Obsessed (1951, aka The Late Edwina Black) Blu-ray Review

3 Stars Talky but watchable Victorian mystery.
The Late Edwina Black / Obsessed Screenshot

The screen version of the stage mystery The Late Edwina Black titled Obsessed for our shores comes to talky if vibrant life in ClassicFlix’s new Blu-ray release with its conundrums intact and four outstanding leading performances enhancing the experience.

Obsessed (1951)
Released: 01 Mar 1951
Rated: N/A
Runtime: 78 min
Director: Maurice Elvey
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Cast: David Farrar, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Roland Culver
Writer(s): William Dinner, William Morum, Charles Frank
Plot: After a sickly Victorian woman dies suddenly, a postmortem reveals that her body contains a fatal dose of arsenic. Suspicion falls on her husband and her companion, who are lovers. Inspector Martin of Scotland Yard solves the myst...
IMDB rating: 6.7
MetaScore: N/A

Disc Information
Studio: Studio Canal
Distributed By: ClassicFlix
Video Resolution: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HDMA
Subtitles: English SDH
Rating: Not Rated
Run Time: 1 Hr. 18 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray
Case Type: clear keep case
Disc Type: BD25 (single layer)
Region: A
Release Date: 02/28/2023
MSRP: $29.99

The Production: 3/5

There are faint traces of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca hovering in the corners of Maurice Elvey’s Obsessed (aka The Late Edwina Black) with its unseen disagreeable late dowager with a loyal housekeeper and an enigmatic husband left to pick up the pieces after her passing. Obsessed isn’t as Gothic in its atmosphere, of course, and the characterizations aren’t as detailed as in the celebrated novel and its Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation, but there’s still a mystery to be solved in both, and there are secrets to be uncovered and twists and turns galore along the way. Obsessed is not an unpleasant way to spend a bit over an hour.

When wealthy dowager Edwina Black dies under somewhat mysterious circumstances, it’s up to the local police inspector (Roland Culver) to find out what happened. The coroner uncovers arsenic in her system after the autopsy, and thus suspicion falls on the three people tending to her before her death: her schoolmaster husband Gregory (David Farrar), her attractive secretary/companion Elizabeth (Geraldine Fitzgerald), and her loyal housekeeper Ellen (Jean Cadell) who’d been with her since childhood. All three, poor in their own rights, have been left hefty stipends in her will so money as the motivating factor doesn’t favor one over the others, but each of these people has secrets they’re holding onto, not aided by the fact that Edwina’s protracted illness has thrown Gregory and Elizabeth into each other’s arms for comfort, but faced with the possibility that either may be a murderer, their ardor has begun to cool.

Charles Frank and David Evans have adapted William Dinner and William Morum’s stage play The Late Edwina Black for the screen (the name was retained as the title of the movie version for British audiences and is the title seen in the opening credits), and, unfortunately, they’ve kept it a very talky enterprise with characters’ personalities and emotions erupting and subsiding so suddenly that it almost becomes comical. Director Maurice Elvey does keep the camera moving during all of that dialogue exchange, all the better to explore all of the interesting nooks and crannies of this stately Victorian mansion where the majority of the action takes place. He’s also done a fine job instilling in the mise-en-scène a fine sense of dread, the doleful shadow (and jarring tinkling of her wind chimes) of the haughty Edwina hovering over the lovers as they grapple with their own senses of guilt and inescapable suspicions of one another. Agatha Christie was able to make a masterpiece of mystery in Cards on the Table with only four suspects, and the writers here almost pull it off with only three suspects from which to choose, but, inevitably, the guilty party is just a bit too easy to isolate even with all of the surprise revelations that keep being exposed in a brisk and steady progression.

David Farrar has a fine presence as the suspicious husband eager to escape his wife’s dominance, and Geraldine Fitzgerald matches him step for step as the companion with her own dreams of passions and foreign locales once she leaves her mistress’s service. Jean Cadell’s embittered Ellen, disgusted to see her lady’s husband being drawn to another woman, is the very model of a loyal and devoted housekeeper. Into the mix comes the crafty, unassuming inspector of Roland Culver who noses about and asks his leading questions to elicit responses which allow him to delve more deeply into motivations and behaviors. He walks away with the movie in the process. Also stealing her few scenes is Mary Merrall as the opinionated, superior Lady Southdale, busybody of the village accustomed to bullying everyone and getting her way in all things.

Video: 5/5

3D Rating: NA

The film’s 1.37:1 theatrical aspect ratio is faithfully rendered in this 1080p transfer using the AVC codec (the liner notes promote this as a 4K restoration). It’s a glorious picture with sharpness outstanding and a grayscale that is crisp and altogether winning. Black levels are especially impressive throughout. The movie has been divided into 13 chapters.

Audio: 4.5/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound mix occasionally has some soft hiss in the background during quieter moments, but for the most part, the audio quality is very good. Dialogue (and there is a lot of it) is always easily discernible, and it’s been mixed with Allan Gray’s background score and the appropriate sound effects quite professionally.

Special Features: 1/5

ClassicFlix Trailers: Black Magic; I, the Jury; The Michael Shayne Mysteries, O. Henry Playhouse, T-Men.

Overall: 3/5

The screen version of the stage mystery The Late Edwina Black titled Obsessed for our shores comes to talky if vibrant life in ClassicFlix’s new Blu-ray release with its conundrums intact and four outstanding leading performances enhancing the experience.

 

Matt has been reviewing films and television professionally since 1974 and has been a member of Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2007, his reviews now numbering close to three thousand. During those years, he has also been a junior and senior high school English teacher earning numerous entries into Who’s Who Among America’s Educators and spent many years treading the community theater boards as an actor in everything from Agatha Christie mysteries to Stephen Sondheim musicals.

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Robert Crawford

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Thank you for your review. Yesterday, I received my Blu-ray from Classicflix. With "Noir Alley" on hiatus for the next two months, I will watch my Blu-ray during that time.
 

borisfw

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Having never seen this movie , your review is much appreciated. I think i'll give it a try.
 

Robert Crawford

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Thank you for your review. Yesterday, I received my Blu-ray from Classicflix. With "Noir Alley" on hiatus for the next two months, I will watch my Blu-ray during that time.
Until today, I never got around to watching this Blu-ray. This is the first time I watched this movie so I'm happy I've finally completed that task during our "Noirvember Challenge".
 
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