306. Written on the Wind (1956)
Directed By Douglas Sirk
Synopsis
An oil heir and his best friend both fall in love with a woman that works for publicity. She gets drawn deeper into the shitty world of the very rich and very disturbed. She gets married to the oil heir, who is shooting blanks and goes back to being an alcoholic because his fishes can't swim. By a fluke she gets preggers, and he thinks the baby is his friend's (his sister helps implant that idea), he hits his wife who miscarriages. Then he leaves the house, comes back into the house, finds a gun and tries to kill his friend. His sister, who is in love with this friend tries to stop him and in the struggle he shoots himself and dies. The wife now stays with the friend and they both fly to Iran. In 1979 the Islamic revolution presumably makes their stay uncomfortable.
Review
As you can see it is not the simplest of plots. Murder, alcoholism, love squares, nymphomania, oil, people falling down stairs, miscarriages, Rock Hudson, fast cars, colour, guns, trial case, hunting, Lauren Bacall, flashbacks, planes, domestic violence, formal dinners this film has it all!
Speaking of Rock Hudson, we are entering a bit of a Hudson season, 2 of the next 3 films, excluding this one, have him on it. And it ends up being an interesting film, if a bit rushed to fit all of that in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Rock Hudson is always OK, and Lauren Bacall is great as usual. The big acting highlight goes to the bitch sister, however, played by Dorothy Malone who got a deserved Oscar.
So it is a family epic story in the style of Dallas or something like that, very soapy story, but because it is condensed there is none of that soapy fatigue. So a good film.
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Lauren Bacall, whose film career was foundering, accepted the relatively non-flashy role of Lucy Moore at the behest of her husband Humphrey Bogart. At the same time she was shooting Wind, she was preparing for a television adaptation of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, co-starring Coward and Claudette Colbert. In 2005, she accepted the Frontier Award on behalf of the film from the Austin Film Society, which annually makes inductions into the Texas Film Hall of Fame recognizing actors, directors, screenwriters, filmmakers, and films from, influenced by, or inspired by the Lone Star State.
Stack felt the primary reason he lost the Oscar to Anthony Quinn (whose winning performance in Lust for Life was less than ten minutes long) was that 20th Century Fox, who had loaned him to Universal International, organized block voting against him to prevent one of their contract players from winning an acting award while working at another studio.
The appropriately dramatic beginning:
Synopsis
An oil heir and his best friend both fall in love with a woman that works for publicity. She gets drawn deeper into the shitty world of the very rich and very disturbed. She gets married to the oil heir, who is shooting blanks and goes back to being an alcoholic because his fishes can't swim. By a fluke she gets preggers, and he thinks the baby is his friend's (his sister helps implant that idea), he hits his wife who miscarriages. Then he leaves the house, comes back into the house, finds a gun and tries to kill his friend. His sister, who is in love with this friend tries to stop him and in the struggle he shoots himself and dies. The wife now stays with the friend and they both fly to Iran. In 1979 the Islamic revolution presumably makes their stay uncomfortable.
Review
As you can see it is not the simplest of plots. Murder, alcoholism, love squares, nymphomania, oil, people falling down stairs, miscarriages, Rock Hudson, fast cars, colour, guns, trial case, hunting, Lauren Bacall, flashbacks, planes, domestic violence, formal dinners this film has it all!
Speaking of Rock Hudson, we are entering a bit of a Hudson season, 2 of the next 3 films, excluding this one, have him on it. And it ends up being an interesting film, if a bit rushed to fit all of that in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Rock Hudson is always OK, and Lauren Bacall is great as usual. The big acting highlight goes to the bitch sister, however, played by Dorothy Malone who got a deserved Oscar.
So it is a family epic story in the style of Dallas or something like that, very soapy story, but because it is condensed there is none of that soapy fatigue. So a good film.
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Lauren Bacall, whose film career was foundering, accepted the relatively non-flashy role of Lucy Moore at the behest of her husband Humphrey Bogart. At the same time she was shooting Wind, she was preparing for a television adaptation of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, co-starring Coward and Claudette Colbert. In 2005, she accepted the Frontier Award on behalf of the film from the Austin Film Society, which annually makes inductions into the Texas Film Hall of Fame recognizing actors, directors, screenwriters, filmmakers, and films from, influenced by, or inspired by the Lone Star State.
Stack felt the primary reason he lost the Oscar to Anthony Quinn (whose winning performance in Lust for Life was less than ten minutes long) was that 20th Century Fox, who had loaned him to Universal International, organized block voting against him to prevent one of their contract players from winning an acting award while working at another studio.
The appropriately dramatic beginning:
posted by Francisco Silva @ 10:11 PM
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