Magnificent Obsession (1954)

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The whole plot to this thing is so contrived that from the get go it's not going to work. A man gets saved from a reckless act at the expense of another man's life. He then woos the guys widow. Filled with guilt he goes to medical school. He begins to learn about things she can do to help others. The wife goes blind. Hmmmm! I wonder what is going to happen. The thing that is missing is the ability to bring the husband back from the dead. I know I'm being sarcastic, but there are so many lame plotting contrivances and virtual impossibilities here, and the sappy conclusion. I'm sure this all played well with people who want a happy ending at all costs, including believability. Rock Hudson was a handsome guy and Jane Wyman was also a good actress. Too hokey for my tastes, however.

When churlish, spoiled rich man Bob Merrick foolishly wrecks his speed boat, the rescue team resuscitates him with equipment that is therefore unavailable to aid a local hero, Dr. Wayne Phillips, who dies as a result. Phillips had helped many people, and when Merrick learns Phillips' secret, to give selflessly and in secret, he tries it in a ham-handed way."Magnificent Obsession" was an early starring role for Hudson, and, according to Wyman, he was very nervous. Some of his scenes had to be re-shot thirty or forty times, but Wyman never said a word. Reportedly, years later at a party, Hudson ran into Wyman and said, "You were nice to me when you didn't have to be, and I want you to know that I thank you and love you for it." Douglas Sirk mastered the melodrama, and had the greatest color palettes. He also really knew how to utilize Rock Hudson. I don't know much about his personal life, but it strikes me as interesting that Sirk is now championed in some gay circles. Did Sirk know his star, Hudson, was gay? He certainly could have... though this would have been unusual in the 1950s.

When I saw this for the first time I already knew the plot in the film. The script for this is really horrible. I understand why the director did not want to make it. I knew the climax of the film before it was 30 minutes old. I hung around hoping it would get better. It did not.The film has little to say in favor of it for me except for Hudson who tries desperately to make it seem real. No one could bring that off. He is too young to be romancing Wyman and too old to be with the younger actress.Think this could be redone better starting with a new script. Then we need to get more dramatic moments in it. This one definitely is not the best platform for any one in the cast. I think this could have been so much better, a waste of talent and some of the window scenes are obviously fake. Universal did no one any favors with this movie.

"Magnificent Obsession" is Douglas Sirk's rehearsal for "All That Heaven Allows" and "Imitation of Life." The story (from Lloyd Douglas' novel) is a ludicrous drug-store romance with a smarmy tinge of Woolworth spirituality that DARES you not to take all this seriously.Through a series of unintentionally tragi-comic coincidences, Rock Hudson gamely goes from rich bad selfish playboy to -- what else? -- selfless neurosurgeon who saves the sight and life of the comatose woman he loves, eight years his senior.Oh, for the days when doctors and patients offered each other cigarettes in their offices: When even small out-of-the-way hospitals out West were staffed with full orchestras and choirs stationed just outside OR.The actors are fine. Particularly Wyman and Moorehead, who somehow make their impossible lines sound genuine. Sirk's direction, design and cinematography are, as usual, outstanding. But the script is insurmountable.One tries and tries to go with the implied emotions of these contrived situations, but succumbs to chuckling disbelief with every ham-handed twist.Thankfully, all was redeemed just one year later, when the major players returned in the superlative, "All That Heaven Allows." Followed, four years after THAT, by Sirk's incomparable masterpiece of the genre, "Imitation of Life."