Written on the Wind [Criterion Collection]

Director: Douglas Sirk Douglas Sirk

Overview

In the hands of director Douglas Sirk, melodrama has never had a finer moment as evidenced by this disc. The print is presented widescreen (anamorphic) with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The soundtrack is in Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono). Sirk's carefully orchestrated color scheme is well rendered by this impeccable print. There are a few extras included as well (though no commentary track, which would have been an nice inclusion). "The Melodrama Archive" is a text and photo biography/filmography of Sirk divided into three parts: "Germany," "America," and "Universal." It features hundreds of production photos/lobby cards and is a great capsulation of his career. The disc is completed with trailers for the Sirk films Written on the Wind and All That Heaven Allows. Though low on extras, this is still a commendable disc.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/21/2010
UPC:	0715515011525
Original Release:	1956
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[monaural, Dolby Digital]
Language:	English
Time:	1:39:00
Sales rank:	13,568

Special Features

Widescreen digital transfer, enhanced for 16x9 televisions; The Melodrama Archive: annotated filmography of director Douglas Sirk with hundreds of behind-the-scenes production photos, plus vintage lobby cards; Original theatrical trailers for "Written on the Wind" and "All That Heaven Allows"; English subtitles; Liner notes by noted film theorist Laura Mulvey

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Rock Hudson	Mitch Wayne
Lauren Bacall	Lucy Moore Hadley
Robert Stack	Kyle Hadley
Dorothy Malone	Marylee Hadley
Robert Keith	Jasper Hadley
Grant Williams	Biff Miley
Bob Wilke	Dan Willis,Dan Willis,Dan Willis
Edward Platt	Dr. Paul Cochrane
Harry Shannon	Hoak Wayne
John Larch	Roy Carter
Joseph Granby	R.J. Courtney
Roy E. Glenn Jr.	Sam
Maidie Norman	Bertha
William Schallert	Reporter
Joanne Jordan	Brunette
Dani Crayne	Blonde
Dorothy Porter	Secretary
Cynthia Patrick	Waitress
Carl Christian	Bartender
Gail Bonney	Hotel Floorlady
Paul Bradley	Maitre d'
Robert Brubaker	Hotel Manager
Bert Holland	Court Clerk
Robert Malcolm	Hotel Proprietor
Robert Lyden	Kyle as a Boy
Robert Wilson	Mitch as a Boy
Susan Odin	Marylee as a Girl
Kevin Corcoran	Boy in Drugstore
June Valentine	Actor
Hedi Duval	Actor
George DeNormand	Actor
Roy Glenn	Sam
Bess Flowers	Restaurant Patron
Chuck Hamilton	Policeman
Don C. Harvey	Hotel Doorman,College Boy at Party
Jane Howard	Beer Drinker
Carlene King Johnson	College Girl at Party
Chester Jones	Attendant
Glen Kramer	College Boy at Party
Coleen McClatchey	College Girl at Party
Harold Miller	Restaurant Patron
Barry Norton	Courtroom Spectator
Floyd Simmons	Beer Drinker
Hal Taggart	Prosecution Staff Lawyer
Robert Winans	Mitch as a Boy
Roy Glenn Sr.	Sam
Frank Skinner	Composer

Technical Credits

George Zuckerman

Robert Wilder

Douglas Sirk	Director
Clifford Stine	Special Effects
Albert Zugsmith	Producer
George Zuckerman	Screenwriter,Producer
Robert Wilder	Screenwriter
Leslie I. Carey	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Robert Pritchard	Sound Effects
William Lambert	Sound Effects
Edward L. Sandlin	Sound Effects

Scene Index

Side #1 --
0. Chapters
1. "Written on the Wind" [3:11]
2. Flashback: 1955 [3:01]
3. "Around the world in 80 headlines" [4:28]
4. Up in the blue [5:22]
5. Lavender suite [4:11]
6. Miami international Airport [3:48]
7. Torches and Pistols [2:08]
8. Welcome to Hadley [3:37]
9. "I'm allergic to politeness" [8:57]
10. River of no return [2:31]
11. Life of the party [6:04]
12. Eat, drink, and be merry [3:07]
13. The club [4:20]
14. The dance of death [7:31]
15. Funeral wreath [6:37]
16. Doctor's office [3:55]
17. Bar brawl [2:08]
18. Dinner is served [6:38]
19. Miscarriage [3:11]
20. There's going to be a... [5:43]
21. Blackmail before breakfast [1:52]
22. Marylee's testimony [5:43]
23. Oil derrick/ End Credits [1:28]

Menu

Side #1 --
   Play The Movie
   The Melodrama Archive
      Germany
      America
      Universal
   Douglas Sirk Trailers
      Written On The Wind
      All That Heaven Allows

Editorial Reviews

Douglas Sirk's lurid melodrama could well be the most gloriously hyperbolic of the German-born director's films. One of his now-heralded "women's pictures" for Universal in the 1950s, Written on the Wind finds Sirk once again elevating what he himself called "impossible" material to the level of pop art. The trite plot, bubbling with dime-store psychology and Freudian innuendo, follows the heated shenanigans of an unhappy foursome: sibling oil-dynasty millionaires Kyle (Robert Stack) and Marylee Hadley (Dorothy Malone); Lucy Moore (Lauren Bacall), Kyle's new wife; and Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson), the Hadleys' best friend since childhood. The actors dig into their roles with gusto. Stack and Malone were both nominated for their hammy supporting turns, while Hudson's performance as the virile Mitch rivals his role in the previous year's All That Heaven Allows in its part-iconic, part-parodic embodiment of frontier masculinity. Sirk places his characters in a garish Texas landscape of bold colors, shiny surfaces and vulgar opulence. The hyperstylized visuals transform the hokum into something else altogether: a deliriously excessive representation of a vacuous America. Shameless soaper that it is, the movie does occasionally succumb to camp and datedness. For the most part, however, Written on the Wind holds up, a robust and enjoyable epitome of Sirk's formally audacious cinema.

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