Pretty Good

As Good As It Gets

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Lloyd C. Douglas, Lutheran pastor turned novelist, was in some ways the anti-Ayn Rand. His Magnificent Obsession, published in 1929 and first filmed in 1935 with Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor directed by John M. Stahl, advocates a kind of "pay it forward" altruism, the obverse of Rand's laissez-faire individualism. Douglas preached a gospel of service to others with no expectation of rewards to oneself. Fortunately, director Douglas Sirk and screenwriters Robert Blees and Wells Root keep the preaching in the 1954 remake down to a minimum - - mostly confining it to the preachiest of the film's characters, the artist Edward Randolph (Otto Kruger), but also using it as an essential element in the development of the central character, Bob Merrick (Rock Hudson), in his transition from heel to hero. This was Hudson's first major dramatic role, the one that launched him from Universal contract player into stardom. Not coincidentally, it was the second of nine films he made with Sirk, movies that range from the negligible Taza, Son of Cochise (1954) to the near-great Written on the Wind (1956). More than anyone, perhaps, Sirk was responsible for turning Hudson from just a handsome hunk with a silly publicist-concocted name into a movie actor of distinct skill. In Magnificent Obsession he demonstrates that essential film-acting technique: letting thought and emotion show on the face. It's a more effective performance than that of his co- star, Jane Wyman, though she was the one who got an Oscar nomination for the movie. As Helen Phillips, whose miseries are brought upon her by Merrick (through no actual fault of his own), Wyman has little to do but suffer stoically and unfocus her eyes to play blind. Hudson has an actual character arc to follow, and he does it quite well -- though reportedly not without multiple takes of his scenes, as Sirk coached him into what he wanted. What Sirk wanted, apparently, is a lush, Technicolor melodrama that somehow manages to make sense -- Sirk's great gift as a director being an ability to take melodrama seriously. Magnificent Obsession, like most of Sirk's films during the 1950s, was underestimated at the time by serious critics, but has undergone reevaluation after feminist critics began asking why films that center on women's lives were being treated as somehow inferior to those about men's. It's not, I think, a great film by any real critical standards -- there's still a little too much preaching and too much angelic choiring on the soundtrack, and the premise that a blind woman assisted by a nurse (Agnes Moorehead) with bright orange hair could elude discovery for months despite widespread efforts to find them stretches credulity a little too far. But it's made and acted with such conviction that I found myself yielding to it anyway. (charlesmatthews.blogspot.com)

Magnificent Obsession is exaggerated, nearly ludicrous soap, but it knows it. It cackles when Jane Wyman's smooth complexion is interrupted by the urge to break into a violently dramatic monologue. It quakes at the nearest sight of pastel interiors. It even seems to be aware that Magnificent Obsession is a title that instantly evokes a feeling of excessive melodrama. For a casual viewer, it may be too overwrought for its own good; but to only watch it for its woeful theatrics would be a mistake.In the 1950s, the name "Douglas Sirk" certainly did not mean much to critics or audiences. He was a director of flamboyant tearjerkers, easy to chow down on yet ultimately difficult to value. But now that Bette Davis is a bad bitch again, vintage Coca-Cola ads are viewed as art fixtures, and film noir has turned into a singular, sexy alternate to old Hollywood, you can say that time has been kind to Douglas Sirk. What was overtly flashy back then is intellectually artificial now; dramatic performances come second to the aggressively Technicolor style. When viewing a Sirk directed film, there is a feeling of parodical intuition from behind the camera. Unlike many filmmakers of the time, Sirk knew that he was building an elaborate women's picture, doing everything possible to accentuate the slightly unbelievable tone of the tragedies traded off between characters. Take one look at the hospital in which much of the film takes place — artificially painted flowers greet incoming customers, big, blocky signs indicate who's the concierge and who's the cashier, halls resemble leftover corridors from a highly budgeted romantic drama — and you can only soak in the rich, comical illustrations that illuminate the adversarial people who drench themselves in drama. The film opens with millionaire Bob Merrick (Rock Hudson) zooming around on a speedboat, a blonde by his side. Surrounded by scenic waters, he is everything a dangerous romantic lead should be: fearless, fun, and arresting. His charms come to an abrupt halt, however, when he crashes, nearly getting himself killed in the process. Though resuscitated by nearby onlookers, he is guilt-ridden when he finds out that his elaborate rescue inadvertently caused the death of the local Dr. Phillips, who suffered a heart attack but was not able to be revived in time.His wife, Helen (Wyman) is devastated, unwilling to accept donations from the town's population to keep his practice up-and-running. Bob wants to make right, but Helen is much too angry; things only take a turn for the worse when Helen accidentally steps in the path of an oncoming car when avoiding Bob's advances. The accident leaves her blind. 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. The plot serves as a metaphor for overcoming literal and metaphorical blindness, but that all seems like hogwash especially if you have two objects on your face called eyes. For most of the film, I felt as though turning the sound off wouldn't affect the overwhelming artistry and impact of the expressive images. Sirk makes everything (and I mean everything) absolutely beautiful; but there is not a single image that doesn't manifest a penetrating feeling of portraited longing. Among the pretty people, the pretty houses, the pretty trees, the pretty cars, there is a deep despair waiting to be renewed. The plot doesn't tell us so: the expressions of the actors, paired with Sirk's evocative style, sting an exquisite sting.Magnificent Obsession is only notable because Douglas Sirk directed it. Without him, it certainly wouldn't look as good. Without him, it certainly wouldn't feel so luminous, so somber. Rarely can the appearance of a movie completely make or break its successes, but in Magnificent Obsession, it is one of the most important components in its longevity and its vigor. Read more reviews at petersonreviews.com

Douglas Sirk is often praised some 50 years after his career ended for being one of the most subversive and bittersweet of Hollywood directors of the 1950s. Born in Germany, he began his film career in the German cinema, only to flee when the Nazis took control. By the mid 1940s, he was a full-fledged Hollywood director assigned by studios to churn out as many films as possible. 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. However, many critics and scholars in recent years have instructed us to look closer, to try and understand the hidden meanings and undertones of such a story. Clearly, it is obvious that Sirk used such a decor and platform as that was what he was given to work with. Melodramas were becoming quite popular in the 1950s, this itself being a reflection of the growing artifice and superficial decadence that would come to characterize postwar America. Sirk, being a European immigrant, would know and recognize this better than almost anyone. Therefore, he brilliantly used American settings, characterizations and story lines to subject to American audiences the very ideas and social graces he saw through. Just as expected, people fell for the bait and came in droves to witness what they though was simply a tearjerker exploring the relationship between a spoiled rich playboy and a well-meaning widow of a revered doctor.Though it may be impossible to truly grasp all of Sirk's secrets after just one viewing, it seems to me that one of the critiques most notable here is the motivation these characters possess. Another reviewer described this film as a quest for spirituality. Redemption and understanding may also be added to this list as nearly all of these characters attempt to find consolation and faith in things that reflect their own artificial emotion and feelings. Do any of these characters truly have a moral center that guides their everyday actions? Or are they simply living out of guilt, fear, jealousy and self-loathing? These are loaded questions to be sure, but the more I write the more I am convinced that Magnificent Obsession is a loaded film.

The reckless and arrogant playboy Robert Merrick (Rock Hudson) has an accident with his motorboat but he is resuscitated with the resuscitator of the famous Dr. Wayne Phillips. Coincidently at the same time, Dr. Phillips has a heart attack and needs his apparatus, but he dies. Dr. Phillips's young wife, Helen (Jane Wyman), and his daughter Joyce (Barbara Rush) blame Bob Merrick for his irresponsibility and hate him. Sooner they discover that Dr. Phillips had secretly helped many people that adore him. When Merrick sees Helen Hudson, he flirts with her, but his unrequited affection irritates her. One day, Merrick is drunk and meets the artist Edward Randolph (Otto Kruger) by chance and he learns that Dr. Phillips secretly helped people without expecting any return or acknowledgement. One day, Merrick sees Helen in a restaurant and gets in her taxi. However Helen leaves the car upset with Merrick, another car runs over Helen and she becomes blind. Later Merrick meets Helen on the beach and lures her, introducing himself as Robinson. Meanwhile he financially helps her and hires a team of specialists to examine Helen in Switzerland. Helen is examined but the doctors advise her that they will not operate her. Meanwhile Merrick and Helen fall in love with each other but when Merrick proposes her, he discloses his true identity. On the next morning, Helen vanishes without any trace from the hotel with her nurse and friend Nancy (Agnes Moorehead). Merrick studies medicine and years later, he returns to Detroit and Randolph tells him that Helen is very sick in a small sanatorium in New Mexico. He heads to meet Helen with Randolph and finds her terminal, needing an urgent surgery. Without alternative, he has to operate her."Magnificent Obsession" is a remake without the magnetism of the original film. The story has minor modifications, actually updates and color, but the black and white movie of 1935 is better and better. The charm and chemistry of Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor are unrivalled. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Sublime Obsessão" ("Sublime Obsession")