Obsession (1949; The Hidden Room/Den besatte syrabadsmördaren/Der Wahnsinn des Dr. Clive)

German Studio Hamburg Enterprises 2017 DVD edition

Text below written 2018-03-09


Aaaah, taste those alternate titles, the german one on the sleeve and the great swedish one, both more colorful than the
original english title. Den besatte syrabadsmördaren (The crazed acid bath killer).... well, this title really is a spoiler.
I love the German DVD sleeves too, they almost always look nice. The film then?

This film was made under the glorious film noir genre's golden years, the second half of the 1940's, but maybe this film isn't
really a film noir but more of a thriller in the Hitchcockian vein. It was made in England as a B movie by the great US director
Edward Dmytryk, on the run from the US fascists blacklisting hysteria. Dmytryk behind well known film noir movies like
Crossfire and Murder, My Sweet makes a good effort also here and present us a thriller with an unusual and interesting story.

Middle-aged doctor Clive Riordan (Robert Newton) is tired of his younger slutty wife's (Sally Gray) many infidelities, and has
decided to finally make an example of it. An example of how to commit the perfect murder.
He kidnaps the guy, a young american, Bill (Phil Brown), and puts him chained to a bed in an London underground room at
some bomb-site from WW2. Metodically he brings some food and drink to his prisoner but also some acid which he plans to
slowly fill up the bathtub at the place, the hidden room. In the bathtub he plans to dispose of the body of poor Billy.

The months creep by and finally Scotland Yard and the clever if quirky inspector (Naughton Wayne) is on the case.
Will the cool and clever Dr. Clive outsmart the police and succeed with his devilish crime. Nah, probably not.

The film is presented in original 4:3 fullscreen ratio, black & white, and with an english 2.0 audio

 

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