Magnificent Obsession On DVD!

Magnificent Obsession, an amazing two-disc set of the rarest of Douglas Sirk films, a 1954 classic never before released in the US, is finally out on DVD this week. This brilliant German director was able to transform hokey Hollywood melodramas into works of stunning art and this film marked the beginning of his truly great period. After this there was All That Heaven Allows, Written On The Wind, Imitation Of Life among others. Based on a Lloyd C. Douglas book and directed first in 1935 by John M. Stahl starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor (which is also included on the second DVD), it’s about a reckless playboy Bob Merrick (played by Rock Hudson) whose speedboat accident causes the only lifesaving device to be used at the expense of saving the life of a beloved doctor. The doctor’s wife Helen (Jane Wyman) refuses Merrick’s clumsy attempts at an apology, but when Merrick causes her accident and subsequent blindness he has to find redemption. Its plot twists are preposterous and they use the line “it will be a magnificent obsession...” (to guide Bob Merrick’s spiritual odyssey) so many times you swoon with giddiness. But it’s Sirk’s sublime stylishness and amped up melodrama, not to mention gorgeous color schemes, that make this such a heady and intoxicating brew. On this pristine DVD there are tributes from director Allison Anders and Kathryn Bigelow which are wonderful, and a rare 82 minute documentary on the filmmaker by Echart Schmidt.