During the 50s there was the ''trend'' in Hollywood of making psychological thrillers that dealed with some of the new therapies that were discovered in that time (like hypnosis) because writers could use them for having more plot devices. At times the results were not that outstanding, and WHIRLPOOL is one of these examples.
The movie begins with Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney) that is caught shoplifting an expensive pin from a jewelry shop. Despite her husband (Richard Conte) is a psychiatrist she is a thief, and she soon meets an evil hypnotist (Josè Ferrer) that catches her and uses her for his evil deeds. In fact, after they have a meeting at a nightclub, she goes to the home of a recently murdered woman and since police arrives, they think that she murdered that woman. All this happens in the first 30 minutes and there are lots of investigations in between but I won't spoil anything.
As I said, the performances by everyone (Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Josè Ferrer and Charles Bickford) are good and it's one of those noirs that keeps on the edge of your seat. The problem is that sometimes the movie focuses too much on the hypnosis techniques to the point that Ferrer's character looks too odd and out of place at times. It's well made and acted, but not exceptional or outstanding. Decent enough for fans of the genre
The movie begins with Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney) that is caught shoplifting an expensive pin from a jewelry shop. Despite her husband (Richard Conte) is a psychiatrist she is a thief, and she soon meets an evil hypnotist (Josè Ferrer) that catches her and uses her for his evil deeds. In fact, after they have a meeting at a nightclub, she goes to the home of a recently murdered woman and since police arrives, they think that she murdered that woman. All this happens in the first 30 minutes and there are lots of investigations in between but I won't spoil anything.
As I said, the performances by everyone (Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Josè Ferrer and Charles Bickford) are good and it's one of those noirs that keeps on the edge of your seat. The problem is that sometimes the movie focuses too much on the hypnosis techniques to the point that Ferrer's character looks too odd and out of place at times. It's well made and acted, but not exceptional or outstanding. Decent enough for fans of the genre