Magnificent Obsession (1954) - August 20, 2019

[Scottie]

Reckless playboy Bob Merrick (Rock Hudson, in his breakthrough role) crashes his speedboat, requiring emergency attention from the town’s only resuscitator—at the very moment that a beloved local doctor has a heart attack and dies waiting for the lifesaving device. Thus begins one of Douglas Sirk’s most flamboyant master classes in melodrama, a delirious Technicolor mix of the sudsy and the spiritual in which Bob and the doctor’s widow, Helen (Jane Wyman), find themselves inextricably linked amid a series of increasingly wild twists, turns, trials, and tribulations.

SPECIAL FEATURES

High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray

Audio commentary from 2008 featuring film scholar Thomas Doherty

Magnificent Obsession, John M. Stahl’s 1935 adaptation of the same novel, newly restored

From UFA to Hollywood: Douglas Sirk Remembers (1991), a documentary by German filmmaker Eckhart Schmidt

Interviews from 2008 with filmmakers Allison Anders and Kathryn Bigelow, in which they pay tribute to Sirk

Theatrical trailer

PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien

Cover based on a theatrical poster

https://www.criterion.com/films/973-...cent-obsession

[bonehica]

Day 1 no brainer. Been wanting more Sirk on blu since forever. Bring on Written on the Wind!!

[Arch Stanton]

Lovely cover.

[PowellPressburger]

Written on the Wind is my all time favorite Douglas Sirk film.

Shocked they just didn't upgrade both in the same month.

Magnificent Obsession is good but really thought Written was going to happen first.

[James Luckard]

I finally broke down last month and bought all 10 Sirks from France that were unavailable here or in the UK, this title included, so I guess everyone can thank me for it getting announced.

I'll definitely rebuy it if it's a newer transfer than the French disc.

Universal's in-house transfers are always difficult to gauge, because they seem to have a directive to always use the negative for all material except any process shots. This means that any transitions involving fades or dissolves, etc, are from inferior material. Presumably because all those transitions would have to be recreated otherwise (as WB clearly did for 2001 recently, evidenced by the one fade they forgot to include until people told them about it). Universal transfers invariably switch from looking gorgeous to looking dirty for any process shots. One of the Sirks I watched recently had a lengthy sequence that had a series of dissolves in it - it might even have been Magnificent Obsession. As a result, the entire sequence was dirty.

[knives>ramona]

I have been waiting on Criterion to re-release this on blu-ray since I saw it on TCM a couple of years ago. It was the beginning of my magnificent obsession. More Sirk, more Rock, please. These Sirk films look incredible on blu-ray.

[Matt89]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

Written on the Wind is my all time favorite Douglas Sirk film.

Shocked they just didn't upgrade both in the same month.

Magnificent Obsession is good but really thought Written was going to happen first.

My thoughts exactly.

~Matt

[BluPat]

It's about time. DVD has been out for years now.

[belcherman]

Really cool that they're including the John Stahl directed 1935 version as well. Universal did the same thing a few years back when they released Sirk's version of Imitation of Life along with the 1934 version, also directed by Stahl. And, I'm glad that Criterion chose to go with 2 discs. Universal put both versions on one disc.

I don't know if this is day one for me, but I might not wait for a sale.

[klauswhereareyou]

Like others have said I would rather it have been Written on the Wind, but I can't complain about more classic 50's Sirk.

[amputd]

Day one for me. Written On The Wind should be next!

[GeoffOliver]

I’m actually just as enthusiastic about the 1935 version being included. We need more Irene Dunne on Blu-ray.

[javi92]

Hmmm, doesn't look like a new scan.

[Richard--W]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I finally broke down last month and bought all 10 Sirks from France that were unavailable here or in the UK, this title included, so I guess everyone can thank me for it getting announced. ...

Thanks.

[MTRodaba2468]

I'm always in for more Sirk.

[dig311dug]

future sirk collection?

potentially.

[Scottie]

Written on the Wind will be released at some point.

[bonehica]

Originally Posted by dig311dug

future sirk collection?

potentially.

We dare to dream...

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by bonehica

We dare to dream...

Until then, almost all his post-1951 films are available region-free from the Cinema Master Class series in France.

Unless Criterion somehow jumps in and does a mega-boxset, which frankly I can't see, the French releases are the only option. I feel like the French appreciate melodramas more than Americans ever will.

Most of the transfers looks pretty great, though a few have issues, notably Magnificent Obsession. Most of the titles have never had HD releases anywhere, I believe some have never even been released on home video before at all.

Cinema Master Class has released 14 titles (though one is DVD-only) so far from his Universal period in the 50s.

[MifuneFan]

I love how nicely the cover compliments the one for All That Heaven Allows