Rent Whirlpool (1950)

Psychological Noir. - Whirlpool review by Steve

Five years after Laura, Gene Tierney re-teamed with Otto Preminger for another film noir. There are many echoes of the earlier hit including the sour wit of Ben Hecht's script, and the lingering shots of a large portrait over a fireplace which has no impact on the narrative but is a reminder of their previous success. Preminger gives Whirlpool a similarly attractive noir look.

Tierney is a kleptomaniac who falls into the clutches of a cultured but degenerate hypnotist (José Ferrer) who uses her to kill off an inconvenient woman who has the goods on him. It's up to the husband, a brilliant psychoanalyst (Richard Conte) to clear her with a mixture of Hollywood Freud and good luck.

It's possible to see this a forerunner of those eighties yuppie thrillers where an attractive, privileged couple are terrorised by an out of control antagonist just because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like the characters in those films, the successful married duo are too entitled to be sympathetic.

There's nothing like an original story, but the stars make it work. Charles Bickford adds a little weight to the confection as a laconic cop. It's good to see the elegant Gene in contemporary clothing after a run of costume dramas for Fox and her fashions and the des-res sets have a period appeal. Whirlpool is a slender, dark film noir. And while familiar, it's still entertaining.