"Written on the Wind", 1956 Douglas Sirk

[Belle]

Tonight I watched this Douglas Sirk potboiler after a very long, well-earned hiatus. I spent the night immersed in unmitigated soap, played to the hilt to the melodramatic music of Frank Skinner.

The film was made in 1956 and it seems to have preserved its appearance; no doubt somebody thought it was worthy of restoration. Most of the old tropes were there; oil baron's spoilt son Kyle (Robert Stack) has a drinking problem and, adding insult to injury, thinks he's infertile. Oil baron's daughter Marylee (an awkwardly lurching and ludicrously foxy Dorothy Malone) is in love with best friend Mitch (Rock Hudson), who really loves Lucy (Lauren Bacall) - Kyle's wife. Are you ready for this plot? Leaves were rustling, tyres were spinning, alcohol flowed freely, a man fell down stairs to his death, characters were staring menacingly at others from behind curtains, there was a shooting, jealousy in spades, Kyle reeling and laughing under the influence (in a menacing "I've got depression" kind of way!) and the obligatory black hired help looked on helplessly with an ominous "there's gonna be a killin' tonight".

I laughed aloud when Marylee (Malone) did the Douglas Sirk-equivalent of 'dance of the seven veils' erotically in front of a picture of Rick (Rock Hudson) while some revolting trumpet jazz became increasingly shrill and loud on the portable record player. Meanwhile, downstairs, old man Hadley is at the end of his tether and his increasing desperation at his lawless and wanton daughter causes him to drop down dead at the top of the stairs, with full choreography. Close-up of a hand clutching a staircase railing and then..well, you know the rest.

The production design was good, if claustrophobic, but I think Rock Hudson must have found it difficult to keep a straight face, hard on the heels of "Giant" the year before. The only similarity to that epic was the existence of oil rigs and very wealthy people who had 'problems'!! Plaudits to Bacall who tried to maintain her considerable poise and dignity throughout, despite the fact that this script was a stinker. She would be rewarded for her perseverance the following year with an absolutely superb performance in Vincente Minnelli's classy "Designing Woman".

Here's the trailer for "Written on the Wind":

[jamesjazzguitar]

This melodrama is anything but mellow. A beautifully filmed camp classic.

[HoldenIsHere]

The sweetie and I watched and enjoyed what jamesjazzguitar accurately calls a "beautifully filmed camp classic."

The music the underscored Dorothy Malone's arrival on the screen was priceless! I think our favorite line was when the man that Dorothy Malone's Marylee picked up at the gas station tells her father: "You daughter is a tramp."

At least Marylee redeemed herself at the end.

[Belle]

"Ludicrously foxy" is by far the best description of Dorothy Malone's performance I have ever read! Thanks especially to Tennessee Williams, in the 1950s it was acceptable, maybe even expected, for "Suthun" gals to go c-r-a-z-y, which let some actresses do a powerful lot of emotin'--this is a case in point.

Yes, Malone was absolutely priceless!! The thing which really amused me was Rock Hudson trying to keep a straight face!! Same in "Magnificent Obsession".