Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk, 1956): USA

Reviewed by: Collier Grimm. Viewed on DVD.

“The woman in his arms was now the wife of the man he called his best friend!”

When Universal mixed Technicolor, censorship standards of 1956, and the greatest melodramatic director of all time together, things got sudsy. This Valentines Day, before falling back on an old standard love story found on your television set, consider renting something by Douglas Sirk. He’s been considered one of cinema’s great ironist, and his films blow current soap opera standards away. Toto, we’re not on Wisteria Lane anymore.

The characters in Written on the Wind, find themselves dealing with love, jealously, alcoholism, the society ladder, trust, and friendship. The film stars Sirk favorite, Rock Hudson as Mitch Wayne. Wayne is best friend to millionaire oil tycoon, and drunkard Kyle Hadley (Robert Stack). After regretfully introducing Kyle Hadley to his dream woman, Lucy Moore (Lauren Bacall), Wayne becomes the best man instead of the groom.

After marrying Lucy, Hadley quits the bottle and his playboy escapades, while Wayne becomes their constant sidekick. In reality Wayne has run the Hadley business by himself for many years, and has always taken a backseat to his best friend. Marylee Hadley, Kyle’s nymphomaniac sister, remarks that Wayne finishes everything her brother has ever started. Marylee spends most of her time taking young boys to motel rooms, and planning, or should I say plotting, her marriage to Wayne. However, Wayne is in secretly in love with Lucy and only thinks of Marylee as a sister.

During a dinner party a year into his marriage, Hadley finds out that he might be sterile and starts hitting the bottle with a ferocity found only in good melodrama. However, almost simultaneously, Lucy discovers she is pregnant. With some maniacal prodding by his sister Marylee, Hadley convinces himself that the baby is not his own, but Wayne’s.

The drama is fantastic, the plot is fluid, the acting is over-the-top, and the music is so mushy you’ll be dying for Valentines Day to end. The characters in this film blow their reactions and emotions so far out of proportion that it is laughable. But then again, half of us will probably be doing the same thing come Saturday. So instead of wishing February the 14^th could be wiped off the calendar, immerse yourself in some good old-fashioned drama- no strings attached.