Obsession

"Hidden love! Hidden hate! Hidden fear!"

1949 1h 36m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 57

ThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A British psychiatrist devises a devilish revenge plot against his wife's lover.

“Hidden love! Hidden hate! Hidden fear!”

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Cast

Robert Newton
Dr. Clive Riordan
Phil Brown
Bill Kronin
Sally Gray
Storm Riordan
Naunton Wayne
Supt. Finsbury
James Harcourt
Aitkin (butler)
Betty Cooper
Miss Stevens (receptionist)
Allan Jeayes
The Colonel, blustery club member
Ronald Adam
Talkative, balding club member

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Edward Dmytryk
Writers: Alec Coppel
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

77 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, shot by C.M. Pennington-Richards. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nino Rota. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Lito Carruthers shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Robert Newton and Phil Brown and Sally Gray carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Hidden love! Hidden hate! Hidden fear!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0041460 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 57 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Edward Dmytryk directs. C.M. Pennington-Richards behind the camera. Nino Rota scores. Lito Carruthers cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

177 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Edward Dmytryk, shot by C.M. Pennington-Richards. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Nino Rota. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Lito Carruthers shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Robert Newton and Phil Brown and Sally Gray carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Hidden love! Hidden hate! Hidden fear!".
7IMDB entry: tt0041460 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 57 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Classified under 16 themes, including "jealousy", "police", "perfect crime", "scotland yard".

The technical file

Cinematography: C.M. Pennington-Richards
Original score: Nino Rota
Editing: Lito Carruthers
Makeup / hair: Betty Baugh
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Obsession (1949)

Also by

Edward Dmytryk

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2013-11-02
★ 8.5/10
Man's Best Friend. Obsession (AKA: The Hidden Room) is directed by Edward Dmytryk and adapted to screenplay by Alec Coppel from his own book and play. It stars Robert Newton, Phil Brown, Sally Gray and Naunton Wayne. Music is by Nino Rota and cinematography by C.M. Pennington-Richards. Finally having had enough of his wife's affair with a young lover, Dr. Clive Riordan (Newton) plots a devilish scheme of kidnap and murder... The motive that drives the plot of Obsession is simple in the extreme, this is out and out a revenge for infidelity, but the presentation by Dmytryk is superbly crafty in that Hitchcockian way. The doctor is a most elegant and calm man, he has the perfect murder in mind for his wife's lover (Brown) and he, being a purveyor of psychological smarts, is going to enjoy the luxury of methodically taunting his prey over a period of time. With the man ingeniously incarcerated down in a bombed out abode, and subjected to daily visits from the doctor, Dr. Clive is then seen going about his normal routines. Exchanging brandy sips with cultural chatter in the gentleman's club, swatting away the attentions of his increasingly fraught wife (Gray), and of course dealing with the close attentions of Scotland Yard; here in the form of Naunton Wayne's astute Superintendent Finsbury. The "good" doctor even has plenty of time to indulge in his love of model train set construction. The initial plot machinations are slowly paced by the recently blacklisted director, but it's a deliberate ploy since the whole complexion of the movie changes once the kidnap occurs and the police and the press become involved. The atmosphere becomes tense, and this even as captor and captive enjoy some straight backed - prim and proper - verbal exchanges. There's a meticulousness to the murder based thematics that strike a chord, the mention of Crippen and obvious nods to John George Haigh keep the film buzzing with real life serial killer atrocities. There's a case to be made here that this is Dmytryk's best British film? Certainly his ability to build suspense without histrionics or blood letting is a masterclass in Brit thriller staging. While his directing of Newton and Wayne, both of whom are excellent, is also worthy of a pat on the back. Visually it's straight black and white photography, except for the odd time we are out on the wet cobbled streets and the gaslights ooze the ethereal. But although there's some debate about if it deserves film noir status, I personally feel it's the sort of crime/thriller mounted with enough skill to make it worth seeking out by the film noir loving crowd. Some of the support turns are stiff, but mercifully not film harming, while you do have to accept that the locale of the crime is hardly water tight and most likely would have been found with ease. But minor itches be damned, this is cunning, crafty and a British chiller of some worth. 8/10
CinemaSerf2022-07-09
★ 7/10
This is probably the best straight-part effort from Robert Newton I've ever seen. He is super as the doctor "Riorden" who has had just about enough of his wife's infidelities so decides to rid himself of her latest flame "Bill" (Phil Brown). After surprising the couple at their home, he somehow (and this is very much the weaker part of the film) manages to get the man chained to the wall of a bombed-out basement where he proceeds to hold him captive for weeks, whilst implementing a particularly grizzly, but untraceable, plan to kill and dispose of him. Wife "Storm" (Sally Gray) suspects that something has gone amiss, and when her beloved dog "Monty" disappears too, she involves the police. Enter the very unassuming character "Insp. Finsbury" (Naunton Wayne) who takes some advantage of "Riorden" and his cocksureness and... well... Might there still be some hope for the doomed prisoner? As I said, the start of the film is poorly constructed and requires us to let the remainder of the 95 minutes forgive that - but it ought to do that OK; the tension builds quite nicely. I can't say that I much cared for the ending, to be honest - but see what you think.