Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Douglas Sirk, the King of 1950's melodrama, hit another bullseye with 1957's Written on the Wind, a soapy but extremely entertaining film that still works, despite some dated elements.The film stars Robert Stack as Kyle Hadley, a wealthy alcoholic playboy who instantly falls for a secretary at his father's company (Lauren Bacall), who has also caught the eye of Kyle's best friend Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson), who is also the lifelong obsession of Kyle's trampy sister, MaryLee (Dorothy Malone).Based on a novel by Robert Wilder, George Zuckerman's screenplay makes all the moves expected from melodrama in the 1950's...we have best friends torn apart by a woman, a man who thinks he can buy a woman's affections and learning that all the money in the world is ineffective next to a wedding ring and that obsession can drive people to destroying people they care about.The primary quadrangle that makes up this story is constructed in a way that we know immediately there's no way things aren't going to get messy, but the slow reveal of how the destruction commences keeps us guessing and throws in a couple of curves we didn't see coming that during 1957, probably had some censors squirming, but probably attracted audience in droves as word of mouth spread.There are some really interesting casting choices made here...Robert Stack probably had the most significant role of his movie career as the self-destructive Kyle and he makes the most of it, forcing Rock Hudson to underplay his role in order to make Stack's performance viable. I have to admit though, that as I watched this film, I couldn't help but think of how different this film might have been if Hudson and Stack had switched roles. Kyle reminded me a lot of Hudson's character in Magnifcient Obsession and I definitely could have seen it, but Stack was surprisingly solid. Lauren Bacall's stylish work brought a richness to her character that really wasn't in the screenplay and Dorothy Malone's delicious scenery chewing in the film's showiest role won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress of 1957. Malone's role required her to invest in some things that would be laughed off movie screens today, but in '57 audiences ate it up and so did the Academy.Director Douglas Sirk proves once again that he understood the melodrama genre and the emotions that it is supposed to produce, giving the intended audience exactly what they wanted. If you like your soap against glamorous Ross Hunter-like-trappings, you will love this.

Presently, a shooting occurs at the Texas mansion owned by the oil-rich Hadley family. In a flashback, we witness what led up to the apparent tragedy… Over a year ago, handsome Hadley geologist Rock Hudson (as Mitch Wayne) meets attractive secretary Lauren Bacall (as Lucy Moore) in New York. He is interested in her, but she is taken by Mr. Hudson's childhood chum, the "Prince Charming" of the Hadley oil empire, Robert Stack (as Kyle Hadley). An alcoholic playboy, Mr. Stack settles down when he meets Ms. Bacall. But family problems and old demons eventually return...One problem is sexually-charged sister Dorothy Malone (as Marylee Hadley). She suffering from unrequited love for Hudson, who only has eyes for Bacall. She doesn't get the man she wants, but Ms. Malone has a active sex life as the town tramp. She moves from bar to bedroom with ease and will even take the guy who pumps her gas to a motel. Service station attendant Grant Williams gets the invite. Hadley patriarch Robert Keith (as Jasper Hadley) is furious. Stack and Malone, the doomed and tormented brother-sister duo, steal the show. They are an indictment of industrialized wealth..."Written on the Wind" won Malone the "Film Daily" and "Academy Award" honor as "Best Supporting Actress" of the year. Stack was nominated by both groups, but it turned out to be Anthony's year (Perkins for the former in "Friendly Persuasion" and Quinn for the latter in "Lust for Life"). Neither director Douglas Sirk nor cinematographer Russell Metty received noms, although both are award-worthy. Moving his players artfully in and around the Hadley mansion, Mr. Sirk is in peak form. And, you can't be bored in a courtroom scene when Malone's hat repeatedly slices the movie screen.********* Written on the Wind (12/12/56) Douglas Sirk ~ Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone

Lives up to everything you'd expect in a Sirk movie and the super-saturated colours, stirring musical score and immaculate costumes are all present. On the basis of these factors alone this film is very watchable. Everything looks so real you want to live there even though your brain also knows that it's all a fantasy that bears only a passing resemblance to how the world really looks.On the down side, for me, was the utter lack of interest I had in most of the characters and their spoilt rich lives. I never felt emotionally involved as there was no point of identification for me. (I felt the same about Dallas when it came along on TV many years later - who cares?) This contrasted strongly for me with All That Heaven Allows which did engage me. The only identification for me was when the bartender tells a man that Marylee Hadley is out of his class - I remember my grandma saying the same to me when I once dated a doctor's daughter! All the interesting people in this film lived on the other side of the tracks but they were only treated as stereotypes and ciphers.My score is entirely for the style of the film. A worthwhile watch but emotionally uninvolving.

Of all of Douglas Sirk's sly and subversive melodramas, Written on the Wind may very well be the one that takes itself the most seriously. This is not to say that Sirk's wicked undertones are not present as they are; rather by this time (1956), he had perfected his ability to balance the false and lavish exterior with the sad, repugnant interior of the characters and the lives they inhabit.What is unique to this film is how intense and emotional the story becomes rather than simple-minded fodder for soap fans. This is due in part to the very strong performances, particularly Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone as Kyle and Marylee Hadley, the filthy-rich but morally empty children of an oil tycoon who traipse about looking for thrills and challenges. Kyle finds one in straight-laced secretary Lucy Moore (Lauren Bacall), whom he eventually marries. Marylee has been attracted to Kyle's best friend Mitch Wayne (the incomparable Rock Hudson) all her life but cannot get past his wall of incredulity. In short, none of these characters are truly happy or satisfied with their situations, even after attempts to correct them. This may be Sirk's most devastating critique of all: everyone, despite their varied backgrounds, remain unfulfilled and unwilling to settle for anything but what they feel is ultimate satisfaction.If nothing else, this film is gorgeous to look at. Russell Metty, Sirk's longtime cinematographer, photographs Hollywood sets better than anyone. Perhaps its the color palate or Sirk's mise en scene; whatever it is it is used brilliantly to reflect the characters (and 1950s America's) vapid soullessness. This, combined with over the top acting and scenarios, would seem to present itself as sheer stupidity and disregarded melodrama. Of course, this being Douglas Sirk, one must attempt to look closer for the signs of that most modern of ideas: that people are strange and life is the most ironic of situations.