The Hidden Room (1949)
"Obsession" (original title)

Clive Riordan plans a devilish revenge against his wife's lover.

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

Alec Coppel (book), Alec Coppel (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert Newton, Phil Brown, Sally Gray

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Newton	...	Dr. Clive Riordan
Phil Brown	...	Bill Kronin
Sally Gray	...	Storm Riordan
Naunton Wayne	...	Supt. Finsbury
James Harcourt	...	Aitkin (butler)
Betty Cooper	...	Miss Stevens (receptionist)
Michael Balfour	...	American sailor
Ronald Adam	...	Clubman
Roddy Hughes	...	Clubman
Allan Jeayes	...	Clubman
Olga Lindo	...	Mrs. Humphries
Russell Waters	...	Flying Squad detective
Lyonel Watts	...	Clubman (as Lionel Watts)
Sam Kydd	...	Club steward
Monty the Dog	...	Monty - Storm's Dog

Storyline

London psychiatrist Clive Riordan, royally fed up with the repeated affairs of his wife Storm, plots a seemingly 'perfect' revenge against her latest lover, American Bill Kronin. Catching them in the act, he marches Bill off at gunpoint; and from the viewpoint of Storm and the rest of the world, Bill simply vanishes. But there's far more to the meticulously worked out plot than Clive's victims suspect, with the end slowly preparing in his private laboratory. Enter a mild-mannered Scotland Yard man, who seemingly has no clue beyond a missing dog...

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Plot Keywords:

psychiatrist | dog | american | revenge | pet dog | 

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Taglines:

Whose eye could see... Whose ear could hear... Whose mind could know... the Secret!

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 January 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Hidden Room

Filming Locations:

Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Independent Sovereign Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Crew member with folded arms visible in the reflection of the car window when the Superintendant is sending his officers back the station.

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Quotes

Dr. Clive Riordan: Are you married, Mr. Finsbury?
Supt. Finsbury: No... I've often thought about it. Trouble is, I've thought about it so long, I'm afraid I've missed the bus.
Dr. Clive Riordan: Just one of life's little jokes, isn't it?... It points out our mistakes too late for us to profit by them.

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Connections

Remade as A Man About a Dog (1972)

User Reviews

Nifty, well-crafted British suspenser with a noirish edge

The British never really "got" noir; the few successes they showed (Night and the City, The Third Man) had American directors or casts to light, or darken, the way for them. Among those directors was Edward Dmytryk, who had started big in the noir cycle with Murder My Sweet, Cornered, and Crossfire but who fled to England in the fallout from the Hollywood witch-hunt -- in which he named names, including Jules Dassin, who directed Night and the City. (Luckily, Dmytryk later returned to Hollywood to helm The Sniper.) Obsession tells the story of a jealous psychiatrist (Robert Newton) with a faithless wife (Sally Gray); he's one of those hyperarticulate verbal sadists whom you want to cosh with a bumbershoot or choke with cucumber tea-sandwiches. He decides to wreak a hellish revenge on the latest of his wife's paramours (the basically harmless Phil Brown; the philandering wife is Sally Gray). He locks the poor Yank in a cellar somewhere in bombed-out London until he fills a bathtub with enough acid to destroy all traces of the corpse (transported daily to the dungeon, along with food and martinis, in hot-water bottles!). Somehow the wife's inquisitive mutt gets mixed up in his plans.... Obsession is very restrained and British in hinting at things that the Americans would shove in our faces, but pulling back in just the nick of time. Dmytryk plays with the conventions expertly, keeping the suspense taut without shocking the bejezus out of us. It's a good thriller that returns to an ordered cosmos with all the laws of fair play observed -- not the anarchic, primal universe of true film noir.