esrosedotblog

DO YOUR OWN THING

Today's movie was ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955).

Yeh, I know, with a title like that it has to be pretty cheesy, huh? And get a load of this! It stars Jane Wyman, a recent widow in a suburban town, who falls for Rock Hudson, the guy who does her gardening. And what is more, he falls in love with her and takes the lead!

Eeeewww! Right? Wrong. This wonderful film about conforming to social values, or rather, not conforming; fighting to follow your own heart, is a fresh breeze through the Hollywood formula pictures of the period; all 'I Like Ike' values. It is a melodrama so you might want to get out your hankies. The tearful parts are as much happy as sad. It is full of manipulative elements to crank you around emotionally; but I do not think you will be able to escape. Enjoy! Sniff, sniff.

It is very engaging and convincing and I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. It is also a NYTimes 1176 Best Film, and a good thing too, as I would never have rented it otherwise.

Another aspect of this film's quality, is the production itself. It is restored Technicolor and the lighting and general cinematography is stunning; albeit T-color artificial. In service of this look, the film is entirely shot on a set. Control. I had forgotten how utterly gorgeous these films were.

Douglas Sirk directed and the efficiency of the work is amazing. He was on a roll at this time and had directed some other romantic melodramas like MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW, and WRITTEN ON THE WIND. These films were a genré unto themselves and HEAVEN fits right in. Anyone my age will remember them all, for sure. And the producer of all these, as well as many other Hudson films (the Doris Day vehicles), was Ross Hunter a prolific producer with a unique ability to put together high quality crowd pleasers. Today, he is generally mocked, because the material is dated. On the other hand, at the time, his material was always considered new and bright and, at times, even thought provoking; just as this film is.