The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-01-10
Thrills Are
Plentiful in
Indiana Film
Reviewer Believes Picture
Writers Improved
Douglas Story.
BY JOHN w. THOMPSON

Irene Dunno still is one of the
screens most entertaining actresses.
She didn't let swimming little
musical like Roberta" get her
down. Just look at THE Magnifi-
cent Obsession" if you want proof.
1t opens at the Indiana today.
You may not think the movie men
have followed the Lloyd Douglas
novel close enough, or you may
think they have followed it too
closely.
But no matter what you think,
there's no denying they made an
excellent movie of it.
Robert Taylor is a handsome
leading man and Ralph Morgan
adds dignity. Miss Dunno leads the
picture around by the nose. The
cast is enhanced by Charles Butter
worth, Henry Armetta, Cora Sue
Collins and Arthur Teacher.
Happy Homecomings
The story starts with Helen Hud-
son miss Dunne) meeting her
foster daughter, Joyce Betty Fur
ness, at the dock. With the home
coming daughter is would-be
son-in-law, Tommy Masterson (Mr.
Butterworth), who finally marries
the girl.
Tragedy Is splashed all over the
place when the two happy girls,
mother and daughter, walk into the
hospital famed for the brain surg
cry of DR.. Hudson, Helen's hus-
band, and learn he is dead, a
drowning victim
Complaining the situation is that
DR.. Hudson died while the only
pulmotor the hospital owned was
on the other side of the lake being
used on a drunk. The drunk is
Bobby Merrick (Mr. Taylor, later
the hero of the film.
Enter Lover
Mr.. Merrick meets Helen, quite
by accident, falls in love with her,
and is sufficiently astonished when
he finds out she is the widow of the
man who died because of him.
But Bobby's love for Mrs. Hudson
carries the tragic note still farther.
He takes his beloved out for a ride,
she resists his advances. She leaves
his car and is struck down by
speeding limousine.
The result of her injuries is
blindness. Still Mr.. Merrick pur-
sues, now in a more serious vein.
He sits in the park across the street
from Mrs. Hudson's home, talks to
her when she comes out for stroll,
lets her call him Or Robert" when
he finds she doesn't recognize his
voice.
Delves Into Study
Mr.. Merrick decides to be good
boy and devote his life to helping
the one he loves He studies surg
cry, and arranges for Mrs. Hudson
to go to Paris for consultation under
the worlds greatest brain and eye
specialists. The specialists pro-
nounce Mrs. Hudson's case hopeless.
At the sight of Bobby proposing
to the blind Helen, Joyce's heart
melts and she is on his side from
then on. But the answer to the
proposal is put off by Helen until
the next morning, when everyone
awakes to find her gone. Where,
they do not know.
Bobby continues his study. One
Gay an old stone-cutter. Randolph,
into whose home Bobby HAD wall
dered while drunk, brings news of
Helen.
Bobby hurries to Tennessee, finds
Helen in critical condition. He
prepares to operate. His hands
shake, but he is encouraged and
sustained by the nearness of the
kindly old stone-cutter, and the
operation is successful.
That is a Hollywood ending.
Mr.. Douglas breaches
Mr.. Douglas, as usual, wants to
preach in his story. He wants you
TO know it is noble to help any one
down and out. The strange thing
about DR.. Hudsons philosophy is
that he made everyone he aided