Whirlpool

Released Nov 28, 1949

1h 37m

Crime

Drama

List

92%

12 Reviews

Tomatometer

63%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Plagued by an overwhelming urge to shoplift, Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney) is helped out of a tight spot by David Korvo (Jose Ferrer). Unfortunately for Ann, Korvo is a conniving hypnotist who draws her into a web of deception and murder through his mind-altering abilities and frames her for his misdeeds. While Ann's psychiatrist husband, Bill (Richard Conte), believes that his wife didn't commit the crimes, Korvo's devious scheme makes proving her innocence quite difficult.

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Geoff Andrew

Time Out

It's a fine example of the way Preminger, on occasion, managed to deflect routine melodrama into something more personal and profound.

Oct 23, 2007

Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

There is no doubt that people will do strange things under hypnotic spell and that the techniques of hypnotism may be villainously employed. But you don't catch this fairly rational corner believing for one minute the hocuspocus that goes on.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 23, 2007

Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Preminger's ambiguous relation to his characters and his sense of moral relativity have seldom been put to such haunting use.

Oct 23, 2007

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

A film that keeps me hooked for an hour and a half by combining police film noir and psychological thriller with a twisted plot about hypnotism, blackmail and murder. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 7/10

Aug 6, 2020

Full Review

Josephine O'Neill

Daily Telegraph (Australia)

Jose Ferrer's insolent finesse turns a conventional melodrama into a fascinating; one-man show.

Mar 25, 2019

Full Review

Christopher Machell

CineVue

Whirlpool's stand-out scene, in which a somnambulant Gene Tierney incriminates herself ... uses the conventions of horror cinema as much as that of noir.

Rated: 5/5

Jan 17, 2017

Full Review

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Steve D

Entertaining but ridiculous.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/03/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Now as you begin to relax, you will find a wave of comfort sweeping over you like eating mashed potatoes and meatloaf. When the credits roll, you will awaken and agree that you have seen a thrilling suspenseful movie and buy more cheap B-grade film noir.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I love this film. It all feels very surreal to me, with her husband's lack of empathy almost as deadly as her blackmailer's intentions. Her first scene of shoplifting a brilliant fast start to a downfall. Tierney's beauty is sublime.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Tom M

Very disappointing noire considering cast. Ferrer speaks every line like he's on the stage reciting Hamlet. Tierney is gullible from the start and once she's hypnotized, anything goes. Ever the gangster Conte is not believable as a psychoanalyst. And for icing on the cake, Ferrer hypnotizes himself to remove his own gall bladder and then walks around !

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

04/24/20

Full Review

deke p

OTTO PREMINGER! 1949! SAW on tv 7.2019, all but last half hour. Good style. Tierney lovely. Ferrer sinister as hypnotist. Richard Conte a Gene's husband. Watched again 5.5.2022, uppin my RT rating from 3 "Meh", to 3 1/2 Good I recommend it.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie was very entertaining and a great 1950s mystery movie.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

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Otto Preminger

Director

Gene Tierney

Ann Sutton

Richard Conte

Dr. William `'Bill'` Sutton

José Ferrer

David Korvo

Bruce Hamilton

Actor

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Synopsis

Plagued by an overwhelming urge to shoplift, Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney) is helped out of a tight spot by David Korvo (Jose Ferrer). Unfortunately for Ann, Korvo is a conniving hypnotist who draws her into a web of deception and murder through his mind-altering abilities and frames her for his misdeeds. While Ann's psychiatrist husband, Bill (Richard Conte), believes that his wife didn't commit the crimes, Korvo's devious scheme makes proving her innocence quite difficult.

Director: Otto Preminger
Production Co: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 28, 1949, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 27, 2016
Runtime: 1h 37m