Obsession

Robert Newton - Dr. Clive Riordan
Phil Brown - Bill Kronin
Sally Gray - Storm Riordan
Naunton Wayne - Superintendent Finsbury
James Harcourt - Aitkin the butler
Betty Cooper - Miss Stevens, receptionist

After being blacklisted in Hollywood by the McCarthy witch-hunts for being a communist, director Edward Dymtryk came to England to find work. He made three films, including this grisly thriller based on Alec Coppel's suspense play A Man About a Dog; the film features a typically exaggerated routine by Robert Newton in the lead role. Despite a few wooden performances, there is more than a hint of classic Hitchcock in Dmytryk’s darkly macabre thriller.

Incensed by his adulterous wife Storm's (Sally Gray) continual affairs, Dr Clive Riordan (Robert Newton) decides to plan the perfect murder for her latest admirer, American Bill Kronin (Phil Brown), after discovering them together in his home. He kidnaps Bill at gunpoint, chains him to the wall in a lonely cellar room, and before carrying out the execution gradually prepares an acid bath to dispose of the body. The plan begins to go astray when his wife's dog follows him to the hideout. Scotland Yard detective Finsbury (Naunton Wayne) eventually gets on the trail and rescues the trapped man just in time.