Magnificent Obsession
Reckless playboy Bob Merrick (Rock Hudson, in his breakthrough role) crashes his speedboat, requiring emergency attention from the town’s only resuscitator—at the very moment that beloved local Dr. Phillips has a heart attack and dies waiting for the life-saving device. Thus begins one of Douglas Sirk’s most flamboyant master classes in melodrama, a delirious Technicolor mix of the sudsy and the spiritual in which Bob and the doctor’s widow, Helen (Jane Wyman), find themselves inextricably linked amid a series of increasingly wild twists, turns, trials, and tribulations. For this release, Criterion also presents John M. Stahl’s 1935 film version of the Lloyd C. Douglas novel, starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor.
Special Features
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary featuring film scholar Thomas Doherty
- Magnificent Obsession (1935, 102 minutes), a new digital transfer of John M. Stahl's earlier version of the film
- From UFA to Hollywood: Douglas Sirk Remembers (1991, 82 minutes), a rare documentary by German filmmaker Eckhart Schmidt in which Sirk reflects upon his career
- Video interviews with filmmakers Allison Anders and Kathryn Bigelow, in which they pay tribute to Sirk
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Geoffrey O’Brien
Cover based on a theatrical poster
Special Features
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary featuring film scholar Thomas Doherty
- Magnificent Obsession (1935, 102 minutes), a new digital transfer of John M. Stahl's earlier version of the film
- From UFA to Hollywood: Douglas Sirk Remembers (1991, 82 minutes), a rare documentary by German filmmaker Eckhart Schmidt in which Sirk reflects upon his career
- Video interviews with filmmakers Allison Anders and Kathryn Bigelow, in which they pay tribute to Sirk
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Geoffrey O’Brien
Cover based on a theatrical poster
Cast
- Jane Wyman
- Helen Phillips
- Rock Hudson
- Bob Merrick
- Barbara Rush
- Joyce Phillips
- Agnes Moorehead
- Nancy Ashford
- Otto Krüger
- Randolph
- Gregg Palmer
- Tom Masterson
- Sara Shane
- Valerie
- Paul Cavanagh
- Dr. Girsud
- Judy Nugent
- Judy
Credits
- Director
- Douglas Sirk
- Producer
- Ross Hunter
- Screenplay
- Robert Blees
- Screenplay
- Sarah Y. Mason
- Screenplay
- Victor Herman
- Based on the novel by
- Lloyd C. Douglas
- Adaptation by
- Wells Root
- Cinematography
- Russell Metty
- Editing
- Milton Carruth
- Music
- Frank Skinner
- Costume design
- Bill Thomas
