Dalbert Pringle When it came to lurid melodrama, 1950s-style - (director) Douglas Sirk certainly had an uncanny knack for elevating it all to the fascinating level of pop-art.Sirk's hyper-stylized visuals (always generously applied) seemed to transform the usual hokum into something else, altogether - Like, how about a deliriously excessive representation of an utterly vacuous America?Set on a garish, Texan landscape of bold colours, shiny surfaces and vulgar opulence - Sibling oil-dynasty brats (now self-destructive adults) cling and claw and do their absolute damnedest to destroy all that is precious and joyful around them.From the clear perspective of pure entertainment - "Written On The Wind" all adds up to irresistible, 1950s, American kitsch. Actors Robert Stack, Lauren Bacall, Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone dig, like literal famished prospectors, into their roles with absolute relish and gusto.

James Hitchcock The title is taken from the Roman poet Catullus:-"A woman's sayings to her ardent lover Should be written on the wind and in running water". Its significance here is that "written on the wind" denotes something impermanent and fleeting, and some of the characters in this story are certainly unable to commit to permanent relationships. It has been called a thinly disguised account of the real-life scandal involving the tobacco heir Zachary Smith Reynolds and his wife, the singer and actress Libby Holman, but in view of the Production Code and the laws of libel- Holman was still alive in 1956- the disguise actually had to be fairly substantial. The Holman character, Lucy Moore, is not a showbiz figure, and no reference is made to her having many lovers of both sexes, as her bisexual real-life counterpart did. Jasper Hadley, a Texas oil baron, has a difficult relationship with his children. His son Kyle is a selfish, alcoholic playboy who has little interest in the business. The man whom he would like to see succeed him is Mitch Wayne, the son of an old friend now working as a geologist for his company. This scenario- a successful patriarch saddled with a useless, irresponsible son and having a decided preference for an unofficial adopted son- was a common one in films from the fifties; two others which use it are the Mann/Stewart Western "The Man from Laramie" and the Burt Lancaster vehicle "Vengeance Valley". Jasper hopes that Mitch will marry his daughter Marylee, but Mitch shows no interest. He knows that Marylee is in love with him but realises she is as spoilt, irresponsible and hard-drinking as her brother. Unable to win the man she loves, Marylee drifts through a series of self- destructive relationships with unsuitable men. The relationship between Kyle and Mitch is a difficult one. The two were childhood friends, and they still occasionally refer to one another as such, but it is clear that they actually dislike one another. Kyle resents his father's all too obvious preference for Mitch; Mitch sees all too clearly what sort of man his boyhood friend has become. The director Douglas Sirk said that he intended to imply a homosexual attraction on Kyle's part towards Mitch, although in the fifties this could not be made explicit. (Mitch is played by Rock Hudson, who was of course gay in real life). Things become even more difficult after Kyle's marriage to Lucy. His drinking and abusive behaviour soon cause problems in the marriage, exacerbated by jealousy of Mitch. Moreover, this jealousy is not completely unfounded. Mitch has long been in love with Lucy and, as relations with Kyle worsen, it is suggested that she returns his affection, although there is no sexual relationship between them. Of the four leads, the weakest is probably Lauren Bacall, whose style of acting wasn't really suited to melodrama, and who never makes Lucy charismatic enough to explain why two men should have fallen obsessively in love with her. Hudson is better as Mitch, making good use of his talent for portraying quiet, steady men of decency and integrity. (His stage name "Rock" may have been assumed as a reference to this side of his persona). Robert Stack is certainly good as the drunken playboy Kyle; whether he was good enough to have won the "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar ahead of Anthony Quinn in "Lust for Life", as he believed he should have done, is another matter. Dorothy Malone did indeed win "Best Supporting Actress", and deserved it. She makes Marylee spiteful and unsympathetic enough to make us realise just why Mitch has no interest in her, despite her good looks, but not so repellent that the final scene, in which Marylee redeems herself with one unselfish gesture, becomes unbelievable. There are similarities between this film and "Giant", another family drama set in the world of the Texas oil industry, which also came out in 1956 and also starred Hudson. (These two films seem to have been the inspiration for the TV series "Dallas"). Melodramatic dramas like this were a staple of Sirk's output, but he took them seriously enough to try and turn them into art. His work is characterised by his accomplished use of colour; here his backgrounds are generally muted and dominated by greys and browns, but there is generally a prominent, brightly-coloured object in the foreground, normally red, yellow or green. (Blues and purples are little used). With some directors such prominent colours might have had a symbolic significance, but here Sirk's purpose in using them seems to be to provide a sense of artistic unity holding the film together. Roger Ebert wrote of the film that "William Inge and Tennessee Williams were taken with great seriousness during the decade, but Sirk kids their Freudian hysteria." I am not sure that I go along with Ebert's theory that "Written on the Wind" is a disguised comedy, a subtly hidden spoof of fifties melodrama. I am not particularly familiar with Inge, but the main reason Williams was taken seriously was that he was a serious writer, the author of plays which inspired films as good as "A Streetcar Named Desire" or "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", and I can see no indication that Sirk was trying to mock or parody films of this type, even if some of them may seem faintly ludicrous to more cynical twenty-first century eyes. In fact, this film, and some of Sirk's others, fall firmly within the same tradition. An undistinguished script means that it is not in the same class as the two films I mention above, but Sirk does enough to show that "melodrama" is not always a synonym for "inadvertent comedy" or "soap opera" and that it was possible to work creatively within the confines of the genre. 7/10

vincentlynch-moonoi Once again, I must dissent. I think this film reeks.Roger Ebert described it as "a perverse and wickedly funny melodrama...in which shocking behavior is treated with passionate solemnity, while parody burbles beneath." I think he was being very generous.I've always found Robert Stack to be a second-rate actor and just a little creepy. Here he outdid himself -- I found him to be a third-rate actor and really creepy...especially when he was looking directly at Lauren Bacall. Made me shudder. He gets killed off in the movie...it didn't come a minute too soon.I usually find Rock Hudson to be a rather appealing actor, but I didn't find him or his part to be a bit appealing here...perhaps more later in the film. Lauren Bacall, not usually one of my favorites, did about the only really decent acting here, though I have seen her better in a few other films. Dorothy Malone never quite made it to the top ranks either, although in a number of films I found her quite appealing...but not here.And, I have found some films directed by Douglas Sirk to be right up my alley -- especially "Magnificent Obsession", "All That Heaven Allows", and "Imitation of Life" -- but not this one. It took me 3 nights to wade through this, and several times I almost turned it off completely. I should have...my time would have been better spent whittling...and I don't even whittle! It seems that almost everything in this film is overdone. Over-acting. Overly dramatic music. Too much of a bad thing. I recommend you skip it!

charishankar Douglas Sirk was regarded as the grandmaster of melodramas. He remained, throughout, both revered and reviled.And 'Written On The Wind', regarded as his crowning achievement, shows you why. Exaggerated, larger than life, emotionally overcast, it is about as close to opera as cinema could possibly be. What works, despite it all, are the performances, which, despite being a bit over-the-top in keeping withthe general aura of the entire film itself, are satisfying on the whole ... with a special word for Dorothy Malone, as the nymphomaniac Marylee Hadley who, at the end of it all, is the only one who retains your sympathy.And that, unfortunately, is where the film falls apart. The whole affair is so in-your-face that you hardly have occasion to empathise with any of the characters. Though the attempts by the others, Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall and especially Robert Stack, are sincere in themselves, they fail to thrill essentially because the film itself overshadows them all. There is nothing subtle or soft here, everything is either black or white, as a result of which the viewer has little to think about, little to absorb ... you just sit through the entire experience, but take back little with you after it is all over.It's all right for one viewing, and is about as representative of Douglas Sirk's repertoire as you can get. But that's about all it is.Well, it IS another way of spending an hour and forty minutes.