Magnificent Obsession

Directed by Douglas Sirk

When spoiled playboy Bob Merrick foolishly wrecks his speed boat, he’s treated by a rescue team using the town’s only resuscitator – but the life-saving device is also needed across town where beloved local doctor Wayne Phillips has had a heart attack.

After learning of Phillips’ death, Merrick sets on a path of self-improvement – with patchy results – and is drawn into a testing romantic entanglement with the doctor’s widow, Helen.

Intensely melodramatic and swooningly stylised in vivid Technicolor, Magnificent Obsession is one of several genre-defining films directed by Douglas Sirk in the 1950s. Rock Hudson, a regular collaborator with whom Sirk enjoyed a particularly fruitful partnership, stars alongside Jane Wyman.

Screening as part of our Exploring Film Genre course.

Duration:
108 minutes

Country of origin:
USA

Year of production:
1954

This screening has no adverts or trailers and starts at the advertised time