Whirlpool

Whirlpool is a 1949 film by Otto Preminger that has some moderate value as a psychological thriller. Where it really excels in is two supporting performances, by Jose Ferrer and Charles Bickford.

Gene Tierney stars as the wife of an affluent psychologist, Richard Conte. As the film begins she's caught shoplifting at a fancy department store. Ferrer, who recognizes her, steps in and tells the store management who she is and that she's no doubt a kleptomaniac. They let her go.

In exchange for keeping her indiscretion secret, Ferrer asks that he be allowed to treat her. He's a sort of astrologist/hypnotist, and he has an oily charm that works wonders on society women. She agrees, ashamed of her condition, and Ferrer hypnotizes her in such a way so that she's framed for a murder.

Bickford is the no-nonsense police detective working on the case. Conte, believing his wife is innocent, appeals to him to see past the circumstantial, sure that Ferrer is behind it.

The film has the mistrust of psychiatry that many films of the period do (another Fox film from the period, Nightmare Alley, to mention one). Although Conte is presented as heroic, Ferrer is so devious and sinister that, even though he's clearly identified as not a doctor, the whole therapist role is besmirched.

Preminger's direction is crisp and on the whole, uninteresting. It's lit like TV, not like noir. Tierney, certainly a stunning woman, doesn't have much to offer in this role. She never has a hair out of place, even when she's under arrest for murder. The film could have made do with more edges, more mess.