MovieChat Forums > Magnificent Obsession (1954) Discussion > If the late Dr. Phillips....

If the late Dr. Phillips....

posted 9 years ago by hobnob53
4 replies | jump to latest

We never see the good Doctor Wayne Phillips, scientist and saint (if I may borrow a phrase from the label on the jar dropped by Igor in Young Frankenstein), but after he kicks we hear endless testimony about how great and selfless a man he was, handing out thousands to strangers and demanding it never be repaid -- his "magnificent obsession".

So if this caring man and beloved icon was so concerned for the well-being and security of others, how come he not only dissipated his entire net worth, but borrowed against his insurance as well, thereby leaving his wife and daughter almost destitute, with no income, having to depend on the kindness of others, even having to sell their house? Not to mention undermining the financial stability of his own clinic, endangering the careers of its staff and the lives of its patients?

Nobody ever criticizes old Doc Phillips for those stupid decisions, I see. I guess he wasn't magnificently obsessed enough to worry about his own family and colleagues. Or maybe he thought he'd live forever -- you know, as long as he had that trusty resuscitator by his side.

Oh, right. Oops.

By the way...what the heck is a "resuscitator"? Some all-purpose 1948 (the year the movie begins) medical marvel, I betcha. Probably the same thing Gort used to bring back Klaatu.

[–] disinterested_spectator 9 years ago

If you buy into all that karma stuff that is the premise of this movie, then I guess Dr. Phillips knew that his spiritual estate would be large enough to provide for his wife and daughter by giving them a playboy who would cause his wife to go blind so that the playboy would go to medical school and save her life and return her sight with a miraculous surgery and then marry her.

On the other hand, the basis for all that karma stuff seems to be Christianity, given the reference to Jesus by Edward Randolph. And in that regard, we have Luke 14:26: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” So, I guess if he hated his wife and daughter, the way Jesus commanded, it didn’t matter to him what happened to them after he died.

[–] hobnob53 9 years ago

Yeah, I never thought of that.

Although that "karma" business sounds pretty, I don't know, foreign, you know, the kind of stuff only Reds and Pinks talk about. You ain't one of them, are you, boy? We don't cotton to such talk, not to mention attacking the Good Book. This is 1954, remember. We ain't exactly fools. We got resuscitators and everything.

[–] disinterested_spectator 9 years ago

Oh no, I’m not one of them. People who believe in karma get what they deserve.

I started wondering about your resuscitator question, so I looked it up, finding this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resuscitator

The first one was invented in 1907. However, it was invented by a foreigner, in case you were worried.

[–] hobnob53 9 years ago

Ah, yes. Thanks. But it occurs to me: Doc Phillips was praised for giving everything away. Even his family, whom he undercut financially in every way (and never bothered to warn them), told everyone not to worry about paying them back.

So why are they so upset about his giving the resuscitator away? It was just part and parcel of his boundless need to ingratiate himself with everybody. Being angry at Bob Merrick seems out of place, since they didn't hold anything against all the moochers to whom Phillips gave away his family's money, house and security.