Magnificent Obsession (1954)
Directed by Douglas Sirk
A 1954 remake of a 1935 flick based on a 1929 book so “confused” Sirk couldn’t get through it, Magnificent Obsession is creepy where it isn’t implausible—two very sound reasons to watch, then watch again. The plot wobbles and twists—think Jane & Mr. Rochester, but it’s Jane (Wyman) who goes blind for Rochester’s sins. Rock Hudson, playing the repentant playboy, throws himself into medical school and the practice of an approximately Christian philosophy, which requires adherents to foist good deeds upon others, on the condition of absolute secrecy. But what looked like unadulterated cornmeal at release begins to take on a metallic taste—why does the playboy have a giant horned mask in his house, for example? And what’s up with that witch-burning? Elina Mishuris (June 10, 6:45pm; June 19, 4:30pm at MoMA’s “Glorious Technicolor”)