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Whirlpool Movie Review

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Sci-Fi/Fantasy Comedy & Personal Dramas Action Dramas
Actors: Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer, Charles Bickford
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Whirlpool
WHIRLPOOL is a film produced and directed by Otto Preminger in 1949.

Ann Sutton, the wife of the psycho-analyst William Sutton, suffers from kleptomania but, until now, never had the courage to tell her husband about her problem. One day, she's arrested by a store detective but is allowed to leave the store free thanks to the intervention of David Korvo. Korvo is a crook who seduces wealthy women and leads them up to give him their whole fortune.

Now Korvo hatches a machiavelic plot to get rid of Theresa Randolph, one of his last victims who wants to go to the police in order to denounce him. He hypnotizes Ann Sutton and gets her to go to Theresa Randolph's in the middle of the night. Mrs Randolph is already dead, killed by Korvo, when Ann enters the apartment and she is soon arrested by the police.

Charged of murder, Ann is questioned by Lt. Colton but is unable to remember anything. Although Ann's husband is sure that she isn't guilty, he can't prove her innocence. Korvo is suspected but he has a strong alibi: at the time of Mrs. Randolph's death, he was undergoing a surgical operation.

--Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar




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Analysis of Whirlpool
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 70%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%



Time/Era of Movie: - 1930's-1950's
Legal/Political Thriller? Yes
Crime & Police Story? Yes
Crime story: - amnesia
Legal Thriller Plotlets: - finding out whether someone is really guilty

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status: - homemaker/wife
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric: Yes - mentally ill
Hair style - short/butch/lez (woman)
Body type - average (woman)
Events of movie makes character more... - sad
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - soggy whimpering jelly muffin
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Secondary Main Character
Identity: - Male
Hair style - (man) short/standard straight
Body type - average build (man)
How much in movie? - 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - criminal
Has special powers? Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist: - mind control
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - 80%
Hair type - (man) short/standard straight
Body type - average (man)
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged

Setting
United States Yes
City? Yes

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - non-gory references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel... - excited
How many deaths in film? - 2
Sex/nudity in movie? Yes
What kind of sex: - kissing
How much use of techno gadgets? - 1 ()
Kind of violence: - guns
Unusual forms of death - asphyxiation
Check here if B&W Yes
Any profanity? - None
If Soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE... - Orchestra/classical
Is this movie based on a - book
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