Review of Whirlpool (1950) by Greg W — 02 Feb 2012

Ann Sutton (Tierney) is a gorgeous socialite married to an extremely successful psychoanalyst (Conte). After shoplifting a pin due to her kleptomania, she's soon rescued by a mysterious hypnotist, who insists he begin treating her.

Unknown to Ann, the man is actually more interested in having her do some illegal favors for him-- which goes great-- until she ends up getting caught in a murder rap. Though he's guilty, she's the prime suspect.

Though I thought "Whirlpool" was decent, it is by far my least favorite of the long list of Gene Tierney-Otto Preminger noirs. Psychology was a very big topic back in the '40's-- nobody understood it, and it ended up being on the most money making "genres" back in the '40's.

What I did like about "Whirlpool", is that it's so different from the others. Most were other movies of mentally disturbed patients, usually with actresses bent on imitating Olivia de Havilland's grand performance in "The Snake Pit".

But this is a different movie. Instead, we have a murderous psychoanalyst, which had not happened yet, and still, the "genre" had still not crossed paths with film noir. With all faults aside, this is almost a groundbreaking movie, in a sense that at the time it was something so new.

Forget Tierney's ugly wardrobe, Conte's miscast, and some of the camp, and you'll be seeing an entertaining, sharply directed and written noir that even has great performances to boot. "Whirpool" has many flaws, but it's still worth your time.