Review: Magnificent Obsession

Drunk millionaire playboy (and med school drop-out) Rock Hudson wrecks his motor boat, but is revived at the same hospital where Jane Wyman’s well-respected doctor husband is staying. When the doctor has a fatal heart attack, the resuscitator is being used to revive rich boy Hudson, and the doctor dies. Staff attending to hospitalised Hudson lament that the wrong man died, and Hudson becomes guilt-stricken as a result. He becomes even more guilt-stricken, and romantically inclined when he meets Wyman by chance. Otto Kruger plays a friend of the deceased who allows Hudson to stay at his place, and teaches him about committing selfless acts (a philosophy Wyman’s dead husband had taken up), inspiring the wayward playboy to devote himself to helping Wyman, who consistently refuses his advances (I don’t think you can quite call Hudson’s wooing technique a 50s version of “Pay it Forward”, but nevermind). Tragedy strikes when Wyman, attempting to avoid the persistent Hudson, is hit by a car and blinded. In a misguided attempt at getting close to her, Hudson assumes a different name and once again tries to strike up a relationship with her, with eventual success. He even helps her out financially, albeit covertly, and tries to get her the best medical help. But what happens when the jig is up? Agnes Moorehead (somewhat wasted) plays Wyman’s devoted and highly protective friend, Barbara Rush is Wyman’s adult step-daughter.

Watchable, but ultimately unsatisfying 1954 Douglas Sirk (“All That Heaven Allows”, “Imitation of Life”) remake of a 1935 film never achieves the emotional response it so dearly seeks (and I really did want to like it) due to some appalling contrivances in the script that I simply couldn’t get over. In order for the film’s story to play out, writers Robert Blees (“Dr. Phibes Rises Again!”, of all things) and Wells Root (“The Prisoner of Zenda”) pile on unconvincing contrivance after another, unbelievable moment after another, until the film just bottoms out before the conclusion. At least for me, there was a point at which I just stopped caring, because I no longer believed any of it. Not Hudson’s character transformation, which was entirely founded upon the notion of using ‘selflessness’ as a means of getting into Wyman’s pants. Not the silly subplot involving the resuscitator and Wyman’s beloved husband. Not the fact that Wyman is too stupid to recognise a man’s voice even if she is blind- Is she deaf too? Not the fact that all of this would be so much simpler if Hudson just came clean!!! And even Wyman’s blindness comes about in a highly unlikely fashion, whether this is a soap opera or not.

Wyman, however, is outstanding as always (she earned an Oscar nom for her effortlessly empathetic work), Hudson fine enough (in the role that made him a star, though the character’s a massive jerk if you ask me), and the supporting cast is effective (notably Kruger).

I really, really, wanted to like this (it was a pretty big hit at the box-office, apparently), but the writers made it ever-so hard to really get into it. You either buy into it early on, or you’re distanced from it just as quickly, and never recover. It’s better than Sirk’s histrionic “Imitation of Life”, but not as good as his later Wyman-Hudson pairing, “All That Heaven Allows”, which was pretty good. Based on a 1935 film, and the novel by Lloyd C. Douglas (“The Robe”), apparently a minister-turned writer.

Rating: C+