Fri July 3, 2015
Magnificent Obsession (John M. Stahl, US, 1935)
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at PFA Theater
(see times)
Robert Merrick (Robert Taylor) seems to be a magnet for morbid coincidences. First he’s indirectly responsible for a great doctor’s death, then the doctor’s widow (Irene Dunne) is blinded because of him. But further chance occurrences, plus a sort of spiritual pyramid scheme, will set this callow playboy on a path toward redemption. Questions of life and death, power and payment hover over what is, at its best, a tender love story. Magnificent Obsession was remade by Douglas Sirk, but Stahl’s evenly lit world of unlikely happenings has less in common with Sirk than with some imaginary hybrid of Borzage and Buñuel.
• Written by Sarah Y. Mason, Victor Heerman, George O’Neil, based on the novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. Photographed by John J. Mescall. With Irene Dunne, Robert Taylor, Charles Butterworth, Betty Furness. (110 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Universal)
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• Written by Sarah Y. Mason, Victor Heerman, George O’Neil, based on the novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. Photographed by John J. Mescall. With Irene Dunne, Robert Taylor, Charles Butterworth, Betty Furness. (110 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Universal)
Robert Merrick (Robert Taylor) seems to be a magnet for morbid coincidences. First he’s indirectly responsible for a great doctor’s death, then the doctor’s widow (Irene Dunne) is blinded because of him. But further chance occurrences, plus a sort of spiritual pyramid scheme, will set this callow playboy on a path toward redemption. Questions of life and death, power and payment hover over what is, at its best, a tender love story. Magnificent Obsession was remade by Douglas Sirk, but Stahl’s evenly lit world of unlikely happenings has less in common with Sirk than with some imaginary hybrid of Borzage and Buñuel.
• Written by Sarah Y. Mason, Victor Heerman, George O’Neil, based on the novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. Photographed by John J. Mescall. With Irene Dunne, Robert Taylor, Charles Butterworth, Betty Furness. (110 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Universal)
read more
• Written by Sarah Y. Mason, Victor Heerman, George O’Neil, based on the novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. Photographed by John J. Mescall. With Irene Dunne, Robert Taylor, Charles Butterworth, Betty Furness. (110 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Universal)
show less
Date/Times:
PFA Theater
2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720
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