From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin- Svengali Redux- Otto Preminger’s “Whirlpool”

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for Otto Preminger’s Whirlpool.

DVD Review

Whirlpool, starring Richard Conte, Gene Tierney, Jose Ferrer, directed by Otto Preminger, 20th Century Fox, 1949

It is tough, tough indeed for a smooth, suave, sophisticated if shady guy to make his way in this wicked old world. Just ask David Korvo (played by Jose Ferrer). All he wanted was to fleece some rich dames of their ill-gotten goods, have a Mayfair swells good time, and then move on. And helping him to do this was a line of pitter-patter, some wit and, if he needed to use the heavy ammunition, a little hypnosis. All in a day’s work, and no heavy lifting. But things got sticky; one of those rich dames he fleeced decided that she was going to tell all once she and he had run through her daughter’s legacy.

And that is really where this story begins because no way, no way in hell is smooth operator (although filled with all kinds of class resentments not all of them bad) David is taking the fall. And that is where the sins of the rich and famous, the ones that are swept under the rug at any cost are forced to see the light of day. See David has already picked out his fall-girl, the rich but very insecure Mrs. Sutton (played by Gene Tierney) who has a secret; she steals stuff, stuff from department stores and the like. Our David uses that against her, along with a little hypnosis, to frame her, frame her big time for the murder of that “born again” spendthrift rich woman who decided to spill the beans.

But you know one thing, no, two things once you read the line-up of the cast. No way, no way in hell is good girl (if misunderstood, misunderstood by shrink hubby played by Richard Conte most of all) Gene Tierney is going to take the fall for murder. And two, the set up here is a classic case of crime doesn’t pay that drives all these cinematic crime noir and so David, maybe just a tad bit smarter than your average crook, and certainly more resourceful is doomed by his own greed. Dialogue by Ben Hecht helps move this one along. But women, rich women with little back room secrets, beware of Svengalis okay.