Douglas Sirk melodramas are known for tackling big themes with style and intelligence, and his 1956 Fred MacMurray-Barbara Stanwyck romance is no different, as explained by Establishing Shot‘s newest regular contributor Chris Forrester. In the midst of the exceptional run of films Douglas Sirk directed in the 1950s, and nestled directly between two of his… Read more »
Tag: Douglas Sirk
Five Reasons to See Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952)
An underrated gem in the filmography of Douglas Sirk, Has Anybody Seen My Gal is a 1920s-set comedy that proves the director was adept at more than just tearjerkers. Read on to see what makes this film so special and why it is absolutely worth seeking out. It was Rock Hudson and Douglas Sirk’s first… Read more »
Hysterics, Hypnotism, and Hot Chocolate in Douglas Sirk’s Sleep, My Love
Guest post by Caleb Allison. Spoilers throughout! Douglas Sirk has become synonymous with lushly subversive melodrama wrapped in Technicolor brilliance, but before his nearly unbelievable string of melodramatic masterpieces in the 1950s, including Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955), Written on the Wind (1956), and Imitation of Life (1959), he conjured up a… Read more »
Why Don’t We Talk About Jane Wyman Anymore?
As the leading lady in two of Douglas Sirk’s finest and most enduring melodramas, Magnificent Obsession (1954) and All That Heaven Allows (1955), it wouldn’t be entirely accurate to say that Jane Wyman is an actress forgotten to time. Then again, given that those two films represent but a small part of her varied… Read more »
An Ode to Rock Hudson in Plaid
When Cary Scott (Jane Wyman) invites her gardener, Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), to join her in a cup of coffee on a whim, it seems innocuous enough. She politely inquires about his work while he gives her laconic replies until their discussion turns to his new passion of growing trees and his eyes brighten. Despite… Read more »
Fassbinder Melodrama
Much has been made of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s relationship with the great Hollywood auteur Douglas Sirk, and of Fassbinder’s predilection toward working within a mode of overwrought melodrama – the kind of “weepies,” largely intended for female audiences, that Sirk was most comfortable working with in the ‘50s. Those who study Fassbinder have even come… Read more »