Whirlpool (1950) User Reviews (67)

A successful marriage is usually based on what a husband and wife don't know about each other.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 4 March 2008]

An interesting and divisive film noir thriller directed by Otto Preminger and written by Ben Hecht (under the blacklist pseudonym Lester Barstow) and Andrew Solt. Adapted from the novel "Methinks the Lady" written by Guy Endore, the film Stars Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer, and Charles Bickford. Arthur C. Miller is the cinematographer and David Raksin, under the watchful eye of Alfred Newman, provides the music.

The plot sees Ann Sutton (Tierney), the wife of a successful psychoanalyst (Conte), arrested for shoplifting since she has some kleptomania issues. Just when it seems Ann is about to be thrust into a world of scandal, she is saved by smooth-talking hypnotist called David Korvo (Ferrer). Korvo, however, is not what he seems to be, and Ann soon finds herself involved in blackmail and murder and her marriage on the brink of collapse. Confused and emotionally torn, Ann is unsure whether or not she has committed a crime. It looks bleak unless her husband or the police can get to the bottom of the murky mystery.

Combining a psychological thriller core with overt melodramatics, Whirlpool has still to convince many of the film noir hoards as to its worth. Some critics find the concept of the story silly and hard to take, whilst others have gone a step further to suggest that Preminger and Hecht have merely remade Hitchcock's Gregory Peck starrer Spellbound (Hecht on screenplay duties there too) from four years earlier. Either way, and putting a noirish sheen on a Hitchcock movie is no bad thing by the way, Preminger's movie is a compelling little piece of cinema. The central theme of hypnosis as a weapon gives the film a dark edge and Preminger nicely portrays a world containing sympathetically flawed characters. While in the form of Ferrer's oily slick Korvo, film noir gets a most intriguing Mabuse/Freudian like villain of high entertainment value.

Tierney doesn't have to do much here, asked to portray confusion and a almost constant state of hypnotism, she delivers well enough whilst always remaining innocently sexy. Conte's woodenness as the husband oddly benefits the story, while also worthy of a mention is the ever watchable Charles Bickford as Lt. Colton, a thinking man's copper, Bickford keeps it serious as the daftness of the plot threatens to submerge and unhinge the drama.

Frowned upon by big hitting American critics, the film found support from notable Frenchies Rivette and Godard. It seems that like myself, they also liked the quirky and creepy nature of the beast. 7/10

"I can't remember anything about what happened!"

[Mikeonalpha99 · 7/10 · 11 September 2005]

One of the first things that struck me about Whirlpool is how good an actress Gene Tierney actually was. She does such a terrific job of portraying both the vulnerability and desperation of her character.

Set in Los Angeles, Whirlpool is an unassuming and unpretentious thriller that sort of fits the mold of noir. The movie certainly isn't the best example of the genre, but it does have many fine elements that, combined with Ms. Tierney's performance, make it eminently watchable.

Gene Tierney stars as Ann Sutton. Ann is the wealthy and respectable wife of successful psychiatrist Dr. William Sutton (a marvelous Richard Conte). The film opens as Ann is caught shoplifting a jeweled broach from a ritzy department store. The police and the store manager are determined to prosecute, but she gets off the hook thanks to David Korvo (Jose Ferrer), a mysterious hypnotist whom Ann employs to help her sleep.

Ann initially thinks that Korvo is out to blackmail her, and she offers him a large some of money to keep him quiet. Korvo, however, has another, far more furtive agenda. As he gradually builds Ann's trust, it soon is revealed that he has been having an affair with Sutton's former patient Theresa Randolph (Barbara O'Neil).

Shortly thereafter, Theresa turns up dead, and Ann is implicated as the murderer since she was found at the scene of the crime. Ann is arrested and charged with murder, but bitterly denies involvement telling her kindly husband that she just can't remember anything. So, who is the murderer? Surely it can't have been Korvo, as he was in the hospital during the time of Theresa's death.

It is left up to Lt. Colton (Charles Bickford) to use his detective skills and Dr. Sutton as the committed psychiatrist to break the hold that Korvo has on Ann and finally learn the truth behind the Theresa's murder.

Ferrer is terrific as the enigmatic Korvo. From the beginning it's plainly obvious that he's a sleazy, amoral confidence trickster, who is probably out to milk the Ann of her money and nothing happens to compromise his position. Richard Conte is also very good as Ann's concerned husband; he knows that his wife is not guilty but he's frustrated at the lack of inaction on behalf the local police to prove her innocence.

The issues of hypnotherapy, especially with the idea that hypnosis can make people do stuff they don't want to, is also interesting. Although, by today's standards it perhaps doesn't carry the kind of psychological weight and dramatic punch that it did back when the film was made.

Perhaps influenced by the wave of films during the period that utilized the growing field of hypnotherapy the picture might have seemed a bit fresher when it was first released. However, the Whirlpool is still fun to watch, especially for the lovely Gene Tierney who apparently used Whirlpool as a comeback after a two-year absence. Mike Leonard September 05.

Nice movie. Major credit: Gene Tierney's presence

[pzanardo · 8/10 · 20 June 2002]

In a movie like "Whirlpool" you must take the good together with the weaknesses and naivety. The story is reasonably interesting and entertaining: the quack doctor Korvo (Jose' Ferrer) hypnotizes and cheats Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney), the spouse of a distinguished psychoanalyst (Richard Conte). A mysterious murder ensues... Unfortunately, some twists of the story are unplausible, to say the least. The moody atmosphere and the suspense are tame, even for the standards of the 1940's.

The black and white cinematography and the use of the camera are excellent. The direction by Otto Preminger is sound. The job of the cast is very good, especially by Jose' Ferrer, Gene Tierney and Charles Bickford, as the old, life-weary policeman. Richard Conte is less convincing, possibly due to the uneasy character he has to play: a famous analyst who, indeed, is incredibly dumb in getting the mental problems of his adorable spouse. There is a certain evidence that old masters of film-making had no much esteem of psychoanalysis: here Dr. Sutton seems far less competent in psychology than the quack doctor Korvo.

The major credit of "Whirlpool" is the presence of Gene Tierney. Her divine beauty shines through the film, although it somewhat makes Dr. Sutton seem even more stupid. I say: Sutton neglects Gene Tierney, to go to some blasted scientific conference. Are you kidding or what? And Gene has some scenes to show her outstanding talent as an actress. For instance, see Gene at the police station, first dizzy at her voids of memory, thereafter bravely facing and ill-using her husband, who thinks her to be an adulteress (another great job by Sutton! He is really a genius!).

Thus Gene Tierney's class, loveliness, radiant beauty, talent are largely enough to erase the defects of "Whirlpool". Let me recommend this nice movie.

Psychology/Astrology . . . predators of human weakness?

[stephen-357 · 26 January 2005]

Part psychological drama, part film-noir. The beautiful wife of the famous psychoanalyst Dr. William Sutton, gets caught stealing an expensive pin from a department store. The infamous astrologer David Korvo comes to her aide but for a price. Through hypnosis, Mrs. Ann Sutton will unconsciously become a party to an elaborate scheme involving murder. What's most interesting about this film is the relationship between psychology and astrology. Are they both pseudo-sciences? Psychological tricksters preying on the weaknesses inherent in the human psyche? Mrs. Sutton suffers from the condition Kleptomania, but is caught between the patriarchal righteousness of her husband, "Stay as you are, as you've always been - healthy and adorable" and the cold cynicism of Mr. Korvo, "A successful marriage is usually based on what a husband and wife don't know about each other." Both Dr. Sutton and Mr. Korvo are bright guys adept at exploiting human weakness in others (especially Ann's), but both fall prey to a shared weakness: wounded vanity. An interesting film that is well worth watching. Jose Ferrer as Korvo is a standout but Gene Tierney seems to have lost her fire and ends up sleepwalking through the film, even when she is not hypnotized.

Top rate, sophisticated film noir...

[Lejink · 7/10 · 12 November 2008]

Another complex, at times morally ambiguous film noir from Otto Preminger, engaging the services of top writer Ben Hecht and actors of the quality of Gene Tierney & Jose Ferrer to give it life. It's old ground of course for all of them, Preminger and Tierney had teamed up in "Laura" and, with Hecht were to do so again in the soon-come "Where the Sidewalk Ends" while Hecht had previously turned psychoanalysis to thrilling effect in Hitchcock's "Spellbound". There are certainly some typically subversive little Preminger / Hecht touches, I detect, of voyeurism and fetishism, running the film close, I would imagine, to the prevailing moral code of the day, which the former was to take on further in "The Moon Is Blue" and to some kind of apogee in "Anatomy Of A Murder" 10 years later. Look and listen closely here and you'll see the camera fading out a shot of Tierney's husband just about to disrobe his wife after she falls into a hypnotically induced deep-sleep and at another point the salacious quote addressed to Tierney by morally corrupt blackmailing hypnotist/astrologist (what a CV!) Ferrer about "undressing her scruples". I was even pulled up by the scenes of the blood-marks on the floor from Ferrer's character as something you didn't see everyday in the sanitised, Hollywood still coming to terms with the Communist witch-hunt in the post-war era. The playing is excellent, Tierney, who I've only just discovered as an actress (largely through watching old film-noirs!) is again radiantly beautiful as the ashamed kleptomaniac, desperate for a cure, but at the same time conveying her character's complexity and inner toughness as she finally breaks the hypnotic spell cast on her by Ferrer. For me, Ferrer steals the movie, making your skin crawl in every scene he plays once his perverted (in every sense of the word) designs become apparent. Their scenes together, where he can hardly conceal his lust for Tierney and desire to break up her happy home are electric and he also gets a lengthy scene where he hypnotises himself against the excruciating after-effects of his self-conducted gall-bladder operation. He completely convinces you of his strength of will over his physical pain to enable him to go after Tierney as she struggles to recover her amnesia which will of course expose his own guilt. The direction is taut, the cinematography excellent, the settings convincing and I also especially appreciated the excellent use of music to dramatise key scenes. Naturally there's a large degree of implausibility about just how Tierney finds herself under the control of such a toxic character and the denouement is perhaps more complicated and played out than it might be but this is still a highly intelligent, challenging piece of cinema, further pushing back the barriers of adult cinema in late 40's Hollywood.

mostly run-of-the-mill with some hypnosis-babble, but strong acting all around

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 24 September 2015]

Oh sure, Ann Sutton could pay for that pin - or for many other things - but there's something, probably, about the thrill of taking something, very non-chalant out of a store, especially as an unsuspecting adult white woman in the late 40's, and not getting caught. Is it Kleptomania? Perhaps. But the point is, at the start of Whirlpool, Ann gets caught at a department store stealing a pin, and she's in luck that David Korvo is there to help excuse her away - these are false charges after all, she has the money to buy a dozen of these pins, right - but there's a catch to her being let go: not so much for money, at least it seems at first. She tries to pay him, but for five thousand, p-shaw. No, he wants to get at her mind, to find what it is that made her do this thing... but it will lead to murder.

Gene Tierney and Jose Ferrer play Ann and Korvo, and they're both excellent here. Even a one and a half note character (not quite one, maybe, almost two dimensional, if it tried) like Ann's husband Bill gets a solid performance out of Richard Conte, to the point where we really feel for their marriage, and see the conflict very plain as soon as Ann 'turns' on to her 'nothing's the matter' tone of voice to her husband after she comes home and tells the maid that there's something very wrong and she must speak to her husband soon as he gets home. Is she crazy? Has she been driven mad? She's no femme fatale really - she is in what seems to be a fairly happy marriage (though at one critical point she'll say otherwise in a very tense confessional). But she is flawed and interesting, and that helps.

It's especially good that this character is so strong, as well as Korvo being an equally strong, conniving villain, and we know he's a villain from basically minute one but the fun is seeing how he does things like slip a glass with the lady's fingerprints into his jacket while she's away for a minute from the lunch table. But there's a couple of plot holes here that are jarring - one is more character-based and comes in the third act, it felt like a scene was missing that involved convincing a particular character to give Ann one more chance, and there was a connective tissue from the convincing to her not in prison - and I have to wonder how much they cut out of the book. It seems like a lot. Not to mention the notion of how completely tight the hypnosis can be, just how air-tight a plot can be (that we don't really see be suggested by the way) for Ann to go out in her car and get those records and then for that other thing to happen.

Whirlpool isn't weak tea by any means, but I have to think Preminger, despite some clever camera angles and the usual flair for hardcore film noir as a director (the tension in that final scene is really terrific, especially how a character hides just until a certain moment) would have had some trouble without this cast. Thankfully, Tierney gives this character credibility and she makes her fragile, torn and frayed, and when she's in her hypnotic trances it's like she's walking on air. I even liked the one/two scene turn by Barbara O'Neil (Constance Collier also has some good lines). Not something to rush to see, but it's a fair follow-up for the director and star from Laura - more of a B-side if one were to screen them back to back

Yes, but is he board certified?

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 20 May 2006]

Enjoyable noir with some surprising plot twists covering up the holes. Jose Ferrer is a quack psychotherapist who specializes in adjustment disorders of the rich. Gene Tierney, she of the supernal beauty, is married to a legitimate psychoanalyst, Richard Conte. Alas, because of some "childhood neurosis" she is a kleptomaniac and is afraid to tell her husband about it.

When she is caught boosting an expensive pin from a jewelry shop, Ferrer intervenes and gets her out of trouble. He's all suavity and charm. He coaxes all her symptoms out of her -- the headaches, the thievery, the insomnia -- which she's been afraid to reveal because it might damage her husband's reputation and, presumably, his income.

Ferrer secretly treats Tierney for a week or so, curing her of her headaches and insomnia. Of course Ferrer is not all he seems. Is any character with a name like "David Korvo" going to be what he seems? Among all the Coltons and Suttons in the rest of the flick? Fortunately, Ferrer is the right man for the role. One scan of a potential client and Ferrer knows all about her. He's like Sherlock Holmes. Nobody can sneer with such supercilious self satisfaction as Ferrer. (Sorry about that.) Can you imagine Ferrer playing a homeless and helpless vagrant full of ontological Angst?

Anyway, Ferrer hypnotizes Tierney one time too many, so to speak, and she winds up the only suspect in the murder of a woman who was about to expose Ferrer for the woman-abusing blackmailing charlatan that he is. Ferrer is off the suspect list because he's been in the hospital recovering from gall bladder surgery. I don't think I want to get into the plot more than that because medical discretion forbids it.

There's a lot of pop psychology hokum floating around in the story, which needn't be gone into except to say that hypnosis is a curious altered state of consciousness that isn't well understood at all. Some people are good subjects and some not. The good ones are really good. I used it in a class in hypnotherapy and in a 15-minute session helped a classmate cut his smoking in half, at least for a week or so. And there are documented instances of surgery being carried out with no other anesthetic. And there are clinical anecdotes written about bleeding during childbirth being shut down. Sometimes, with some people, it really WORKS. I'm not so sure about self hypnosis though. We'll know more, I guess, in another generation or so.

Well, as a follow up to Preminger's "Laura" of a few years earlier, this doesn't quite clear the bar. "Laura" had something that this plot-driven story is weak in. I don't know exactly what it is. Ferrer may be a slimeball but he's not nearly as engaging as Clifton Webb's homosexual columnist in "Laura." And there isn't a moment in "Whirlpool" that is the equal of the scene in which Tierney reappears from the dead to find a half-drunk Dana Andrews sitting in her living room just after he's gone through her lingerie drawer.

It's not a bad film though. The surprises are real enough and the story is engaging. Ferrer stands out as the heavy, Tierney with her little girl voice doesn't have to do much, and Richard Conte as the psychoanalyst is stolid, which is what the role calls for. Worth seeing.

Charles Bickford's performance

[jonathan shankey · 6/10 · 31 January 2008]

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..

okay

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 17 August 2006]

A woman is taken terrible advantage of by a hypnotist in "Whirlpool," a 1949 film starring Gene Tierney, Jose Ferrer, and Richard Conte, directed by Otto Preminger. Tierney is the wife of a successful psychiatrist who is caught shoplifting. She is helped by Ferrer, a hypnotist who steps in during her interrogation. He works with her to help her solve some of her problems, but he adds some other hypnosis as well.

This isn't a great Preminger. The acting is good, but the script is weak. First of all, is it really possible to hypnotize someone that completely? I don't know. What I do know is that it's absolutely against all ethics to talk about a patient with anyone as freely as Conte does. Since a good deal of the plot hinges on his breaking of that doctor-patient privilege, the story doesn't hold up.

Gene Tierney is her usual beautiful self. This is not, however, a role that plays to her strengths as an actress. She's sympathetic but doesn't explore the range of the role enough. She more easily played an icy or feisty type. In those days, as actresses neared 30, studios became less interested, and Tierney found herself in roles which she was not particularly right for - or that wasted her talent just to fulfill her contractual obligations. Ferrer is excellent as the oily hypnotist, keeping his voice even when he was saying the most outrageous things. Conte is very good as well as Tierney's husband.

All in all, this was interesting to watch, but it could have been much better given the talent behind and before the camera.

Interesting Noir Finally Makes Its Way To DVD

[Noirdame79 · 9/10 · 27 March 2006]

This film has been unavailable for so many years, so to finally have it on DVD is great. It is an unusual film noir from Otto Preminger and his favorite leading lady, Gene Tierney, who had starred in his classic "Laura" and whom had just completed her maternity leave when production began on "Whirlpool".

Tierney gives a fascinating performance as Ann Sutton, the beautiful wife of a prominent psychiatrist (Richard Conte) who suffers from kleptomania but who will do anything to conceal this. When hypnotist David Korvo (Jose Ferrer, very menacing here), gets her out of a jam with the local authorities due to her shoplifting tendencies, he decides to use it as a form of blackmail against her in order to use his hypnotizing skills on her. He gets her to perform all kinds of shady deeds, while succeeding in getting her conscious mind to suppress it. She is strangely drawn to him, while her dumbfounded husband can come to only one conclusion - that she and Korvo are involved in an illicit affair. Ann desperately tries to prove her innocence, and in the process, leads all involved in a potentially deadly trap to stop Korvo.

There are echoes of "Laura" throughout, including the portrait that hangs over the mantle at the home of the ill-fated Theresa Randolph (Barbara O'Neill, best remembered as Scarlett's mother in GWTW), and the final shootout. Definitely an off-beat movie of the noir genre, it is still a very watchable one. Richard Conte is a little unconvincing as Tierney's shrink husband, but he manages to pull it off, with efficient support from Tierney and Ferrer.

Can a man make a woman do things she doesn't want to do? Watch "Whirlpool" and draw your own conclusions.

A great addition to the Fox Film Noir collection.

"Your bedside manner is a little odd, even for a psychoanalyst"

[ackstasis · 6/10 · 19 January 2009]

The second of three films that Otto Preminger directed with Gene Tierney, 'Whirlpool (1949)' is also the least of them. Clouded by the dubious Freudian psychology that was sweeping Hollywood in the late 1940s, the film is simply too implausible to prove sufficiently effective, despite the best efforts of the director and stars. I was reasonably willing to accept that David Korvo (José Ferrer) could control Ann Sutton's (Tierney) movements through hypnosis – and, indeed, a similar idea forms the backbone of Frankenheimer's classic thriller, 'The Manchurian Candidate (1962).' However, that the shifty psychologist could hypnotise himself into carrying out murder only hours after voluntarily offering himself for gall-bladder surgery really pushes one's credulity, inspiring laughter rather than intrigue. Perhaps somebody should have told the actors not to take the story quite so seriously, and the resultant lighter mood would have provided some surefire entertainment. As it happens, the principle members all give solid dramatic performances that they probably needn't have bothered with.

Gene Tierney was, of course, one of the most stunning actresses to grace the silver screen, but she was also among the most misused. When utilised as a traditional, innocent damsel-in-distress, Tierney's acting is usually dependable without being particularly memorable. However, at least two directors realised that she was at her best when her character's intentions are either ambiguous {see 'Laura (1944)'} or downright evil {see 'Leave Her to Heaven (1945)'}. Given that Preminger directed the first of these, one wonders why he here decided to use Tierney in a purely conventional capacity; he repeated this offence in his follow-up picture, 'Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950).' José Ferrer is smarmily sinister as the psychiatrist abusing his "powers," though the screenplay does him a disservice in the final act. Richard Conte is more subdued than he is in 'The Big Combo (1955),' but nonetheless brings a likable intensity to an otherwise-passive role. Charles Bickford, whom I last saw in Renoir's 'The Woman on the Beach (1947)' here also gives a strong performance.

'Whirlpool' is strongest in its middle-act, with Tierney as a wrong-accused innocent for whom every piece of evidence points to her guilt. However, since the story's conclusion is ultimately never in any doubt, much of the film's second half feels as though it is merely going through the motions. I think it would have been more effective had the audience been uncertain of Ann's innocence, just as she herself is unsure. Alfred Hitchcock did something similar just a few years earlier in 'Spellbound (1945),' casting doubt on the virtuousness of Gregory Peck as he is hunted for a crime of which he has no memory. Hinting at the tantalising possibility that Tierney is a murderer would undoubtedly have brought out the actresses' talents, the audience meanwhile tentative about whose story they can trust. For fans of 1940s psychological thrillers, in the same vein as 'The Dark Mirror (1946)' and 'Secret Beyond the Door… (1947),' this is worthwhile viewing, but also a regrettable disappointment.

Whirlwind

[BumpyRide · 8/10 · 9 June 2004]

Movies were meant to entertain, and not all movies can be a "Citizen Kane" but this movie does what it's meant to do. Gene Tierney, perhaps the most beautiful actress ever to grace the screen, and highly under rated, handles the task of playing the fragile, accused murderess in the movie. An odd choice but Jose F. does a great job too...his hospital scene still makes me wince when he gets up from his bed! Barbara O'Neil (aka, Scarlet's mother) pops up in the most unlikeliest of places, but I have a new appreciation for her work. She adds style and elegance to every movie she appears in, including this one as the murdered socialite. Sure the movie might have some flaws, but if you listen carefully everything can be explained. It's great viewing time and again.

Trust, Torment & Trances

[seymourblack-1 · 7/10 · 3 February 2009]

"Whirlpool" is a tale of kleptomania, hypnotherapy and murder in which the considerable talents of director Otto Preminger and Ben Hecht (who co-wrote the screenplay with Andrew Solt) are harnessed effectively to produce a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable off-beat thriller.

Gene Tierney stars as Ann Sutton, the affluent and respectable wife of an eminent psychoanalyst, who finds herself in a fix when she's caught shoplifting. Fortunately, her embarrassment and likely prosecution are avoided by the timely intervention of another customer, David Korvo (Jose Ferrer). Korvo is a psychotherapist who convinces the store's management that Ann is clearly unwell and should, therefore, be released, especially as pursuing the matter further would be likely to draw adverse publicity to the business. As Ann is an account holder, the item of jewellery that she stole is returned to her and simply charged to her account.

Ann's relief is initially tempered by the suspicion that Korvo intends to blackmail her but when he disabuses her of that idea and gains her trust, she becomes a patient of his and he successfully treats her insomnia by using hypnotism before promising to give her treatment for her kleptomania. Although her marriage to William (Richard Conte) is a happy one, she has never been able to admit her problem to him.

It quickly becomes clear that the ultra smooth talking Korvo is actually an unscrupulous con-man who has designs on Ann and her money. However, when one of his ex-victims (who is coincidentally now one of Dr Sutton's patients) tells her what sort of man he is, she dismisses what's been said and totally ignores the warning. Later, the woman who gave Ann the warning is found murdered and all the evidence suggests that Ann was the murderer. Korvo is not implicated because he was undergoing gall bladder surgery at the time of the murder, and eventually Dr Sutton and police Lieutenant Colton (Charles Bickford) work together to determine who was responsible for the murder.

Korvo's slyness, deceit and manipulation are all wrapped up in a cloak of smugness, unctuous charm and pseudo-concern for his patients and Ferrer displays all these characteristics admirably. Gene Tierney expertly depicts the range of emotions felt by her character who is superficially serene, sophisticated and confident but is actually tormented by her internal struggle with a condition which is a powerful and malign force in her life and one which she is ashamed to admit, even to her husband.

Sadly, the well documented mental health problems that Gene Tierney endured in her own life, add an inescapable poignancy to the experience of seeing her excellent portrayals of characters such as Ann Sutton and of course, Ellen Berent in "Leave Her To Heaven".

Standards and practices in psychiatry and psychotherapy have changed considerably since "Whirlpool" was made and anyone watching it now will need to make allowances for this and also suspend their disbelief at a couple of the plot's more bizarre twists which come over as much less credible now than they may have seemed at the time.

A repository of plot holes and psychobabble

[Turfseer · 4/10 · 13 February 2009]

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!

Hard to Believe

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 17 December 2007]

After shoplifting an expensive pin in a department store, the wife of the prominent psychoanalyst Dr. William Sutton (Richard Conte), Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney), is arrested by one of the security guards. The swindler astrologer and hypnotist David Korvo (José Ferrer) recognizes the woman and convinces the manager to release her. Later, David calls Ann and asks her to meet him in his hotel, and he proposes to treat her kleptomania through hypnosis. Ann accepts the offer, but Davis uses Ann to get rid of Theresa Randolph (Barbara O'Neil), a widow that had stolen the heritage of her daughter. When Theresa is found dead, Ann is accused of murder by the skeptical Lt. James Colton (Charles Bickford), but she has no recollections of what happened in that specific night. Meanwhile David has a strong alibi to support his innocence.

"Whirlpool" has a story very hard to believe. The idea of so powerful suggestion of hypnosis is beyond any credibility, and the famous psychoanalyst is at least incompetent, not detecting the problem with his own wife. José Ferrer is great in the role of a cynical villain, but his last act is so stupid that spoils the Machiavellism of his character. Gene Tierney is awful, with an insane, excessively dramatic and silly behavior even when she is not hypnotized. The character of Tom Conte is unpleasant, with his tough attitudes. The conclusion is really terrible. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Ladra" ("The Thief")

I think Ferrer's character is just too horrid

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 23 May 2020]

This is well enough written and well enough directed and shot, Gene Tierney, Richard Conte and Jose Ferrer cannot be faulted and yet there is some a little lacking here. All begins well but I think Ferrer's character is just too horrid and as his role and control over Tierney is increased the fact that he is so unlikeable begins to work against the film. We should have a greater understanding why women fall for this piece of s*** and his confident use of hypnotism. So proficient is he that towards the end his mastery of self hypnosis rather stretches credibility too far. The role of the married woman, her perceived hysteria/mania and the wonders (or not) of hypnotism combine to drive this noirish movie more into what was once called 'a woman's picture'. It is still interesting and holds the attention, especially with regard to the shining performance of Tierney but could perhaps have been trimmed just a little.

Get drawn in to Whirpool

[cowboyandvampire · 7/10 · 17 October 2012]

First, David Korvo (played exquisitely by Joes Ferrer) is one of the most demented, manipulative, scandalously amoral cads to ever grace the screen. The movie is worth watching for him alone. Second, Gene Tierney (playing Anne Sutton) is so painfully lovely and vulnerable, the movie is worth watching for her alone. Do the math.

Anne Sutton is the bored wife of a fabulously successful and rock-jawed psychoanalyst (luckily for her, his knowledge proves useful). She is one of those tragic kelptomaniacs with daddy issues (the field of psychology has advanced greatly in 60 years) who falls under the sway of Svengali-esque David Korvo, a truly despicable astrologist, mentalist and woman-beating, trust-fund draining con man. Ferrer has such a subtle, contained performance, conveying his evil intent with a half-hearted gesture or a dropped consonant or a lazy look of his eye — how can you not pull for him? Of course, he uses his considerable bag of tricks to draw poor Anne into his web of deceits and ultimately frames her for a murder (don't worry, it's 1949, there's no blood).

Will her controlling and distant husband believe her? Will she let him believe her? And what of Korvo, apparently confined to bed after a surgery, could he actually be innocent? And can someone actually hypnotize themselves? Only grizzled police detective Colton, recently widowed and still grieving, can get to the bottom of it. This is a moody thriller with deep emotional undercurrents that pairs well with a rainy Sunday afternoon and a martini, especially if it's served in one of those old fashioned glasses that look more like champagne saucers.

-- www.cowboyandvampire.com --

Good, but it was done a couple years earlier...and a bit better.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 26 November 2010]

Had I not already seen "Fear in the Night" (1947), I think I would have liked "Whirlpool" a bit more. But, the prior film was low-budget and handled a similar topic much better. In contrast, Otto Preminger was a big-name director and this was made by Twentieth-Century Fox--yet lacks the same emotional wallop as "Fear in the Night". Both films are about evil hypnotists who use their powers for evil and to cover up crimes. While this is all a lot of psychological mumbo-jumbo, it was fascinating. But what made the prior film better is its originality as well as how it surprised the viewer. That's because in the Preminger film, you see the evil hypnotist (Jose Ferrer) setting up the crime, so you know exactly who is responsible--and there is absolutely no mystery about this. In contrast, the other film only slowly reveals what has occurred--thinking the viewer guessing and making for a much higher level of suspense. Still, both are worth seeing...and both are dubious when it comes to showing the ridiculous things hypnosis supposedly can do (I have training in hypnosis and know it is a lot less magical than TV and movies would have you think).

Gene Tierney is caught shoplifting at the beginning of the film. Despite her husband being a well to do psychiatrist, she's a thief...and the evil hypnotist catches her and uses this to gain influence over her. While he pretends to be there to treat her for her compulsion to steal, he actually is hypnotizing her into doing his bidding--much like Svengali from the story "Trilby". Eventually, using this evil hypnosis, Tierney is caught in the home of a woman who was just murdered--and it appeared she did it. This is only about midway through the film and unraveling this bizarre mystery takes up the second half of the movie.

As another reviewer said, Charles Bickford did a very good job playing the detective investigating the case. The rest of the cast was just fine, though it is interesting that they chose Tierney to play a mentally unstable woman since in real life she had a long and significant history of mental illness. This was actually pretty brave of her to play such a tough role. It's well made and interesting as well...but not at all great or extraordinary. Decent, but that's all.

Mostly focused about psychological mumbo-jumbo, but with nice acting all around

[bellino-angelo2014 · 7/10 · 20 July 2020]

During the 50s there was the ''trend'' in Hollywood of making psychological thrillers that dealed with some of the new therapies that were discovered in that time (like hypnosis) because writers could use them for having more plot devices. At times the results were not that outstanding, and WHIRLPOOL is one of these examples.

The movie begins with Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney) that is caught shoplifting an expensive pin from a jewelry shop. Despite her husband (Richard Conte) is a psychiatrist she is a thief, and she soon meets an evil hypnotist (Josè Ferrer) that catches her and uses her for his evil deeds. In fact, after they have a meeting at a nightclub, she goes to the home of a recently murdered woman and since police arrives, they think that she murdered that woman. All this happens in the first 30 minutes and there are lots of investigations in between but I won't spoil anything.

As I said, the performances by everyone (Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Josè Ferrer and Charles Bickford) are good and it's one of those noirs that keeps on the edge of your seat. The problem is that sometimes the movie focuses too much on the hypnosis techniques to the point that Ferrer's character looks too odd and out of place at times. It's well made and acted, but not exceptional or outstanding. Decent enough for fans of the genre

Another very good film noir by Otto Preminger

[joeblondiemonco · 8/10 · 6 September 2005]

While I never found Preminger's "Laura" or "Angel Face" on par with the film noir masterpieces such as "Out of the Past" and "The Lady From Shangai", they still deserve their high reputation in the genre, for they are superbly crafted full of some interesting characters. Such is the same of this movie: it may leave me a bit cold (as the murder mystery is the drive of the story, not the otherwise enriching characters- Laura suffers from the same), but its still VERY entertaining with great performances and that wonderful pessimism on American life film noir is known for.

(minor spoilers within) Gene Tierney to start with, is beautiful, just looking at her gives the film an extra star. Here, she plays a very repressed housewife, who looks the joys in life not through domesticity, but by relieving the thrill of her childhood, which was stealing. She's one of those great mixes in film noir of the noir-heroine and the femme fatale, while she may be on the right side of the law, she certainly is not pleased with society's assigned role of housewife (as her marriage offers her nothing) and so rebels against it.

This has its consequences, as she falls prey to Jose Ferrer, as a quack astrologer and a skilled (yet egotistic) hypnotist. Ferrer plays this role with style, he's a big scumbag (a murderer, blackmailer, and there are remote possibilities that he made Tierney do more then clean up his dirty work), but he does this with class, I could still buy why Tierney (and others, such as his society friends) decided to trust a man who had given her plenty of warning signs.

The rest of the principle players are fine, but nothing outstanding. Richard Conte is hopelessly miscast as Tierney's genius psychoanalyst husband. His thick city accent looks stupid in his role. Charles Bickford, playing a bitter and cold detective, fairs well, but his character goes through a sudden change of heart that needed time to develop, and in the end is just in their to help wrap up the story.

Overall, a flawed, yet underrated work (however deserves more praise, but not too much) from Otto Preminger, with both Gene Tierney (who is always worth watching) and Jose Ferrer a pleasure to watch.

Sutton's Place

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 2 February 2009]

This is one of those movies that keep you watching despite a sloppy screenplay - why, for God's sake, does Korvo (Jose Ferrer) first attempt to gain control of Ann Sutton's (Gener Tierney) mind in the middle of a cocktail party albeit in an empty room into which anyone could have wandered and why, when Tierney discovers the body of Ferrer's ex lover, do two guys turn up from nowhere and call the police. Add to this Richard Conte as arguably the most unconvincing psychiatrist in screen history and we begin to see the size of the problem. Nevertheless Tierney keeps us watching as Ferrer is effective as the quack Korvo.

Film Noir with Emotional Depth, Interesting twists, and Ferrer's great performance

[DAHLRUSSELL · 10/10 · 23 July 2006]

This is a marvelous film noir story set in every day upper-middle-class America. It presents the popular ambivalence felt at the time about psychoanalysis, with one "good" Doctor and one charlatan.

I am a fan of Gene Tierney, without thinking she a great actress. She was exceptionally pretty, had a very polished manner, and very average in range. This made her a wonderful representative of both the middle class, and their hopes of being refined. To my mind, while this is not her best film (That being either THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR or LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN), this IS her finest acting work. It uses her blankness to advantage, and this script also gives her the pathos and confusion to vent full emotional range which is rare for her films. (To the observant person, it also displays the flaws of her presentational acting style; as when she breaks down in a torrent of bitter tears, and looks up afterwards – dry eyed and serene. But for THIS film – playing a woman completely divorced from her own emotions – even that works to the benefit of the plot.)

An actor is always helped – made better, challenged more – by working with other great actors, and she is working here with one of the very best, Jose Ferrer. This was shortly before his academy award win in CYRANNO, and quite possibly, this incredibly complex performance contributed to that win, he is simply excellent. All screen villains should watch this, every second of his performance is filled with a gamut of emotions, and mundane details. It is clear that not only is his character the smartest person in the room, but Ferrer may be as well. Tierney carries the story and Ferrer moves it along. Charles Bickford also gives a marvelous performance in a smaller, yet layered role as the rumpled, grieving Detective.

Richard Conte, is the real oddball casting. His street-tough demeanor is what carried his career. (He is magnificent as the psycho mob boss in stylish expressionistic noir film, THE BIG COMBO.) So it was an interesting choice to cast him as the intellectual top-notch psychologist, and ideal husband, but it doesn't really work. We just can't really believe that people would turn to him for help, that level of sensitivity isn't there. Ultimately, this is an undercurrent of the movie, however, and Director Otto Preminger may have been making the point that even a good Psychiatrist may not be that good for people.

This film was probably shocking in its day – not very nice - like watching those lovely people next door have a drunken brawl. A larger theme which is being exposed here is that the "perfect post-war life" is an empty façade. Since this was made in 1949, this film presents a very early warning shot across the bow of the "Cleaver Family" façade. It would be almost 10 years before this was a much more common thread, in such movies as the Kim Novak/Kirk Douglas "STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET," and then films with James Dean, who became the poster boy of idyllic family life with a dysfunctional core.

The talented Ben Hecht wrote the screenplay with Andrew Solt, based on a novel by Guy Endore. Much more than mystery, much more than noir, this is a very fine story with good plot twists, emotional life (which is usually absent or ice-cold in noir), developed with subtlety and brains. It is still a joy to watch for itself, but made timeless by the despicable, love-to-hate-him performance of Jose Ferrer.

It IS different...

[JasparLamarCrabb · 7/10 · 20 January 2006]

Borderline camp to be sure, WHIRLPOOL is still a lot of fun. Kleptomaniac Gene Tierney finds herself under the spell of wacky hypnotist Jose Ferrer and is soon doing his evil bidding. The fact that the film takes itself so seriously is part of the enjoyment. Director Otto Preminger seems unaware that he's NOT making another LAURA. Still, Tierney is striking and her slightly off-kilter personality lends itself nicely to this type of role. She was always at her best playing women who may or may not be REAL BAD! Ferrer is his usually hammy self, but this time it works in his favor. How else should one play a hypnotist? Richard Conte is badly cast as Tierney's doctor husband. It might be the role --- he seems to be the dimmest doctor imaginable.

One of the Ten Worst Movies I Have Ever Watched

[Catherine-Yronwode · 1/10 · 19 July 2019]

I simply cannot believe how slow, dull, boring, senseless, dismally set-bound, and stupid this movie is. Here we have Jose Ferrar, an astrologer-hypnotist who never commits astrology but has a cool Steve Ditko wall display of multiple masks over his bed, vacant-faced kleptomaniac Gene Tierney, who never blinks but has a large wall-display of white plaster roosters; Richard Conte, a hard-as-nails psychiatrist married to Klepto Gene; Barbara O'Neil in a Bride of Frankenstein hairdo; and Charles Bickford as the chief detective, grieving the loss of his wife. These elements do not jell. Tierney shows off her fabulous Oleg Cassini New Look Dresses, the plot drags, there are inexplicable pauses in every conversation, and the only star-power radiates from Constance Collier in a brief turn as a society hostess. Good actors wasted. Cars on back stage lots. The worst Ben Hecht screenplay i have ever seen enacted. One star.

Psychological melodrama that remains watchable today

[JamesHitchcock · 6/10 · 30 July 2009]

During the forties the cinema, both in Britain and America, seemed to be in love with the science of psychiatry, and there was a cycle of films in which psychiatrists play an important role. There was Hitchcock's "Spellbound" from 1945, and John Brahm's "The Locket" from the following year. Two British examples are "The Seventh Veil" and "Madonna of the Seven Moons", both from 1945. "Whirlpool" (1949) is another in the same vein. (The scriptwriter, Ben Hecht, had also written the screenplay for "Spellbound").

The main character is Ann Sutton, the wife of a psychoanalyst. Although her husband William is supposed to be highly successful in his profession, he seems quite unaware that his wife herself has serious psychological problems, which manifest themselves in kleptomania. Ann is arrested for shoplifting, but is saved from scandal by the intervention of a mysterious stranger named David Korvo. Korvo turns out to be a hypnotist and claims to be a psychiatrist, although he has no recognised medical qualifications. He offers to cure Ann of her psychological traumas, but turns out to be a sinister fraud. Ann is implicated in, and accused of, a murder committed by Korvo, that of his former patient and lover Theresa Randolph who was threatening to expose him. It falls to the loyal William to clear his wife of suspicion and to resolve her psychological traumas.

Of the three main characters, the weakest is the stolid and unemotional Richard Conte as William. Certainly, his character is supposed to be a calm, rational man of science, but even a man of science cannot be expected to remain calm and rational all the time, even when it is suggested to him (as it is to William in this movie) that his wife is having an affair with another man. Conte's stony-faced demeanour seems particularly inappropriate as the film was made as a melodrama, a style of drama that normally calls for emotionally heightened, non-naturalistic acting.

José Ferrer, however, is excellent as Korvo, a smooth and plausible yet reptilian villain. Even when he is seemingly kind and helpful, one can sense his base motives hidden below the surface appearance of friendliness and concern. The audience can tell, even if she cannot, that Ann will be the victim of some devious plot.

One of the great attractions of the film is that it stars Gene Tierney, one of the most beautiful actresses of all time and, in my view, possibly the most beautiful star of the forties. (As her rivals included the likes of Rita Hayworth, Ava Gardner, Ingrid Bergman and Jennifer Jones there is a lot of competition for that particular title). Gene here is excellent at suggesting the helplessness and vulnerability of her character; even when Ann is not literally in a trance, she is in a state of bewilderment, unable to control her compulsions, unable to understand what is happening to her, unsure even of whether or not she committed the crime of which she stands accused.

The film has sometimes been described as a "film noir", although to my mind it lacks a number of typical noir characteristics- the stark expressionist photography, the atmosphere of moral ambiguity, the lone male hero, the femme fatale (although Korvo can perhaps be seen as an "homme fatal"). Otto Preminger was certainly known as a noir director, making films such as "Laura" and "Where the Sidewalk Ends", both of which also starred Tierney, who seems to have been one of his favourite actresses. He was, however, a versatile director, who could also turn his hand to other genres such as historical costume drama ("Forever Amber"), the musical ("Carmen Jones") the Western ("River of No Return") or, as here, the psychological thriller.

Like a number of films from this period, "Whirlpool" looks very dated today, both in terms of its visual style and in terms of its plot. Visually, it is an example of what I think of as "filmed theatre", the sort of film shot indoors, normally in black-and-white, on a small number of theatrical-looking sets and in which dialogue takes priority over action. The plot is complex and the dialogue is often overwrought and hysterical. Yet , like "The Locket" and "The Seventh Veil", this is one forties psychological melodrama that remains watchable, largely because of some decent acting. 6/10