This is one of those films that is considered rather a lesser effort by both the director and the female lead. But the more I see it, the happier I am with it. On reflection, and after multiple viewings, I suppose my fondness for this oddball noir thriller comes from its early use of super-hypnotism--blazing the trail for movies with similar angles, like The Manchurian Candidate, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Stir Of Echoes. Over-the-top cinematic use of hypnotism as mind-control in order to terrorize or murder gets pioneering treatment here in Whirlpool (although I'm sure a real film expert can weigh in with even earlier examples, and yes of course they all owe something to Svengali in Trilby), just as The Snake Pit, from a year before, gets credit for pioneering sympathetic and dramatic looks at mental health issues.I'm not totally enamored of legendary Gene Tierney's performance in this film--which is ironic, given that the word often is that Richard Conte is the one who is miscast as her psychotherapist husband. I guess he's considered too handsome, and not possessed of that cerebral, ultra-brainy vibe that is supposed to be glowing off of anyone playing a character with a heap of college degrees. I remember James Caan getting a similar rap when he played a highly successful author, in the movie Misery; quotes like "he doesn't have the perceptive eyes of a writer supposedly adept at delving into the psychology of his characters...that sparkle is missing!".Hmmm. If you don't like Richard Conte as a doctor/author then this film could be problem-- because the second half of the film belongs to him, not his wife Ann, played by Tierney, who is arrested for murder in what looks to be an open-and-shut case with no other possible suspect in sight. I love hypnotism stories, even the slightly gonzo implausible ones, but the other big reason I love this movie is its depiction of a husband who, despite grave doubts in the face of a heap of seemingly irrefutable evidence, finally realizes that he should listen to eight years of history of knowing what his beautiful wife could or couldn't do, and goes on a quest to expose the real killer. This leads to his focus on a slimy "quack" of a doctor who may be wearing a thin veneer of respectability over a devilish inner soul. This alleged fiend-- fiend with a perfect alibi thanks to incapacitating and agonizing pain!--is played with marvelous panache by the one and only Jose Ferrer, in splendidly snide and hideous form. The casting is traditional, here; the hero is cleft-chinned and handsome, the villain (if he's as villainous as he sometimes seems to be when we see him alone and apparently trying to wriggle out of some kind of massive debt and impending scandal), but the obvious casting works here. Ferrer, not the handsomest actor in the world, gives us the charismatic charmer who uses his mind-control talents to literally force women to get physically close to him. This is 1949, so his brutish attempt with a hypnotized subject involves him ordering her to take his hand only seconds after putting her under his spell; she refuses...and Ferrer takes a moment to show us the frustration of the "ugly duckling" rejected again, not even able to force women to desire him when they are hypnotized! It's a great, silent moment that suggest that Ferrer's plan for Tierney may have been rather shocking--forced sexual desire-- and only when that proves unattainable does he shift gears, tucking away his sexual frustration, and putting his hypnosis victim to an entirely different use. It's a quick moment, but it gives is a wonderfully sleazy look at the creep Ferrer is really playing, before he transforms back into the slick, intelligent charmer with a flair for words.Charles Bickford is terrific as the weary, lonely detective who has no choice but to believe in the "orgy of evidence", thus being one more obstacle to Conte as he desperately tries to free his wife. Things play out kind of like a Columbo episode, but Richard Conte is not a cop, just a loyal husband who clings to the idea that he knows his wife better than anyone, despite new secrets bubbling up every hour. Conte's character has a strong heart, and it becomes the heart of the film. Underrated, especially if your interested in fleshing out your list of hypnotism thrillers.

Film Noir to me is dark, with evil deeds and especially unhappy endings. This was before I began thinking about it and determined that noir is more a type of film making rather than film content. A film like "Double Indemnity is noir even tho we do have some happy in the ending (the daughter and boyfriend reconcile). Sunset Boulevard has Norma so bonkers she thinks things are happy and so they are. So, this noir is a happy noir. Gene Tierny is hypnotized by Jose Ferrer and he makes her do things to help him murder a former sucker who turned on him. Jose is so good at hypnosis he even google-eyes himself after gall bladder surgery so he can get about knocking off people and listening to records. Gene's husband is a shrink himself, but legitimate and somehow he connives that Jose is not on the level. He believes her, then he doesn't, she's nuts, she's not, oh dear, what to do, what to do. Cut to murder scene and Jose hiding in the wings with a guy he finally Jose tries to get Gene to cover for him while hubby and a cop are searching a closet. Failure and good wills out, happiness and joy, cut. This movie is so contrived, I wanted to hypnotize myself in to shutting it off but stayed to course to see how lousy a top notch cast/production could screw up. Pretty bad.

Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney) is married to Dr. Bill Sutton, an upright psychoanalyst (played by a completely miscast Richard Conte). When we first meet Ann, she's getting arrested by a store detective in a department store after attempting to steal an expensive piece of jewelry. Okay, so that's a bit of a twist—our heroine is a kleptomaniac. Next into the mix is the oily David Korvo (nicely and seedily played by Jose Ferrer). He knows the department store owner and convinces him to drop the charges against Ann.Korvo is 1949's answer to a new age practitioner: he dabbles in astrology but is principally a hypnotist. At first Ann believes Korvo is trying to blackmail her but he persuades her that he really wants to be her 'therapist'. Ann is smart enough to realize that Korvo is trying to get her to come up to his hotel room so they can have sex so she meets him downstairs in the hotel lobby. Korvo gives up on the sex idea but has more sinister plans. At first, he charges $50 for hypnotism sessions which appear to be helping Ann with her insomnia.We learn more about Korvo from one of Bill Sutton's patients, Theresa Randolph, who tries to warn Ann that Korvo is a blackmailer and up to no good but Ann believes that Theresa is merely jealous of her relationship with this extremely crafty Svengali (apparently Bill adheres to a strict code of doctor-patient confidentiality as Ann has never met Theresa Randolph before). Bill records his therapy sessions on new-fangled long playing records which he stores in a closet in his home. Everything about Korvo's 'modus operandi' (his penchant for blackmail and physical abuse) are detailed in these recordings and Korvo realizes that he has to get his hands on them if he is to continue in his career as a con artist.So what does Korvo do? He murders Randolph (just as she's about to change her will negating a bequest that leaves Korvo a large amount of money as part of her estate). He also hypnotizes Ann and has her steal the Randolph therapy session recordings and puts them in a closet in Randolph's house. He sets Ann up by leaving a glass with Ann's fingerprint on it in Randolph's home. The police arrive and arrest Ann for murder.Now it gets strange, real strange! Korvo needs an alibi. Apparently he's been having gall bladder problems so he arranges to have an operation at two in the afternoon on the day of the murder. The murder occurs at nine in the evening so how does Korvo pull it off? Well we find out (quite improbably) that Korvo hypnotized himself and was able to drag himself out of bed and commit the murder.The hypnotist's power of suggestion has a prominent role in this film but unfortunately much too prominent. I always believed that hypnotism might be a useful tool in helping people overcome minor health or psychological problems (such as Ann being helped with her insomnia at the beginning of the film). But I didn't buy it for a minute when Korvo orders Ann around in a trance and then hypnotizes himself hours after major surgery. And then Korvo does it again—he hypnotizes himself once more so he can leave the hospital and try and get his hands on the recordings. But instead of taking the recordings and getting out of the deceased Randolph's house right away (or even destroying them at the house), he tarries and begins playing them on the phonograph in the living room. This gives the Suttons and the investigating detective enough time to arrive at the crime scene where they eventually confront Korvo, who drops dead from blood loss (apparently his hypnotic suggestions are not powerful enough to stanch the bleeding—complications from his surgery earlier that afternoon).Aside from the obvious plot holes, there is also a distasteful conceit being peddled by the film's screenwriters here. The dubious and subjective 'profession' of psychoanalysis not only is depicted as being highly 'scientific' but is also placed on par with practitioners in the medical profession. 'Unscientific', unlicensed 'healers' (represented by the evil Korvo) are presented as bogus and manipulative in striking contrast to the upright Dr. Sutton (who uses his psychobabble) to uncover the ROOT of his wife's kleptomania. With some kind soothing words, Dr. Sutton will soon solve his wife's neurosis and they can once again move amongst their social equals and bring good cheer to them without the fear of scandal.If you see this on DVD, there's some interesting commentary by film critic Richard Shickel. He notes that the late film critic, Pauline Kael, termed this film "a real stinker". But Schikel is more on the side of critic Andrew Sarris who felt there were a lot of worthwhile things about the film. While Tierney and Ferrer's performances draw you in, the plot holes and the psychobabble are enough to keep one from taking the DVD off the shelf and watching it every couple of months. I'm not sure if 'Whirlpool' deserves to be called a 'real stinker' but it's decidedly no great work of art!

Just watched this last night. I'm a fan of Otto Preminger and was therefore full of hopes, but after a terrific opening 20 minutes, it sort of falls away after all that I think. However, what a fantastic performance from Charles Bickford as the Lieutenant. Brilliant. Worth it to see his performance alone -- Ferrer is wonderful in the opening scene when he defends Gene Tierney and generally adds the right dosage of menace, but the self-hypnosis in the hospital bed is unlikely and the final ten minutes in the house are vaguely ridiculous. The relationship between him and Tierney is very strong however. It is sad to think that Tierney struggled so much health-wise, because to my mind she was the most beautiful of her generation and is utterly plausible in any of the movies that I have come across..