Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Antonio Banderas and Dominic Sesso in TONY: Courtesy of A24.

This week on The Movie Gourmet, a new review of the comic documentary The History of Concrete and recommendations at this year’s Nashville Film Festival. Don’t overlook my recommendations from last week – David Fortune’s emotionally powerful debut Color Book and the gripping doc Sweetheart Deal, a triumph of cinéma vérité; both are available to stream.

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Robert Newton and Sally Gray in OBSESSION

“And the manner in which I dispose of your body presents no obstacles.”

So says Dr. Clive Riordan (Robert Newton), an especially diabolical and chilling movie villain, in The Obsession (The Hidden Room) coming up on October 1 on Turner Classic Movies. 1949

Riordan, a twisted psychiatrist, is addressing his wife’s American lover, Bill Kronin (Phil Brown). Riordan is addressing the infidelity of his wife Storm (Sally Gray) by kidnapping Kronin and hiding him, chained to the wall of a soundproof room behind his garage. Planning the perfect crime, Riordan intends to hold Kronin for months, until the police cease looking for him; then, Riordan intends to dissolve Kronin in a bath of acid. Riordan sadistically explains all of this to his victim, and the plan does look foolproof – but the would-be murderer doesn’t count on an intrepid Scotland Yard inspector (Naunton Wayne) and Storm’s pet dog Monty… Directed by the great classic noir director Edward Dmytryk, now working in Britain after his recent blacklisting in the US.

Robert Newton, Monty the Dog and Phil Brown in OBSESSION