Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor, it's got more uplift than a cantilever bra.Rock Hudson is the arrogant playboy who not only feels responsible for making Jane Wyman a widow but later is directly responsible for the accident in which she loses her sight.
On the plus side Rock Hudson isn't half bad, (I think I am rediscovering him), and, of course, it looks great, (in Sirk's films people live in rooms the size of cathedrals).
I had never seen a Sirk film before this so the mise-en-scene was at times, quite beautiful and when it was, it was a magnificent sight.Being only 20 I can't comment much on Rock Hudson or Jane Wymans previous films.
His mentor gives Hudson the thumbs up and he continues on, saves Wyman's life and cures her blindness as well and when he does, it is a magnificent moment.The second lies in the context of the films title.
If you love a good soap opera or hardcore melodrama where a twist and turn comes every so many minutes (mostly in the first half, but then some last minute ones of the medical kind towards the end), Sirk gives up the goods like a chef pouring far too much syrup on chocolate chip pancakes.
If you want to look for just a lush and amazing piece of film-making, you'll get that, as his DP Russell Metty (also later to work on All That Heaven Allows, his masterpiece starring also Hudson and Wyman), who gets these scenes by a lake or in a nice middle class house or out in Europe where a parade with lots of fire at night shines like something out of a dream (or, equally incredible, his sense of light and dark in indoor night scenes).And what makes it interesting, if almost too over the top, is how the two collide from time to time.
There is a sense of irony that Sirk has on his characters- how money is often a factor, albeit this time it's addressed more directly than in All That Heaven Allows, and about how far love/redemption should extend like in the final surgery scene with the old man looking down on Hudson like some weird ghost- but it doesn't compromise the real dramatic tension at work.
There's high passions at work here, and the style of the color and gloss of the cinematography compliments that, while perhaps suggesting, in its darker scenes, something more turbulent and uncertain in these characters underneath it all.Magnificent Obsession is a minor gem in 50's melodrama works, where Hudson surprises with his level of depth (that is within his limitations as a star, in this material he can do a lot of good) and Wyman with her tenderness and strength in the face of all Helen's terrors to face (will she or wont she see?), and it carries with it a lot of superb moments and critique on the bourgeoisie..
When Merrick's persistence makes things worse he throws himself into a life of service with a vengeance.Sounding a little like a melodramatic version of My Name is Earl, I came to this film having enjoyed several other Sirk melodramas and finding much to enjoy below and around the soapy, weepy plots that could have been just so much daytime TV fodder.
An enormous financial success, "Magnificent Obsession" was truly an influential little film.Hudson plays Ron Kirby, a careless, wealthy playboy who is indirectly responsible for the death of a beloved local doctor.
All fails, and a smitten Ron devotes his life to medicine, hoping to become a surgeon and hopefully cure a devastated Helen."Magnificent Obsession" is a good, solid melodrama (nothing less can be expected from director Sirk) , with good performances by all (especially Wyman and Agnes Moorehead) , and soaring music in all the right spots.
Standing apart among the actors, with no prominent role but the more important for his background significance, is Otto Kruger, the very tolerant doctor who patiently stands by and helps Rock Hudson along, a good-for-nothing millionaire, who gets into some conscience trouble when his carelessness results in the death of a local legend and hero of a doctor, whereupon Rock Hudson seizes the ambition to as best as he can replace him, especially since he falls in love with the widow, Jane Wyman, who because of him gets into some serious trouble.
Phillips had helped many people, and when Merrick learns Phillips' secret, to give selflessly and in secret, he tries it in a ham-handed way."Magnificent Obsession" was an early starring role for Hudson, and, according to Wyman, he was very nervous.
Reportedly, years later at a party, Hudson ran into Wyman and said, "You were nice to me when you didn't have to be, and I want you to know that I thank you and love you for it." Douglas Sirk mastered the melodrama, and had the greatest color palettes.
Generally acknowledged as the breakthrough vehicle for his star Rock Hudson, who will continue their collaborations in Sirk's later works, including a reunion with Wyman in ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955).
Douglas' source novel is a quintessential melodrama markedly at the mercy of fate, there is no single villain-like character in the film, by sheer accidents, Bob Merrick (Hudson), a rakish young man born with a silver spoon in his mouth, have to bear the consequences of his unintentional behaviours.
Nevertheless it is Sirk's trademark subdued lighting and graceful composition stands out of the story itself, and Wyman accomplishes an adequate job in her virtuous embodiment of a woman too good to be true in a mundane real world, despite that she is such a fine actress can effortlessly arouse audience's sympathy with her poised existence, and she is honoured with an Oscar nomination, but one jarring thing is the wanting of chemistry between Wyman and Hudson, like her character, it could only happen in a fairytale that she can be so all- forgiving and altruistic without a moment of lapse.
And as if things couldn't get more contrived, not only do Helen and Bob eventually fall in love (he uses the guise of a student to cover his true identity), but he decides that the only way to truly make up for his past mistakes is to become a doctor and continue Dr. Phillips' work.Magnificent Obsession slowly but surely becomes an overdone mess in terms of story, but Sirk's ornate eye for visual detail makes up for the silliness of everything else.
His "Magnificent Obsession" with Wyman leads Hudson to make another tragic event occur, but love could eventually conquer all...Producer Ross Hunter delivered the goods and director Douglas Sirk turned some silly soap operas into high cinematic art.
And, it's pleasingly ludicrous, although the final quarter is a bit less artful.******** Magnificent Obsession (4/20/54) Douglas Sirk ~ Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Barbara Rush, Agnes Moorehead.
Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman star in Magnificent Obsession, a remake of an Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor film.
However, even after all these years, it is clear that like fellow immigrant directors Billy Wilder and Ernst Lubitsch, there was a dark undertone in all of Sirk's works that continues to amaze today.The first of Sirk's most well-known films was Magnificent Obsession, a glossy Technicolor melodrama that on the surface appears to be as soapy and exploitative as any daytime television drama.
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 Helen recuperates, Bob worms his way into Helen's life 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.
"All that heaven allows" also has its flaws: a "politically correct" tone, a postcard look (that awful final shot of the deer) and a horrible and unveliable Rock Hudson.On the contrary, I think "Magnificent Obsession" is the most poignant or Sirk's films.
The latter is wrecked when her husband suffers a fatal heart attack and could not be resuscitated, since the equipment was being used by a millionaire playboy, (Hudson in a brilliant performance), who got hurt in a boating accident caused by his irresponsibility.Hudson, as Bob Merrick, is at his best in the part that was made for him- irresponsible, good looking, and a good time Charlie.We soon learn that Merrick had at one time studied to be a doctor but had given it up to pursue the carefree life.In trying to apologize to a widowed Wyman, she is blinded when hit by a car, as she tries to flee from him.Merrick now romances the Wyman character under an alias and is able to get away with it.
Though I love Irene Dunne the Jane Wyman remake is the better of the two films not so much for Jane (Hollywood's dullest leading lady) but for Douglas Sirk's lush direction and an over the top musical score.
Early on in Sirk's MO, a character says to Rock Hudson,"Becoming a doctor is like an obsession.
Former medical student Rock Hudson who now wants to live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse inadvertently causes the death of a respected physician and later the blinding of his widow, Jane Wyman, in separate incidents.Under the tutelage of wise old Otto Kruger, Hudson decides to get serious with his life and start being of service to his fellow man.
Too Much Even for a Sirk Fan. I like Douglas Sirk movies, and I find the genre of 1950s melodramas fascinating, but even I had trouble stomaching this giant cornball of a movie.Jane Wyman plays the widow of a respected doctor, who dies because a piece of machinery needed to resuscitate him is being used on a nearby accident victim, a spoiled rich playboy (Rock Hudson) who was goofing around in his speedboat.
During the 1950s director Douglas Sirk was noted both for his accomplished use of colour and for the melodramatic nature of his plots in films like "Magnificent Obsession", "Written on the Wind", "All that Heaven Allows" and "Imitation of Life".
The first of the run of lush Cinemascope dramas Sirk did for Universal is this re-make of the 1935 Stahl film, with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman this time in the leading roles.