Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Blacklisted in Hollywood, director Edward Dmytryk managed to find work in England. Dmytryk’s Obsession is based on Alec Coppel’s suspense play A Man About a Dog. Ignoring such niceties as subtlety and restraint, Robert Newton stars as Dr. Clive Riordan, the insanely jealous husband of Storm Riordan (Sally Gray). Not content with merely murdering Storm’s American lover Bill Kronin (Phil Brown), Riordan chains up the poor fellow in a deserted building. His reasoning: should the police accuse Riordan of Kronin’s murder, the doctor can always produce the live victim, who is blindfolded and has no idea who his captor is. Once the investigation into the man’s disappearance has subsided, Riordan intends to kill his victim and dispose of the body in an acid bath (something like this actually did take place in London in the postwar years). But the doctor is unaware that his wife’s pet dog has also been locked up with the helpless Kronin. Obsession was released in the U.S. as The Hidden Room.Read More »
