This is one of Irene Dunne's better pictures. She once said she enjoyed the character she played, and it is apparent in this movie. In fact, this would be a good movie to watch if you wish to view Irene Dunne's native charm and mystery. She was a wonderful actress and this was a good example of her performance style in a serious role.
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bkoganbing16 November 2007I suppose Magnificent Obsession could best be described as a religious soap opera. It's definitely the kind of film that both of its stars, Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor would identify with in real life given their politics which were on the right. Even more so for Irene Dunne who was a prominent Catholic lay person.
It was a best seller in 1929 for newly minted writer Lloyd C. Douglas, a former Methodist minister who had retired from the pulpit and spent the rest of his life writing fictional works with a religious theme.
Irene Dunne was by this time a very big star and Magnificent Obsession entered the pantheon of her big hit films. But for Robert Taylor it was the breakout film of his career, establishing him once and for all as a star player with potent box office.
Taylor was a special favorite of Louis B. Mayer at MGM, it wasn't an accident he established a record for the longest studio contract in film history. Taylor was coming along in his career quite nicely as and had gotten notice in some supporting roles and had even had a lead in Murder in the Fleet. He had also played part of a love triangle as another doctor in Society Doctor with Chester Morris and Virginia Bruce.
I'm betting that it was that this was the film that Carl Laemmle saw at Universal when he asked Mayer for Taylor's service on a loan out. This would have been a win-win situation for MGM. If Taylor clicked they had his services and if he didn't it was Universal's loss.
Anyway it was in this role as the shallow playboy who becomes a noted surgeon that Taylor scored his big hit. His growth in some ways is similar to Tyrone Power's later on in The Razor's Edge. In fact had this been done at 20th Century Fox Power would also have had a big hit. But his breakthrough year was one year away.
Through a combination of unfortunate circumstances a noted doctor, esteemed for his good works dies suddenly of a heart attack. He might have been saved, but a resuscitator was being used on a young Taylor who was involved in a speeding boat accident. He becomes a hated figure with the family and friends of the late doctor, especially his new widow, Irene Dunne.
Later on Taylor while in an inebriated state meets up with Ralph Morgan who lets him spend the night and sober up on his couch. When Taylor awakens, Morgan talks to him about trying to tap into a higher power by doing some good works and it will redound to his favor on earth and in heaven. And the idea is to shun publicity for the same.
Taylor expects some more immediate return on good works, but it he gradually comes to a full realization of what Morgan is talking about. Former minister Lloyd C. Douglas had used as the basis for this philosophy, Matthew Chapter 6, 1-4. The substance of which don't flaunt your good works before humanity openly because then you'll be courting favor with the world. But if you do it with as little fanfare as possible, God will reward you in heaven and on earth.
Robert Taylor was 24 when he made this film and the part called for him to age several years and he succeeds as both the playboy and the mature and spiritual doctor. Magnificent Obsession was remade 19 years later with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman and proved to be as big a hit with audiences then as in the Thirties.
Robert Taylor made very few films away from MGM until his contract was up after 1958. I suppose his services were Louis B. Mayer's Magnificent Obsession. -
In Westchester, the reckless and arrogant playboy Robert Merrick (Robert Taylor) drinks too much and drowns in the sea. He is resuscitated with the lung equipment of the famous Dr. Wayne Hudson. Coincidently at the same time, Dr. Hudson needs the apparatus to breathe and dies in his Brightwood Hospital. Dr. Hudson's young wife, Helen (Irene Dunne), and his daughter Joyce (Betty Furness) blame Bob Merrick for his irresponsibility and hate him. They discover that Dr. Hudson had secretly helped many people that adore him. When Merrick sees Helen Hudson, he has a crush on her, but she refuses to even see him. One day, Merrick meets the artist Randolph (Ralph Morgan) by chance and he learns that Dr. Hudson followed the Christian philosophy, secretly helping people without expecting any return or acknowledgment. One day, Merrick gives a ride to Helen to force her to stay with him in his car. However Helen gets out of the car upset with Merrick's attitude, and another car runs over her and Helen becomes blind. Later Merrick meets Helen in the park and lures her, introducing himself as Dr. Robert. Meanwhile he financially helps Helen and hires five specialists to examine her in Paris. Helen is examined but the doctors find clots in her brain and advise her that they will not operate her. Meanwhile Merrick and Helen fall in love with each other; however when Merrick proposes Helen, he discloses his true identity to her. On the next morning, Helen vanishes without any trace from the hotel. Merrick studies medicine and becomes a brain surgeon and specialist in Europe expecting to help Helen someday. Six years later, he returns to Detroit and Randolph tells him that Helen is very sick in Virginia. He heads to Virginia with Joyce, her husband Tommy Masterson (Charles Butterworth) and the nurse Nancy Ashford (Sara Haden) and operates Helen.
"Magnificent Obsession" is a wonderful melodramatic story of hate, love and redemption. The introduction with Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture" causes a favorable impact with this feature from the very beginning. Irene Dunne is magnificent as usual and has a great chemistry with Robert Taylor. I bought the DVD released by the Brazilian Versátil Distributor with the 1954 version and for my surprise, the DVD was double with the 1935 version of "Magnificent Obsession" as a bonus. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Sublime Obsessão" ("Sublime Obsession") -
leecozad17 August 2000Magnificent Obsession - 1935 I've probably watched Universal's 1954 version of Magnificent Obsession 25 times while researching the movies made in the San Bernardino mountains. This is one of those films where there can be no doubt about its location, Lake Arrowhead. But I have always had my doubt about the original 1935 version as ever having been made in the mountains, even though one of the Captain's of the Arrowhead Queen unequivocally stated that he had heard it had been filmed at Lake Arrowhead. In my research over the years, I had never been able to ascertain one way or the other until August, 2000 at the U.C.L.A. Film Archives. The most pleasant surprise is that there is at least one identifiable scene with Lake Arrowhead in the background - including a speedboat cruising across the lake. It is a very brief scene and by far and away, the majority of the film is shot in a studio. Another equally pleasant surprise is a very young (23) Robert Taylor playing a sophisticated playboy (#1) and then an older doctor (#2) and pulling it off believably. His maturity and acting ability are evident from the first frame. Irene Dunne, who was 7 years older, is an accomplished and polished actress with only a few groans to show for her effort. (Her groping blind scenes leave you exasperated.) Comic relief is supplied by an aged Charles Butterworth, as an unlikely suitor to a very young Betty Furness, the step-daughter of Ms. Dunne. This is not the soapy Universal version done later by Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman, but a thoughtful, intelligent script that is closer to the original Lloyd C. Douglas novel, who just happened to be the screenwriter on this version. The print of the 1935 version is very dark and will probably never be shown again in public unless a restoration effort is made. Unfortunately, there are too many films to restore and only so much money available.
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dbdumonteil2 October 2001The Sirk excellent remake has overshadowed Stahl's version nowadays.That's certainly unfair,because the latter was a pioneer of the melodrama who would peak with "leave her to heaven" ,ten years later.Stahl 's version,in stark black and white is certainly not as palatable as the 1953 movie and its gaudy technicolor.
Randolph's character seems more important in Stahl's version.His theory is certainly moving:You've only got what you give and you should not expect any award.Merrick tries to apply this theory,first because he wants to seduce the wife of the philanthropist/doctor who indirectly died because of him,because he was an alcoholic playboy.He has not really understood what Randolph tried to explain to him.The scene with the hobo comes as a comic relief,which is terribly needed in such a dark yarn.When ,as leaving the poor man,Merrick thinks he's got some divine reward,he's completely mistaken.A Christian movie,"magnificent obsession" sure is,as Randolph,in his second scene ,mentions the Christ. After all,his theory is not that much far from that of James Stewart's guardian angel in "it's a wonderful life".
Unlikelihoods are here there and everywhere,but it's the rules of melodrama.The story ,which includes death,blindness,moral and physical redemption,is not more far-fetched than westerns and thrillers plots.And life is so strange that it can turn sometimes into the most implausible melodrama;and like it or not,not necessarily with a happy end. -
planktonrules1 April 2021I have seen both this original version and the Douglas Sirk remake from the 1950s. The two are extremely similar...so similar you might want to only see one of them. While the remake is naturally lacking in originality, it is a bit glossier and prettier due to the Technicolor as well as Sirk's style...he had a real deft hand with romances.
The story begins with the death of a famous and beloved doctor. It seems when the doctor needed life-saving equipment, it was being used on a drunk playboy who has pretty much led a selfish and worthless life. He feels bad about this, at least as much as he can at this point. But later when his actions ALSO cause the widow to become blinded, he suffers a huge crisis and dedicates his life to helping her and others.
Robert Taylor and Irene Dunne are very good here. But I didn't rate fhe film higher simply because while enjoyable, the film certainly seemed far-fetched and a bit schmaltzy. Still, it is worth seeing. -
kkomberg5 July 2004I saw this movie only one time on AMC during a film renovation special in 1991 or 1992. Its a wonderful movie. It made enough of an impression on me that 12 years later, after only one viewing, I still consider it a favorite.
I know that the later version with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman is considered to be a good remake by film critics and fans, however, when I tried to watch it, I revolted at the glitzy technicolor melodrama. The magic, the old Hollywood glamour, the passion and the agony I found in watching the original seemed completely lost in the remake. I hope they do restore this movie before it is lost forever. I hope I get to see this movie again some day. -
mark.waltz24 February 2013There's a lot of spiritual chatter in the two versions of Lloyd C. Douglas's "Magnificent Obsession", and in the 1935 original, it is sadly overshadowed by a weak leading man and some unnecessary comic relief. What works is the leading lady-Irene Dunne-perfect in comedy, drama, musicals, epics, even westerns, and equally as tragic as her later, four-hankie weeper "Love Affair". Dunne is a gem that even with tragedy, you could see a sparkle in her eye that refused to dim. Loosing her older husband in a tragic accident then going blind because of the unfortunate circumstances concerning the man indirectly responsible for her husband's death, Dunne never looses her spirit, always gracious and lovely, yet even humanly annoyed when continually harassed by the well-meaning but ultimately intrusive man, played by Robert Taylor.
Taylor has the difficult task of trying to make his character even slightly believable, and is perhaps defeated by a role almost impossible to take seriously. He's one of those either truly selfish characters or all of a sudden too god to be true. At first, his attempts to live the "Pay It Forward" motto ring realistically false because he is trying way too hard. However, as his obsession becomes more "magnificent", his actions take on a seemingly high-brow quality that is lacking in sincerity. Taylor's niche was light comedy or action/adventure, and as handsome as he was, he seemed weak in romantic drama because he was always overshadowed by more magnetic leading ladies.
The other fly in the ointment here is droll Charles Butterworth as a suitor of Dunne's stepdaughter Betty Furness who ends up getting drunk with Taylor and provides unnecessary comedy that stops the plot cold. Stronger in the cast are Sara Haden as the loyal nurse who stands by Dunne and even comes to understand Taylor's desire to right a wrong and lead a more noble life, and Ralph Morgan as the Bohemian sculptor who expresses the film scene to Taylor when he drunkenly crashes outside Morgan's home.
Ironically, many of Dunne's films were re-made, including this one with Jane Wyman, and because of that, they were lost to film audiences for several decades. Most of the original versions of these films (which include "Back Street", "Roberta", "Love Affair", "Show Boat" and "My Favorite Wife") are overshadowed by the color remakes, but have shown themselves to be as fresh today, mainly because of their magnetic leading lady. -
Richardthepianist18 January 2009I'm SOOOOOO Glad that the 1935 version of Magnificent Obsession is being released along with the 1954 version..The newer version is getting all the hype,etc. but it truly is the 1935 version with Irene Dunne/Robert Taylor which is the understated and much better rendering. I have a poor video quality version,but better than nothing..hope the released version has been improved in restoration.John Stahl's solid directing makes the principal characters more realistic.Robert Taylor shows a palpable presence in his first main screen venture..and of course amongst Irene Dunne's early 1930 films,this simply is one of her very best!1935..classy...1954...somewhat sappy
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vincentlynch-moonoi17 January 2013I am re-reviewing this film after watching both versions of the film.
I note that many prefer this version of the film, rather than the Rock Hudson/Jane Wyman version. I liked them both equally well, and each had its strengths and weaknesses.
One of the real weaknesses in this version, which is fixed in the 1954 version is the scene here were Taylor's compatriot falls into a sewer. This film is not about humor. It is about moral character and redemption. It was a totally inappropriate scene.
Irene Dunne is superb here. But Jane Wyman was superb in the remake. While Robert Taylor is not one of my particular favorites, he was a fine actor and made some great films; he was fine here. Rock Hudson was equally fine in the remake.
My advice is to savor the good aspects of both films, and both are available in the same Criterion package. -
Lejink27 November 2019Out of curiosity, I chose to look out this movie immediately after viewing the Douglas Sirk-directed 1950's remake to contrast and compare different obsessions you might say. I have to say right at the outset that it's really no contest. With his flair for composition, narrative flow and ability to coax the best out of his actors Sirk wins hands down.
It probably doesn't help that I'm no fan of Robert Taylor which no doubt stems from my perception of his part in the Hollywood blacklist hearings of the 1940s and '50s (c.f. John Wayne, Adolphe Menjou, Ronald Reagan and others) but for the first half of the movie his acting is so highly mannered and gauche to the point of being look-away bad. Irene Dunne on the other hand attempts to sail serenely through in her part of the grieving widow and later blinded victim of Taylor's Bob Merrick's ham-fisted attempt to woo her, but she comes across as too cold and privileged to make you care much for her character. As for her daughter-in-law and her hapless older husband, they appear hopelessly mismatched with the latter in particular appearing to be cast purely for some misguided comic relief.
I found the direction to be slow and laboured with lots of slow dissolves, lingering close-ups, overt religiosity and forced humour, while, as indicated, most of the acting seems stagey and overplayed. Once Taylor settles down to his magnificent obsession the film does play a bit better but without someone like Sirk to recognise the story for the glorified, at times sanctified soap opera that it really is and treat it accordingly with velvet gloves, the story in director John M Stahl's hands, plods along somewhat aimlessly rather like Dunne with her affliction.
For my sins I'm going to look out director Stahl's other Sirk-reworked movie "Imitation Of Life", also starring Dunne, but with some trepidation after enduring this rather stiff and hackneyed production. -
daniel-3917 January 2005This Movie is just great! A must see movie! The actors and actress play their rolls very well, unlike today's movie which rely very heavily on special effects, or funny dialogue. The story is well written, and keeps you guessing to what happens next! I wish I could get it on DVD!!! I hope someone will restore it! This movie will be loved for generations to come. I could watch this movie over, and over again, and never get tired of it. Magnificent Obsession is one of those movies that you would love to watch with your significant other. Robert Merrick (Robert Taylor) recklessly cause the blindness of Helen Hudson (Irene Dunne). He spends years becoming a doctor, and becoming the best in his field, all in the hopes of correcting his past!
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blanche-216 January 2013"Magnificent Obsession" is a 1935 film starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor; it was remade in the '50s in Technicolor and starred Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. The story is preposterous, the melodrama is over the top, but this film gave both Taylor, a farm boy from Nebraska and Hudson, a truck driver from Illinois, their big breaks.
Robert Merrick (Taylor) is a drunken playboy who, one afternoon, falls off his sailboat and has to be resuscitated with the use of what's called in this film a "pulmotor," a device that forces oxygen into the lungs.
Unfortunately, the pulmotor was needed across the lake for an older man, a Dr. Hudson, who has had a heart attack, but because one isn't available, the man dies. When his wife (Dunne) and daughter (Betty Furness) arrive home, they get the horrible news. There is bitterness everywhere because Dr. Hudson was beloved, a fine doctor and an exceptional man, and Merrick is a drunken, rich loser.
At one point, Merrick meets a man (Ralph Morgan) who gives him the secret philosophy that Dr. Hudson lived by and taught him - give anonymously and without expecting repayment.
When Merrick spots Mrs. Hudson, he has no idea who she is and tries to pick her up. One day, he offers her a ride and "runs out of gas." As she's leaving the car to take a ride with someone else, a car hits her and she is badly injured - in fact, she's blinded.
Merrick now befriends her in the park, where she sits practicing her Braille. He doesn't identify himself - she calls him "Dr. Robert"; he tells her that he once had aspirations to be a doctor himself. He arranges for her to have a steady income, since Dr. Hudson gave most of his money away and only has worthless stocks - she thinks her husband's copper stocks are now worth a lot -- and then he arranges for some of the finest doctors in the world to meet in Paris and study her. She thinks it's because her husband was so highly regarded. Alas, the prognosis is that the doctors see no point in surgery. It goes on from there, assuming fabulous aspects.
This kind of melodrama was extremely popular in the 1930s; director Douglas Sirk loved this type of film and remade some of them in the '50s, giving them big, glitzy productions, and made some new ones as well.
Though today the plot seems ridiculous, because of the commitment and likability of the actors and the spiritual undertone that goes throughout the film, somehow one doesn't stop watching, and it sure worked well in 1935 and 1954.
Robert Taylor is gloriously handsome, known for his perfect profile, resonant speaking voice, and charming presence. I have never considered him much of an actor, but he was my mother's favorite, and I watch him every time he's on TCM in her honor. He holds the record for being employed by a studio the longest - 24 years with MGM, until it dissolved, and went on to more films, a successful television show, and he replaced Ronald Reagan on Death Valley Days.
Irene Dunne gives a lovely performance without histrionics or being overdone in any way.
Good movie? For what it is, yes. -
lewis-516 April 2010This movie is a prime example of what I call "dated." Many fine movies made in the 1930s and 40s are definitely NOT dated: Casablanca, The Big Sleep, Dodsworth, Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives. It doesn't matter that they were made 60 or 70 years ago, the people are events are fresh and powerful.
Unfortunately, I can't say that about this movie. It tries very hard to be profound and moving. But it is just too contrived. I just can't believe the actions of the main characters are real. Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor do a good enough job acting. But the basic plot and dialog just don't make sense. They are too much aimed to appeal to the tastes and customs of an era and a level of sophistication now gone.
I don't want to give away any spoilers so I'll not go into details.
It did keep surprising me however, and is worth watching if you like movies that are slightly unrealistic romantic soap operas.- henry
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sol-kay8 April 2010**SPOILERS*** In what turned out to be the breakout movie for a 24 year old Robert Taylor like it was 20 years later for another Hollywood heartthrob Rock Hudson "Magnificent Obsession" shows that no matter how spoiled and rotten one is there's always hope when one finally sees the light of goodness through unselfish love and giving to other without wanting anything in return.
This is the golden rule that Doctor Hudson lived as well as died by. Hudson suffering a heart attack while taking his morning swim died before he could get help to save his life. The defibrillator that could have saved Dr. Hudson's life was at the time being used to save that good for nothing spoiled brat Robert Merrick, Robert Taylor. It was Merrick who after a night of partying and getting himself good and smashed ended up felling into the lake almost drowning himself! Why a man like Dr. Hudson who unselfishly saved hundreds of lives without even asking them to pay their, or his, doctors bills had to die so that a low down no good partying skunk like Merrick survived is the basis of the film "Magnificent Obsession". It was in Merrick meeting Dr. Hudson's distraught young wife, some 20 years his Junior, Helen (Irene Dunne) and later due to his fun loving and irresponsible nature had her lose her sight in a traffic accident that turn the young man completely around. It was the late Dr. Hudson mentor sculpture and philosopher Mr. Randolph, Ralph Morgan, who put, in bringing the very best out of him, the drunk and confused young man on the road to redemption.
Great five handkerchief Hollywood tearjerker with an unbelievingly tall dark and handsome Robert Taylor giving one of his best performances as the spoiled and later guilt ridden and saint-like Robert Merrick. It was Mr. Randolph was gave Merrick the will to overcame his demons in causing Mrs. Hudson, who held him responsible for her husbands death, blindness with what at the time he thought was his harmless boyish antics! Telling Merrick to give to others and not ask for nothing in return in fact was the reason that caused Mrs. Hudson her sight. In Merrick at first using Mr. Randolph rock hard philosophy on life to his advantage!
***SPOILERS*** Now a completely changed man Merrick went the whole nine yards and even farther to not only win the blind Mrs. Hudson's heart but restore her sight by attending and graduating medical school, at the top of his class, in order for him to do it! It took everything that he had, money time as well as his health, for Robert Merrick to achieve all this but it was well worth it to both him Mrs. Hudson and all those he helped along the way in restoring her lost sight that he was responsible for. Robert Merrick was totally obsessed in his redeeming himself by restoring Mrs. Hudson's sight! And that turned out to be not a lost caused, like the top eye specialists from all over Europe told him that it was, but an ten year obsession on his part. And as things were to turn out Robert Merrick's "Maginfient Obsession" in the end became a solid reality! -
melvr196718 August 2004I saw this movie only once while in high school, many years ago. I have many times seen the Rock Hudson/Jane Wyman version and re-watch it, just because the story is so good in its purest form. The RH and JW version is truly sappy, and must have been one of the top ten to help coin the phrase "Chick Flick". The story is so much better told through it's literature, but like so many, I love to see literature come to life, and see if the Director and Producers have any likenesses to my own imagination. Lloyd C Douglas was a dear man, I'm sure, as an author I found him a bit sophomoric, but nonetheless, enjoyable. His others books, are in the same vein, and worth reading, especially "White Banners", which is also made into a film, with the same overtones as "Magnificent Obsession". Another one of his books worth noting, is "Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal", which isn't a true sequel, but sheds light on the theory that lights M.O.'s fire.
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I don't remember how I learned of "Magnificent Obsession". I watched the two movie versions back-to-back. John Stahl's original is undeniably the more serious one, while Douglas Sirk's remake has more of a glossy quality.
I interpreted the movie (I've never read the book and probably never will, given how long it takes me to get through books) as a look at redemption, with the carefree protagonist trying to right a wrong. Everyone does a perfect job in it. There's nothing significant in terms of cinematography or anything, but the story and direction make it one that you have to see.
I never realized that edition of "The Real Mother Goose" existed all the way back then. -
mysterv12 July 2010I am a fan of Irene Dunne and was looking forward to seeing this movie. Unfortunately it felt a little out of touch with the events, especially in the first half of the movie. After the initial shock of learning that her husband had suddenly died, the wife displayed little grief. In fact she seemed somewhat interested in a young man (Robert Taylor) she met when her car broke down. Of course, she didn't know that he had indirectly contributed to her late husband's death but she seemed a little too carefree for the situation. This movie is of some interested because it is the original version of the story. I have not seen the updated version yet so am interested in comparing the two movies.
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edwagreen20 January 2013The 1954 remake of "Magnificent Obsession" was far better. In the '35 version, there are some comic overtones. This was not needed here.
Robert Taylor, as the irresponsible turned doctor, seemed to have improved with the film. Irene Dunne, as always, gave a solid performance here.
The gentleman who teaches the wild Merrick humility had an extremely cold veneer.
The melodramatic scene at the operating table by Dr. Merrick seemed out of line here.
The plot is an endearing, excellent one. The playboy learning humility by causing a double tragedy in a woman's life. Even when he tried to please, tragedy struck. The acceptance of all concerned about him is another tremendous asset to the film. -
marthawilcox183130 July 2014Despite the good cast this isn't as good a film as it could be. Robert Taylor is informed about the power of doing good without publicity or expecting anything in return. This is the kind of thing that happens with someone who is overflowing with blessing and wants to share it with others who are less fortunate. There is a temptation to publicise it, but it is more important to share blessings rather than to keep it. One of the characters make reference to the bible, but he doesn't open it nor does he mention Jesus whom he is referring to. He should have elaborated on his point by speaking about the power of the Holy Spirit in the bible, and then draw parallels with the heat that comes from an electric cooker ring.
There is a germ of a good idea in this film, but the way that it is written and executed lets the film down. -
Magnificent Obsession concerns a reckless playboy named Merrick, who drowns and is resuscitated with equipment that might have saved the elderly doctor to whom it belonged. Falling in love with the doctor's beautiful young wife, who hates the very thought of him, he learns the reason for her love of the man who died...a philosophy of helping other people, without ever letting them know. When the women loses her sight in a car accident, Merrick takes advantage of her blindness by befriending her. Pretending to be a doctor, he determines to become a surgeon to restore her vision at the risk of losing her love.
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Two movies 20 years apart based on the same book about a woman who's blinded in a car accident proved pivotal to a pair of future well-known actors. The earliest film involved young Robert Taylor, whose screen presence exponentially increased after his performance in December 1935's "Magnificent Obsession." Adapted from Lloyd Douglas' 1929 weepy novel, Taylor played a spoiled brat who was in love with the stricken woman, but suddenly gains maturity by motivating himself to become a brain surgeon.
Taylor was in his second year in Hollywood, and saw some success in his earlier appearance in "Broadway Melody of 1936." Casting the character of the son from a wealthy family whose love for the bottle was more important than treating people decently was crucial for the John Stahl-directed movie. After several choices were considered to play opposite actress Irene Dunn, Taylor was selected, with positive results.
"Magnificent Obsession" bounces from one tragedy to the next, but contains shining examples of sacrificing oneself for the greater good of human kind. Taylor plays the wisecracking Robert Merrick, whose drunken accident nearly kills him, only to be saved by the local hospital's only ventilator. Trouble is, at the same time Robert was hogging the sole ventilator, the highly esteemed generous philanthropist Dr. Hudson dies because of the same hospital's lack of another ventilator. Dr. Hudson's younger wife, Helen (Dunne), loathes the young man whom she feels is responsible for her husband's death. Robert meets and falls for the widow (in real life Irene was 35 to Taylor's 24). Driving her home, he becomes aggressive in his passion. Helen escapes his clutches by jumping out of the parked car, only to be struck by a passing automobile. "When his character makes the transition from self-absorbed playboy to dedicated doctor and committed philanthropist," describes film reviewer Sean Axmaker, "you can see the guilt and regret in his face and the seriousness in his new demeanor."
The author of 'Magnificent Obsession,' Lloyd Douglas, a former church minister who is also known for his 1942 novel 'The Robe,' adopted the Bible's Gospel of Matthew passage "That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly" as a basis for both Dr. Hudson's generosity and Robert Merrick's remarkable turnaround as a Nobel Prize-winning brain surgeon. Merrick's focus on dedicating his life to cure the blind Helen sets up a tearjerker conclusion.
Taylor saw his fortunes in Hollywood increase after "Magnificent Obsession," a film where the actor was a loan-out to Universal Pictures. He began receiving substantial roles from his employer, MGM, after the studio realized what a gem it had in its stable. Ironically, the 1954 remake of the same book also boasted the career of another young actor who had been bouncing around in low budget adventure movies. Rock Hudson was selected for the Merrick role in director Douglas Sirk's "Magnificent Obsession." The film became a huge hit for Universal, catapulting Hudson into the limelight as Hollywood's new romantic star.