Review of All That Heaven Allows (1955) by Daniel C — 02 Jan 2011

Okay. Last night this Douglas Sirk masterpiece (can anyone beg for blu ray please?) about small town America in the 50s resembling pre-War Nazi Germany. Another way to look at it is that Sirk was seeing in America what he saw in Germany, and maybe the truth is Hitler's plan worked in the States where the idea caught on, no? Sydow in Hannah And Her Sisters would no doubt agree.

Either way, genuinely beautiful film made remarkable by screen presence of stars, especially Hudson whose face fills the frame like no other. As a Waldensian man of nature growing trees and adoring the older and drop-dead lovely Jane Wyman, he's a perfect fit.

The subversion piled on subversion is par for the course with Hudson and Sirk, who knew exactly how to use the leading American hearthrob of his generation to make a point about the lie of appearances.

Any doubt this is incidental is demolished by the dialogue and framing, but especially the moment when Wyman tells Hudson in the car "You want me be to be a man" and Hudson laughs: "Only in that one way.

" Art seems more clever in repressed society, don't you think? One of those movies that gets richer with every viewing, and perhaps more cynical.