OBSESSION

What induced me to watch this obscure 1947 thriller with a cast of relative unknowns is a bit of a mystery other than that it seemed to have an intriguing plot, and that it has a decent director in Edward Dmytryk.

Dmytryk had fled the US where he had been sentenced to prison for refusing to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, so I guess he was happy to take on any assignment he could get hold of.

The screenplay is an adaptation by one Alec Coppel of his own play, 'A Man About A Dog', and in very broad outline the story resembles that of the later 'Dial M For Murder' - a husband who discovers that his wife is having an affair with an American responds by planning 'the perfect murder'.

In this case the wife's affair is the latest in a long line, and husband Dr Riordan, a psychiatrist, has had enough.  But instead of murdering his wife he plans to murder the lover, Bill, and just to rub it in he wants his wife, Storm, to know that this is what he is doing.  Since she's a rather petulant and self-centred character who doesn't care much for Bill I wasn't convinced that Riordan's plan is that well-conceived but as her husband (and a psychiatrist no less) I guess he should know her best.

The only clever part of his plan is to hold Bill captive for long enough before killing him so as to be sure that the police don't have enough evidence against him to arrest him, once Bill has mysteriously disappeared.

Riordan is a smug character convinced of his own cleverness but I can't say I was that impressed.  In particular the idea that you can safely hold someone captive for several months in the middle of London seems bonkers, especially since the outbuilding where Bill is held doesn't seem to be soundproofed.  

Also letting Storm know he plans to kill Bill, confident she won't go to the authorities because she values her reputation, doesn't go that well since in the event she writes an anonymous letter to the police.  This eventually brings Inspector Finsbury onto the scene, who plays a bit of cat-and-mouse with Riordan, in the style of Columbo.

Bizarrely, Storm's dog Monty finds its way to where Bill is held captive, which brings me on to the whole business of the acid bath.

Riordan has created a chemical laboratory adjoining his office where he has perfected an acid that will destroy human tissue and bone.  So when he visits Bill each day he brings with him a hot water bottle containing some of the acid, with which he is gradually filling up a bath which he can eventually use to dispose of Bill's body.

Riordan at one point seems to be going to kill Monty so as to test the acid (even though he has already tested it, one hopes) but sadly he doesn't go through with this but instead leaves Monty as a companion for Bill, which doesn't make a lot of sense.  

Bill has his own bath (yes there are two baths, each in their own room!) so he trains Monty to pull the plug out of his bath so that Monty does the same in respect of the acid bath (Bill is chained so he can't himself reach that second bath).

So it could be said that Monty thwarts Riordan's plan. Except that Riordan has already poisoned Bill before he discovers the empty bath, although fortunately the police then arrive in time to save Bill from dying.

As to how it is the police arrive at all given the supposed perfection of the murder plan, well Riordan makes a slipup, as all murderers do in this type of story.  In conversation with Finsbury he uses an Americanism ('Thanks, pal') which he has picked up from Bill, which suggests to Finsbury (in a remarkable mental leap) that Bill is being held captive by Riordan, just at the point when Finsbury was going to end his investigation.

Somehow the flimsiness and absurdity of the plot didn't worry me as I was watching which is testament I guess to the solidity of the performances and of the direction.  

Robert Newton (best known perhaps for his turn as Long John Silver three years later) has enough screen menace as Riordan to hold the attention, and the actor who plays Bill does well in a difficult role in that as the captive he has to convey both fear and a certain insouciance.  Naunton Wayne, best known as Caldicott in 'The Lady Vanishes', is well cast as Finsbury.

On the down side the whole thing is curiously lacking in passion or sense of melodrama, and Dmytryk isn't able to generate much in the way of suspense.  Riordan is too calm for one supposedly gripped by an obsession, and in fact at the end I was unclear as to the nature of that obsession.  Is it with his wife, who he doesn't seem to care for at all, or with the idea of the perfect crime, or with his beloved toy trains which we see quite a bit of?

Surprisingly, this unremarkable film was entered into the Cannes Film Festival.  Less surprisingly, it didn't win.