Whirlpool (1949)

☆ ☆ ☆

Whirlpool (1949) – O. Preminger

In the end, it’s ludicrous – but in some ways that’s what makes this film noir from Otto Preminger good.  Gene Tierney is a kleptomaniac hiding the fact from her psychoanalyst husband, Richard Conte (badly miscast).  Slick and evil hypnotist/astrologer Jose Ferrer finds her out and offers to treat her, by which he means control her and make her do his bidding.  About halfway through there is a murder, but Ferrer, the obvious suspect, has an alibi – he’s in the hospital for a gall bladder operation.  Police Detective Charles Bickford (gruff but lovable) is on the case but doesn’t believe for a minute that you could hypnotize yourself not to feel pain.  Perhaps the film would have succeeded more if Preminger just cranked it up to 11 and let the weird melodrama take over? As it stands, you aren’t quite sure whether the events shown are meant to be believable to the audience or not.  Poor Gene Tierney may have seen echoes of her own real life in this character, as she may have been hiding mental illness and alcoholism from her public just as her character hides her own inner troubles from others.  However, Ferrer is the only one to really capitalize on the bizarreness here, playing his vile charmer to the hilt.  Preminger’s other noirs are better (Fallen Angel, Where the Sidewalk Ends).