Magnificent Obsession (1935)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

John M. Stahl

Writers:

Lloyd C. Douglas (novel)
Sarah Y. Mason (writer) ...

Release Date:

30 December 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Hate turned into love!

Plot Keywords:

Medical | Beautiful Woman | Based On Novel

Cast

Irene Dunne	...	Helen Hudson
Robert Taylor	...	Dr. Robert Merrick
Charles Butterworth	...	Tommy Masterson
Betty Furness	...	Joyce Hudson
Sara Haden	...	Nancy Ashford
Ralph Morgan	...	Randolph
Henry Armetta	...	Tony
Gilbert Emery	...	Dr. Ramsay
Arthur Treacher	...	Horace
Beryl Mercer	...	Mrs. Eden
Alyce Ardell	...	The French maid
Theodore von Eltz	...	Dr. Preston
Sidney Bracey	...	Butler
Arthur Hoyt	...	Perry
Cora Sue Collins	...	Ruth

Runtime:

112 min | 98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

After being loaned by MGM, his home studio, to Universal for this film, Robert Taylor would not make another non-MGM movie for 24 years (until the 1959 Paramount film _The Hangman (1959)_).

Quotes:

Dr. Robert Merrick: Take back to the cook and tell her that if she brings back again, I'm gonna buy this hospital and fire her and everybody else in it. I want some decent breakfast.
Nurse: It's the same breakfast we serve all the patients.
Dr. Robert Merrick: Yeah, but I am "The Special".

Movie Connections:

Version of "Sublime Obsessão" (1958)

Soundtrack:

Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture

The magnificent theory.

The Sirk excellent remake has overshadowed Stahl's version nowadays.That's certainly unfair,because the latter was a pioneer of the melodrama who would peak with "leave her to heaven" ,ten years later.Stahl 's version,in stark black and white is certainly not as palatable as the 1953 movie and its gaudy technicolor.

Randolph's character seems more important in Stahl's version.His theory is certainly moving:You've only got what you give and you should not expect any award.Merrick tries to apply this theory,first because he wants to seduce the wife of the philanthropist/doctor who indirectly died because of him,because he was an alcoholic playboy.He has not really understood what Randolph tried to explain to him.The scene with the hobo comes as a comic relief,which is terribly needed in such a dark yarn.When ,as leaving the poor man,Merrick thinks he's got some divine reward,he's completely mistaken.A Christian movie,"magnificent obsession" sure is,as Randolph,in his second scene ,mentions the Christ. After all,his theory is not that much far from that of James Stewart's guardian angel in "it's a wonderful life".

Unlikelihoods are here there and everywhere,but it's the rules of melodrama.The story ,which includes death,blindness,moral and physical redemption,is not more far-fetched than westerns and thrillers plots.And life is so strange that it can turn sometimes into the most implausible melodrama;and like it or not,not necessarily with a happy end.