The Hidden Room (1949) User Reviews (52)

Man's Best Friend.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 26 June 2013]

Obsession (AKA: The Hidden Room) is directed by Edward Dmytryk and adapted to screenplay by Alec Coppel from his own book and play. It stars Robert Newton, Phil Brown, Sally Gray and Naunton Wayne. Music is by Nino Rota and cinematography by C.M. Pennington-Richards.

Finally having had enough of his wife's affair with a young lover, Dr. Clive Riordan (Newton) plots a devilish scheme of kidnap and murder...

The motive that drives the plot of Obsession is simple in the extreme, this is out and out a revenge for infidelity, but the presentation by Dmytryk is superbly crafty in that Hitchcockian way. The doctor is a most elegant and calm man, he has the perfect murder in mind for his wife's lover (Brown) and he, being a purveyor of psychological smarts, is going to enjoy the luxury of methodically taunting his prey over a period of time.

With the man ingeniously incarcerated down in a bombed out abode, and subjected to daily visits from the doctor, Dr. Clive is then seen going about his normal routines. Exchanging brandy sips with cultural chatter in the gentleman's club, swatting away the attentions of his increasingly fraught wife (Gray), and of course dealing with the close attentions of Scotland Yard; here in the form of Naunton Wayne's astute Superintendent Finsbury. The "good" doctor even has plenty of time to indulge in his love of model train set construction.

The initial plot machinations are slowly paced by the recently blacklisted director, but it's a deliberate ploy since the whole complexion of the movie changes once the kidnap occurs and the police and the press become involved. The atmosphere becomes tense, and this even as captor and captive enjoy some straight backed - prim and proper - verbal exchanges. There's a meticulousness to the murder based thematics that strike a chord, the mention of Crippen and obvious nods to John George Haigh keep the film buzzing with real life serial killer atrocities.

There's a case to be made here that this is Dmytryk's best British film? Certainly his ability to build suspense without histrionics or blood letting is a masterclass in Brit thriller staging. While his directing of Newton and Wayne, both of whom are excellent, is also worthy of a pat on the back. Visually it's straight black and white photography, except for the odd time we are out on the wet cobbled streets and the gaslights ooze the ethereal. But although there's some debate about if it deserves film noir status, I personally feel it's the sort of crime/thriller mounted with enough skill to make it worth seeking out by the film noir loving crowd.

Some of the support turns are stiff, but mercifully not film harming, while you do have to accept that the locale of the crime is hardly water tight and most likely would have been found with ease. But minor itches be damned, this is cunning, crafty and a British chiller of some worth. 8/10

Every dog has its day!

[Spondonman · 8/10 · 29 July 2007]

Since I first saw Obsession 30 years ago it's remained one of my favourite post War British thrillers – although directed by and starring Americans it's nowhere near noir but a very British take on a calculated attempt at a perfect murder. The idea shown is almost as foolproof and institutionally British as dismembered body parts in suitcases checked into railway station lockers. Some cogent concise acting, scripting, production and black & white photography all go to make an engrossing 93 minutes UK TV running time.

Erudite doctor Robert Newton plays a husband who gets terminally jealous of his philandering wife Sally Gray and decides to bump off her current lover Phil Brown in an ingenious and supposedly undetectable manner. Bomb ravaged London comes into play here with the kidnapped lover temporarily installed in a derelict hidden room underneath a broken brick wasteland to await his gruesome but quick death at manic Newton's hands. And it is Newton's picture - although Naunton Wayne gives him a run for his money later on - his perfect diction matching his impassive body language (maybe exhausted after all the gurning he'd just done in Oliver Twist) and creating a perfectly clinical analysis of the mind of a hopeful murderer. Monty sure was a lucky dog to have escaped a bath though!

A great little film with plenty for you to think about and an atmosphere all of its own when the British made good British films with only the British in mind – even with Yank input!

remarkably well-done plot

[RanchoTuVu · 7/10 · 26 March 2015]

A London psychiatrist (Robert Newton) catches his wife (Sally Gray) in an affair with an American (Phil Brown). Apparently this is not her first affair, and Newton, as the objective and self-controlled psychiatric professional, decides to settle things in a well-thought-out way by first kidnapping and then imprisoning the American in a hidden room not too far removed from the actual residence, with the ultimate goal of killing him without leaving any incriminating traces. The film could have been more dramatic by playing up the relationship between Newton and the beautiful Sally Gray. Gray seems to be telling the viewer that Newton never really loved her, although it also seems as if her youth and passion were too much for his middle-aged character to handle. In any event the plot, which is remarkably well done, inevitably leads to a police or Scotland Yard type investigation and eventual solving of the crime, rather than a dark story.

For the young among us who only know Robert Newton as Long John Silver, his role as the psychiatrist in The Hidden Room aka Obsession is a revelation!

[countryway_48864 · 29 August 2001]

I have only just found this wonderful place to talk about films and I am thrilled to read that so many love The Hidden Room, as Obsession is called here, as much as I do.

Robert Newton has always been one of my favorite actors and it pleases me no end to discover his name on this thread.

When Newton made this film he was still interested in acting and it shows. There are subtle things that he does that are the hallmark of a great actor. His natural kindness comes through as well as his intelligence. You believe he really is this successful London psychiatrist with a wife who wanders.

The opening shot in the film establishes his character. There is tension in his casual posture at the card table. The viewer realizes that here is a man with his mind somewhere else. A troubled man, but one in perfect control of his surface emotions. Newton establishes in just a few shots a complex personality, a man capable of many actions.

Later there is a scene with the deaf butler that is both nerve-racking and sad.

My favorite scene is when he comes to visit his captive to bring him food. The way he instinctively walks just an inch beyond the reach of Bill. He is a tantalizing target for his victim, but just, just out of reach. To me a brilliant scene. A later, equally brilliant scene features the dog.

Another scene with many levels is the model train scene. Again as brilliant as anything Hitchcock ever presented to a viewer. As most of you know, Newton was in a very early Hitchcock film, Jamaica Inn. The Hidden Room is MUCH better.

Every chance I get, I show this film to friends, and without exception they say it is one of the best and most intense films they have ever seen. They wonder why it isn't better known. I have no answer to that. I am just grateful that I can visit that Hidden Room in the bombed-out building whenever I wish for some genuine chills.

gosh I was so worried about Monty

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 23 July 2016]

I hate to see animals in films, I always worry that something awful will happen to them. I usually can figure out what will happen to the people. For those who are like me, I want to report that Monty is okay.

Anyway, this was a good film starring Sally Gray and Robert Newton. Newton is Clive, a psychiatrist who surprises his wife (Gray) when she is with another man, Bill (Phil Brown, who worked in England later on after being blacklisted) an American.

The next thing you see is Clive relaxing at his club. The newspapers are full of an American, Bill Kronin, who has gone missing. His wife thinks that Clive killed him. But has he? And if he hasn't, where is he?

Suspenseful, dark thriller with excellent performances by Newton as the egomaniacal psychiatrist who believes he can outsmart Scotland Yard, Naughton Wayne as the Scotland Yard inspector who claims to be looking into the couple's missing dog, Monty, and Gray, as a wife who goes from man to man. Someone said the Newton character was sympathetic and she looked like a villain. Personally I can't blame her - Clive seemed like a manipulative cold fish.

Well done by a director familiar with noir, Edward Dmytryk.

Newton would die of alcoholism six years later, and Gray would marry a Lord, retire, and live to age 91. Kronin returned to the US after the blacklist and worked into his 80s. I don't know about Monty; he was cute, though.

Tense and Claustrophobic Thriller Well-Directed By Dmytryk

[tomreynolds2004 · 10/10 · 4 March 2004]

Robert Newton is a Doctor and a gentleman. But even he can be pushed too far from his manipulative cheating wife, Storm. Sally Gray gives a devastatingly perfect performance as Storm. Her callow suitor-du-jour, an American sailor named Bill, doesn't have the faintest idea of the peril he's in for when he dates her. Newton's character has nothing in particular against Bill. In fact, he rather likes him. He just happens to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

It's all played out in a single hidden room that no one knows Newton owns, and the psychological effects the situation has on its three principal is explored to its utmost. If you enjoy film noir, and taut character studies, this is the movie for you. Don't miss the dark-humoured twist ending!

British Noir about Sadistic Psychiatrist Holding a Man Captive

[robert-temple-1 · 7/10 · 13 November 2008]

This film is based on a novel ('A Man about a Dog') by Alec Coppel, who wrote Hitchcock's 'Vertigo'. This story is far creepier and more sinister than that one. Robert Newton, who the previous year had entranced people as Bill Sikes in 'Oliver Twist', and who was to be cursed with the role of Long John Silver the next year, from which he would struggle to escape for the rest of his life, here shows what a fine standard British actor he was. He plays a highly articulate and urbane London psychiatrist who beneath his mask is actually an obsessive and sadistic psychopath. Anyone who thinks psychiatrists cannot be more mentally ill than their patients is naive: I have known two psychiatrists personally (no, I was not a patient) who were totally insane. It is a good place to hide when you are psychotic, as no one can question you. Newton is perfect in this part, and his calm never leaves him till the end, as he carries out his odious plans with the unruffled manner of a cleaner dusting a bookshelf (and he has plenty of bookshelves). Newton is married to a compulsively unfaithful wife, played with style by the glamorous Sally Gray (who made one more film the next year and then became Lady Oranmore and retired from the screen). One day he snaps, and Phil Brown is the American lover who bears the brunt. As Newton says to him: 'You've heard about the straw that broke the camel's back? Well, you're the straw.' With meticulous cunning, Newton imprisons Brown in a cellar on a deserted bombsite (this is just after the War, and bombsites were everywhere in London). He holds him for months, and Brown very cleverly creates a character who attempts to bond with his captor, in the hope that he can somehow escape. Brown is kept chain within a chalked circle of his subterranean den, and Newton stands just at the edge of it and lectures Brown about how each time he comes he brings a hot water bottle full of yet more acid with which he is slowly filling the bath tub into which he will place Brown's body when it comes time to kill him, where it will dissolve. 'So I'll just go down the plug?' asks Brown, and Newton solemnly agrees. This film is really nasty and does not let up in showing us the calculating manner in which a psychopath goes about his carefully coordinated crime plan. Ed Dmytryk directs chillingly and tautly, and surprisingly the music is by Nino Rota of Italy, who later would become famous for composing the music for major Italian directors like Visconti and Fellini. Naunton Wayne plays a Scotland yard superintendent with a calm and menace which exceeds even that of Newton's. This film in a sense is a study in the mannered British way of behaving, and the politenesses exchanged between a criminal and a detective who are enemies, as well as between a husband and a wife who loathe each other but for some reason never split up, living on in their elegant house with no children but the dog Monty, played by a real dog called Monty. And here is the rub: Monty messes things up in a major way, but that would be telling. For those who can bear the extremely grisly and claustrophobic aspects of this sick tale, which was a forerunner of 'The Collector' with Samantha Eggar, this film could be recommended as good noir fare. But it is not pleasant, and it lacks the surreal and haunting quality of 'Vertigo' entirely. It is certainly a savage comment on the arch hypocrisy of traditional upper middle class British manners, and all that they can conceal, such as 'something nasty in the shed'.

Brilliantly conceived and realised film noir

[simon_sparrow · 10/10 · 12 August 2001]

Robert Newton gives a restrained and powerful performance as a cuckolded doctor exacting revenge on his high-spirited wife by abducting her young American lover, then keeping her guessing as to where he is, and whether he is still alive. Sally Gray is nothing short of brilliant as the wife. And, Naughton Wayne is magnificent as the dogged police inspector. Obsession combines brilliantly chiseled characterisations with an extremely intelligent and literate screenplay. Keep it on tape, because no one gets all the nuances the first time he or she watches it, but it's all put together so brilliantly the repeat viewings become a glorious pleasure.

What? No Cricket discussion?

[paulccarroll-65937 · 7/10 · 12 September 2022]

I went over all these reviews, and everything has been thoroughly covered. Except, it's hard to believe that no mentioned that the Scotland Yard detective was played by one half of the Charters and Caldicott duo, From Hitchcocks "The Lady Vanishes", Naunton Wayne. Wayne , along with Basil Radford played Charters and Caldicott in over 10 films and Radio plays after originating the characters in Hitchcocks 1938 film. They continually played the duo till Radford died in the middle of a radio play in 1950, from a heart attack, and Naunton had to finish without Him. The best part of this film is the back and forth jousting between the detective and the failed murderer. It's quite pleasant fun!

Excellent dark thriller

[The_Void · 9/10 · 12 August 2009]

Obsession is adapted from a book by Alec Coppel (who also wrote the screenplay) and is yet another film based on the idea of a man in search of 'the perfect murder'. The film takes on a dark noir tone and the film focuses on both the story at hand, as well as the psychology of the lead character. The lead character is Dr. Clive Riordan; a prominent psychologist. He's an articulate and intelligent man and so when he discovers his wife is having a string of affairs right under his nose, he decides to do something about it, by way of shocking her into not having any more affairs. He drops in on his wife one night while she is enjoying an evening with a lover - an American named Bill Kronin - and holds the two of them at gunpoint. After humiliating his wife; she leaves the room, while he and the American leave shortly afterwards. The American then disappears; the wife believes her husband has murdered the man as he promised he would, but the truth is much more sinister as the psychologist goes in pursuit of the perfect murder.

The lead role is taken by Robert Newton, who makes for an excellent lead. His portrayal of the central character is thoroughly captivating, and much of the film's success is owed to this. The film also benefits from an excellent script, which really makes the characters seem real and provides some excellent lines of dialogue - a scene between the lead character a police officer over the varying skills of the police and murderers is a major highlight. The plot itself flows very well as the film moves along and more than does enough to hold the audience's attention; the psychologist's musings over his theories on how to commit the perfect crime are one of the main points of interest. The atmosphere of the film is very dark and director Edward Dmytryk lays style on very thick which is of great benefit to the story, which is very dark itself. Things get very tense as we near the ending and the end itself is strong and gives good closure to the story. Overall, Obsession is a great thriller and well worth the effort of tracking down. Highly recommended!

Well Played

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 1 October 2014]

I wouldn't call this suspense movie a masterpiece but it's well written and acted. And the musical score is, improbably, by Nino Rota. I found it a little claustrophobic and very dark, although the banter is light-hearted enough, even as Robert Newton plots the murder of his wife, Sally Gray's, most recent lover and a cute little shaggy dog runs around making a general nuisance of himself.

If it doesn't remind you of Hitchcock's (or Knott's) "Dial M For Murder," it can only be because you haven't seen "Dial M For Murder." Newton is a suave and unflappable London psychiatrist. He's tired of his wife's serial philandering, so he kidnaps the latest of them, the American Phil Brown, and chains him up in a nearby garage. The idea is to keep good old Phil alive until his disappearance more or less blows over, then kill him, dissolve his body in acid, and let the whole business swirl down the drain.

The cursed dog, in a playful mood, discovers the arrangement and now Newton must dispose of the dog in the same way. It may have been Newton's only sound idea.

The disappearance of a foreign nobody, who may have taken off for foreign climes as far as anyone knows, and a dog that's run away. No need for Scotland Yard to get involved, let alone to start homing in on Newton. Yet the Yard does, in the person of the diminutive and chipper Naunton Wayne. Even during his first visit to the Newton house, he insinuates that Newton is somehow involved.

Newton plays the murderer manque absolutely straight, his diction precise, his demeanor impeccable and blameless. Except for one lapse, an Americanism he's picked up from his prisoner chained in the garage -- "Thanks, Pal." He only says it once but it's the wrong time and place. The dialog adds some necessary sparkle to the rather grim story and bleak prospect that looms over the film.

The weakest performance, which isn't terrible by any means, is Phil Brown's, the Yank. He's too cheerful and willfully snide with his captor, knowing he's to be killed. I mean, why insult the guy who's going to murder you? As the wife, Sally Gray hasn't much to do but look pretty, wear the revolting, long "new look" dresses of the period. My God, they were ugly. She's involved in a finely written, ironic ending. The dog, given a choice, runs to Phil Brown and ignores her calls. And the ending isn't tragic. Nobody dies. Newton is only imprisoned and the authorities will doubtless make him the chief librarian.

Brilliantly conceived and realised film noir

[simon_sparrow · 10/10 · 11 August 2001]

Robert Newton gives a restrained and powerful performance as a cuckolded doctor exacting revenge on his high-spirited wife by abducting her young American lover, then keeping her guessing as to where he is, and whether he is still alive. Sally Gray is nothing short of brilliant as the wife. And, Naughton Wayne is magnificent as the dogged police inspector. Obsession combines brilliantly chiseled characterisations with an extremely intelligent and literate screenplay. Keep it on tape, because no one gets all the nuances the first time he or she watches it, but it's all put together so brilliantly the repeat viewings become a glorious pleasure.

Cat And Mouse And Dog

[Lejink · 6/10 · 16 March 2021]

Whilst I have no admiration for Edward Dymtryk as a man after his selfish betrayal of his colleagues during the Hollywood Communist witch-hunt of the late 40's and early 50's, he undeniably knew how to direct a film. This indeed was a movie he made in exile in England at a time when his membership of the Hollywood Ten saw him denied work in America.

It's a very unusual film built around a highly implausible premise which still manages to carry the viewer's interest until the end. Robert Newton is a wealthy, but emotionless doctor who dines at his club, sitting with his cronies late into the night putting the world to rights and bemoaning the poor quality of the drinks on offer. Not too surprisingly, his pretty wife, Sally Gray takes lovers behind his back only this time, when he catches her in the act with suave American Phil Brown, he exacts a grisly revenge by effectively kidnapping and imprisoning the hapless Yank in a subterranean garage, chaining him to a bed and promising his hostage that he will indeed kill him after the fuss about the disappearance has died down, even months from now. Thus, Newton can effect his perfect murder in his own time as the delay will greatly reduce any suspicion of motive on his part should the police start investigating the man's associates, even allowing for the unlikely event that the poor man's body will ever turn up, as Newton is obviously taking inspiration from Gilbert Haigh's then recent acid-bath M.O. Also, there's only so much acid you can smuggle in a water bottle until you can in fact fill a bath which also accounts for the delay.

Credulity is stretched even further however as we're bizarrely expected to accept that the unfaithful wife, who firmly believes that Newton has already killed and disposed of Brown, would continue to not only live with her homicidal husband in unhappy wedlock, but also fail to go to the police with her well-founded suspicions. I understand that things like marital vows and social position meant much more then than now but it's asking a lot to accept that a woman, especially a high-spirited one as projected here by Gray, would continue to live with a perceived murderer and not try harder to trace the whereabouts of her former lover.

A couple of outside occurrences, one seemingly minor and the other major, change the course of events, one the disappearance of the couple's dog who ends up being Brown's cherished companion in hiding and the second the appearance on the scene of Naunton Wayne's English-Poirot-type DCI who immediately suspects Newton and makes a nuisance of himself to the latter's carefully laid plans.

It gets even sillier when Brown improbably trains the dog to derail Newton's end-game strategy and it all ends up with a race against the clock to save the seemingly doomed man as Newton senses Wayne close on his tail.

This sort of thing, in my opinion, was carried out appreciably better by William Wyler in the much later "The Collector". I appreciated the black humour of the piece, particularly the matter-of-fact exchanges between Newton and his hostage Brown. However, I found the whole thing too improbable to hold together and that it ultimately collapses under the weight of its own pretensions, this despite good performances by all the four principals. Dymtryk directs with a lightness of touch but fails ultimately to really create the tense, nail-biting finish which I think would have salvaged the film and in the end left me thinking more about the English class system, marital mores of the time and the importance of manners and politesse instead of the noir-ish chills and thrills I was anticipating,

In the end, the film comes across like a Raymond Chandler story as adapted by Terence Rattigan when in fact it would have worked far better if those positions had been reversed.

I'm Too Fiery for This Movie

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 19 June 2022]

I don't mind saying that I'm too much of a jealous husband to appreciate this movie. Our main character, Clive Riordan (Robert Newton), wasn't jealous of his wife's extra-marital affair, he was just upset that he was played for a fool.

Storm Riordan (Sally Gray) was stepping out on her husband Clive with an American named Bill Kronin (Phil Brown). After typing that last sentence I wonder what upset Clive more: the fact his wife was cheating on him or the fact she was cheating on him with an American? In any case, Clive was well aware of his wife's infidelity and he'd hatched the perfect plan to end it.

He confronted the two at his home when they thought he was away on holiday. Because this is a British film the entire scenario was rather tame and sophisticated considering the circumstances. I suppose the British pride themselves on their manners even in adverse situations. In this case I think it was well-mannered to a fault. There are times when decorum is necessary and there are times when you need to be Marsellus Wallace and go medieval. This was a medieval moment.

Clive played it cool because he had a plan. Oddly (or maybe not), Storm became indignant with her husband as though he was in the wrong. She had that strange, yet common reaction of someone caught doing something embarrassing so they lash out at the one who caught them like the one who caught them should uphold their dignity. Just as odd (or maybe not) is that Clive remained married to his wife and civil to her as well. I would've expected to see War of the Roses if he was going to remain married. Shows how much I know of British culture.

Clive's plan involved holding Bill captive until a time as he saw appropriate to kill him. He wanted to make sure his name was in the clear before doing the deed and disposing of him.

This was another case of trying to be too smart. We'd see this in movies to come after 1949 and in most cases the intelligent, leave-nothing-to-chance killer is caught. Right away I can think of "Dial M for Murder," "The Perfect Murder," "Murder by Numbers," and "Fracture." It's usually a small thing that upsets their plan.

I think if I'd seen "The Hidden Room" aka "Obsession" 20-25 years ago I would've liked it, or I would've liked it a little more at least. Now, with a catalog of similar movies in my head, I found it mediocre. There were a lot of stuffy speeches and British good manners that did more to hamper the movie than help it. It's not a copycat, but I've seen enough overplanned murder movies to not be at all impressed or surprised.

Furthermore, this movie ended too blissfully. Clive was arrested eventually, but not for murder, just attempted murder because Bill survived being poisoned. He cordially went along with the superintendent of Scotland Yard as though he'd been invited out for a drink. Then the unfaithful wife simply went on holiday totally unbothered by her involvement in a scandal, and quite resolved to pick up where she left off with seeing Bill or whoever else wandered into her life. I'm just too fire and brimstone for such an ending.

visually and psychologically claustrophobic

[rogierr · 30 July 2001]

Why only 29 votes when it is presumably inspiration for Vertigo, even written by the same author (Alec Coppel) and with music by probably the greatest (besides Ennio Morricone and Philip Glass) composer in cinema Nino Rota (Godfather, Amarcord, 8 1/2, Il Gattopardo)? Vertigo seems like a degenerated 'Obsession' to me. Brian De Palma's Obsession (1976) was probably inspired by Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), which was probably inspired by Dmytryk's masterpiece Obsession. This thriller surpasses most Hitchcocks. The suspense is gruesome, the music is memorable, the great cinematography by Pennington-Richards (Scrooge (1970?), 1984 (1956)) is dynamic and claustrophobic and the performance of Phil Brown as 'Bill' is more interesting than any character of James Stewart or Cary Grant. There is a lot of psychological terror, but what else would you expect from a fight between a psychiatrist and a diplomat? 'When a man's intelligence is insulted he is reduced to the most insensible and uncivilized behaviour.' Universal Pictures must have kept this hidden treasure securely hidden to prevent the success of Vertigo of fading out. This should have been a classic and will be one day. The black-list-era should have been over by now, don't you think?

9/10

Creepy and ahead of its time

[HotToastyRag · 6/10 · 11 April 2018]

"You've heard of the last straw, Bill? Well you're it."

So sums up the plot of the chilling thriller The Hidden Room. Robert Newton's wife, Sally Gray, has been repeatedly unfaithful. Bobbie can't take it anymore, and he's vowed to kill the next of her lovers. Phil Brown just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Hidden Room was ahead of its time, no doubt inspiring stories like Sleuth and Secrets in Their Eyes. It's not your normal revenge story of the 1940s; it's very creepy. Robert Newton was an easy casting choice for the frustrated villain, but I'm sure James Mason, Herbert Marshall, and Claude Rains were envious that they weren't chosen instead, as they each could have played the part.

My biggest criticism of the film is its untapped potential. When Scotland Yard gets involved in the story, the cleverness of writer Alec Coppel dwindles. There could have been many more cat-and-mouse games, or gotchas for the audience, all of which would have fit in with the opening tone of the film. It doesn't make any sense that Scotland Yard even becomes involved in the first place, let alone the other steps that are taken. Still, if you like creepy stories or revenge schemes that involve mental torture, you'll definitely want to check out The Hidden Room.

A forgotten masterpiece

[aromatic-2 · 10/10 · 6 February 2000]

No movie has ever delved into the psychic essences of its three main characters as this claustrophobic thriller has succeeded in doing. Robert Newton is astoninshing and the actor playing Bill Kronin is even better, but Sally Grey's Storm has got to be one of the most memorable faithless wives in the history of filmdom -- definitely a role model.

Effective noirish tale of charming psychiatrist who attempts to commit the "perfect crime"

[Turfseer · 7/10 · 26 October 2021]

What was noted American noir director Edward Dymtyrk doing making a picture in England? It turns out that he and one of his actors here, Phil Brown, were both blacklisted by HUAC in the late 40s. Unlike Dymtryk, who later had a change of heart and testified against his fellow Hollywood leftists who refused to name names before HUAC, Brown was forced to work across the Atlantic for years, before being permitted to return to the US.

Obsession (named The Hidden Room for the US release) is a fairly effective noirish crime drama starring a very believable Robert Newton as Dr. Clive Riordan, a London psychiatrist, who decides to get back at his philandering wife Storm (Sally Gray), by murdering her latest fling.

What is so good about the "avenging angel" Riordan is that he's quite charming and to a certain extent likeable as a man who is bent on committing the "perfect crime."

Riordan declares that Storm's latest conquest is the "last straw," so he chooses an American, Bill Kronin (Brown) as his victim. Riordan imprisons Kronin in a room in a deserted bombed out building and chains him to a wall. His plan isn't to torture his victim but rather keep him imprisoned and allow a good number of months to go by, until the police lose interest in the case.

He also needs the time to work with a set of chemicals in his lab to create an acid bath which he will place Kronin's body in after he murders him (and indeed at film's end he attempts the murder by lacing a thermos full of martinis which Kronin unwittingly imbibes).

In addition to Newton, the very British Nauton Wayne (with his dry wit) plays the investigating detective, Superintendent Finsbury, who picks up the cold case after receiving an anonymous letter from Storm explicating her concerns that her husband was involved in Kronin's disappearance (her beliefs are based on threats Riordan made against Kronin in her presence during the first act of the narrative in which he held the hapless American at gunpoint before leaving his residence together).

Another very clever scene which convinces Finsbury that Kronin is still alive and is when his memory is sparked after overhearing a few American Navy seamen talking while casually passing them on the street-it's their colloquial English that reminds him that Riordan oddly used the word "pal" during their earlier conversation which made him believe that Riordan spent a good amount of time with an American.

The weak aspect of Obsession is Sally Gray's role as Storm. One wonders why she would remain with her husband all the while believing he was responsible for Kronin's disappearance. Somehow he convinces Storm that her reputation will be destroyed If she does go to the police and reveals the information about her husband's threats against Kronin and the use of the gun.

When Storm's dog Monty (whom she's very attached to) disappears and she suspects her husband, she still doesn't go to the police about her suspicions. Finally she sends the anonymous letter but doesn't notify the police directly at the beginning, which doesn't seem quite believable.

A few other questions remain as to the credibility of the plot. How exactly for example does Riordan chain Kronin to the wall? Does he knock him out with some kind of sedative first?

Obsession is somewhat lugubrious as is the manner of many of these British potboilers, but there's a great deal of witty repartee particularly in the clever banter between Newton and Brown. Only Gray gets short shrift here, especially when her character disappears for a good chunk of time towards the last third of the film.

With its charming killer, witty police inspector and a loveable canine, Obsession manages to draw you in quite satisfactorily, despite the limitations of the female role here.

Aptly named...

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 25 February 2021]

...because the actions of Dr. Clive Riordan (Robert Newton) are crazy and even misaimed. I am speaking of the alternate title of this film - Obsession. Dr. Riordan has a wife that is a chronic cheater, almost beyond amateur status. She has cheated on him with a multitude of men. Yet he picks just this one paramour - American Bill Kronin - to heap his anger upon. He even admits that he is a random victim, the last straw so to speak. He kidnaps Bill and holds him in a small room in a vacant building in a semi deserted part of London. His plan is to hold him there for a few months until inquiries about his disappearance die down. If suspicion should somehow fall on the doctor during these months, he can produce Bill unharmed. But how to dispose of the body? The doctor has produced an acid that will dissolve human bone, skin, and organs, but not plumbing. He plans to shoot Bill, dismember him, put his body in the acid bath, and merely flush him in liquid form down the drain.

The hideous part is that he tells Bill all of this. And maybe this is not the brightest thing to do either. In the mean time Riordan goes about his life. But his wife suspects her husband's involvement in Bill's disappearance, and calls Scotland Yard. And now suddenly Riordan has the British version of Columbo on his hands - "Just one more thing....". So the bulk of this movie is a psychological thriller, a battle of wits between Riordan and a Scotland Yard inspector, and another between Riordan and the captive Bill.

So RIordan is truly obsessed. He seems to like Bill, the intended victim. His cheating wife is probably still going to always cheat, Bill or no Bill. So all of this activity just boils down to his iron willed desire to perform the perfect murder.

Phil Brown, the actor who portrayed Bill, had an incredible likeness to Lew Ayres. Their voices are almost identical too. This is absolutely riveting with lots of twists and turns, though a couple of scenes were either not shot or cut from the print I saw, because it seemed some action later described was missing. I watched this because Edward Dmytryk was the director and he seldom disappoints.

Perfectly watchable.

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 6/10 · 11 December 2018]

This is a watchable yarn without being distinguishable from other similar films. Robert Newton plays a jealous husband who's convinced his wife is having an affair - she isn't. Newton still plots the abduction and murder of the alleged lothario and then the clock is ticking... The plot isn't gripping but it shuffles along quite agreeably.

The Perfect Murder!?

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 10 March 2015]

Robert Newton (whom I remember from Disney' "Treasure Island") is the one with the obsession. He is a psychologist whose wife (a real minx) has been having a series of affairs with young men. He finally reaches the end of his rope and decides to kill the next one. He happens to be a young American playboy who, unfortunately, is the one. Newton locks him in a room, hidden away, not far from his garage. He visits him frequently. He has him chained and bolted to the wall and has marked an arc, representing the distance he can go from his cot. Every day he goes into a bathroom with a water bottle full of what appears to be acid. The idea is to torment the guy and then kill him, later using the acid to consume the body and send it down the drain. Bill Conin, the victim, is glib and manages to keep his spirits up. While his disappearance at first is big news, he is soon relegated to the back pages, and, after three months, there is no mention of him. That is until Newton gets his wife's ire up by disposing of her dog (actually, he wants to use the dog to test the acid), but Bill gets hold of the dog and keeps him behind his arc. Now she is willing to go to Scotland yard and complain, and a series of questions occur and a superintendent gets involved. He's sort of a prototype of Columbo, always asking one more question.

The acting is splendid. None of the people here are very admirable. Newton is fixated on the "perfect" murder. The wife is just as bad as Newton figured, and her paramour has few redeeming qualities (not that he deserved his fate). The suspense builds nicely with dark images. The language is delightful, especially the visits to the hidden room when the threat of death lingers in the air. A really fine film.

Obsession

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 4 January 2023]

This is probably the best straight-part effort from Robert Newton I've ever seen. He is super as the doctor "Riorden" who has had just about enough of his wife's infidelities so decides to rid himself of her latest flame "Bill" (Phil Brown). After surprising the couple at their home, he somehow (and this is very much the weaker part of the film) manages to get the man chained to the wall of a bombed-out basement where he proceeds to hold him captive for weeks, whilst implementing a particularly grizzly, but untraceable, plan to kill and dispose of him. Wife "Storm" (Sally Gray) suspects that something has gone amiss, and when her beloved dog "Monty" disappears too, she involves the police. Enter the very unassuming character "Insp. Finsbury" (Naunton Wayne) who takes some advantage of "Riorden" and his cocksureness and... well... Might there still be some hope for the doomed prisoner? As I said, the start of the film is poorly constructed and requires us to let the remainder of the 95 minutes forgive that - but it ought to do that OK; the tension builds quite nicely. I can't say that I much cared for the ending, to be honest - but see what you think.

A meticulously conceived plan

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 9 June 2018]

Edward Dmytryk directed this British film Obsession during his exile years in the United Kingdom and was fortunate to have Robert Newton in the lead. As the cheated upon husband Newton who could chew up the scenery when let loose gets a firm directorial hand. His performance here is really brilliant because it is so carefully controlled.

Newton is married to Sally Gray who isn't all that subtle with her affairs. But this one with American Phil Brown is just one too many. He takes Brown prisoner and locks him in a dungeon in one of the bombed out buildings of London at the time. There he keeps Brown on a chain like a dog, but when Gray's pet terrier Monty follows Newton to the dungeon and has to be kept there, it's the missing dog that proves to be the mistake Newton didn't count on.

I have to say that Newton did have a meticulously conceived plan for the murder and that he did have a reason other than sadism for keeping him alive for weeks until he was ready to do the deed.

Like Dmytryk, Brown was also a victim of the blacklist and glad to be working over there. His American speech pattern and idiom also contributes to Newton's downfall.

Kudos also go to Naunton Wayne as the Scotland Yard police inspector who pursues this investigation with Columbo like intensity. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the Columbo character was inspired by Obsession and Naunton Wayne.

This is one top drawer British noir feature.

Monty saves the day.

[st-shot · 6/10 · 6 April 2022]

Shrink, Clive Riordan finds out his wife (Sally Gray) is having an affair with an American (Bill Cronin) and manages to imprison him with plans to kill in due time. An elaborate attempt at the perfect crime he is dogged by a Scotland Yard detective while his scheme is temporarily put on hold by the wife's dog, Monty.

Directed by Ed Dmytryk during his blacklist period, The Hidden Room has plot holes that just cannot be filled around the lover's imprisonment. Far from a remote area, a constant racket would draw attention. The relationship between jailer and prisoner is surprisingly civil and somewhat sadistic, settling into a series of cynical conversations that grow wearisome after awhile. Newton is surprisingly composed through out while a Columbo like detective (Naunton Wayne) parries with him in cat and mouse fashion to get to the bottom of things when a mere tail on the major suspect would bring the mystery to a fast close. An improbable mystery that asks its audience to overlook much of the obvious drawbacks.

It turns out that the "Hurricane Front" fan club . . .

[cricket30 · 5/10 · 7 August 2021]

. . . (not the wicked wanton's real name) has "put in the fix," and rigged this site to automatically delete any and all reviews that have the audacity to breathe a word against Hurricane's character (NOT her real name). If you do not believe this, YOU can try to submit a comment bad-mouthing Hurricane (not her real name) and see for yourself what happens. (Here's a hot tip: Nothing!) OBSESSION was our film circle's weekly assignment, so naturally all the men in our group made honest, frank, cogent assessments about Hurricane's character (or lack thereof). None of these got past the rigged bots. However, most if not all of the individuals identifying as female had submissions faulting Hurricane's shrink husband (not her real name), and they all posted immediately. (My distaff colleagues were so ashamed for having benefited from this unfair assault against the bedrock of American Free Speech, that most all of them deleted their own comments in protest against the ill treatment of our guys.)