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Show Grove Theatre To Show 'Magnificent Obsession' Sunday When a motion picture so completely com-pletely overwhelms the emotions as does Universal-International's Technicolor masterpiece "Magnificent "Magnifi-cent Obsession," such a picture must be considered an extraordinary extraordin-ary experience. An extraordinary "Magnificent Obsession" for everyone opens on Sunday at the Grove Theatre, a moving experience few moviegoers movie-goers of either sex will find it possible to resist. To allocate credit for this superb sup-erb achievement between the brilliant bril-liant performances by Jane Wy-man Wy-man and Rock Hudson, the powerful power-ful love story by Lloyd C. Douglas (Author of "The Robe") and the inspirational mood of the entire production would be futile. For "Magnificent Obsession" is that perfect blending of story, acting, direction, setting and musical background. The theme of the celebrated Douglas novel is keyed to a woman's great need for the man she has most reason to hate, a man who has almost destroyed her life. An accident to wastrel Hudson requires use of the only resuscitator in the area, a resus-citator resus-citator owned by Dr. Wayne Phillips, Phill-ips, who perishes from a sudden heart attack when he is denied the benefits of that equipment. As if that were not enough. Hudson's Hud-son's reckless pursuit of Miss Wyman, Dr. Phillips widow, results re-sults in an automobile injury and apparent blindness to her. Out of Hudson's devotion to Miss Wyman in an effort to undo his lifetime of wrong comes the magnificent obsession, an obsession obsess-ion that provides one of the most compelling love stories ever told on the motion pictur screen. In the role of Helen Phillips, Miss Wyman is the pivotal point of this love story in a performance that adds considerably to her stature and supports the contention conten-tion of admirers and film critics that she is one of the great actresses act-resses of our time. Gay in the excitement of an ecstatic first love, courageous and sensitive in meeting meet-ing the challenge of a future seemingly seem-ingly without hope Miss Wyman sets a standard that must have been an inspiration to the others of the fine cast. And how that cast measures up to Miss Wyman. In one of the screen's really great dramatic roles, Rock Hudson's Hud-son's star rises high in the Hollywood Holly-wood skies. His transformation from the wild, reckless youth to a mature man dedicated is the woman he has wronged is no theatrical tour-de-force. It is as carefully and skillfully wrought a characterization as the screen is likely to exhibit. And in Barbara Rush, one of Hollywood's most capable young women, a third star keeps pace in the role of the step-daughter who resists, then encourages the pursuit that first touches her life with disaster and later salvages hope from despair. In Agnes Moorhead, Otto Kruger and Gregg Palmer the feature cast is studded with superb performers. |