Rating: 
Summary: MOURNING BECOMES MALONE......
Review: Sure does, she never looked better in them black courthouse duds ..... perfect control, perfect character modulation ....quite an acting lesson!SAME goes for the riveting performance of ROBERT STACK ....not sure what gives here - there are SO MANY MANY interpretations since then ... sterile? homophobic? alcoholic? Impotent? ... this one says it all and very NOM worthy for the stunning Mr. Stack [very hunkworthy - those bedroom scenes with Bacall]. As a matter of fact - all the leads, HUDSON, BACALL, STACK AND MALONE, provide great eye-candy. A pristine version of the DOUG SIRK stunner by Criterion. Photography. Costumes, Art Direction as well as the score - all superlative! To go on would be pointless - considering the censorship during this era ... this one still shines. Nice cameo by GRANT WILLIAMS as the pump jockey ogled by Malone .... if you like your drama slightly OEDIPAL give or take a smattering of O'Neill ... grab an eyeful here.
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Summary: CAMPY MELODRAMAS RULE!
Review: The person who reviewed this before me is right: this is the best movie ever! Scandal, sex, secrets, lies....and Lauren Bacall, the best actress ever! What's not to love? Lots of phallic symbols and very campy,ironic dialogue, and over-the-top acting, too. The best parts are Dorothy Malone's nympho dance and the big 'climactic' shouting/fighting match near the end with the two male stars. Rock Hudson was something else; there'll never be another like him. No one could do melodramas in quite the same way he could. It was like the whole genre was made just for him. This movie is not to be missed!
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Summary: A melodrama for the ages
Review: This is director Douglas Sirk's masterpiece, a brilliant work of cinema that functions as both a fiery melodrama and a piece of cool, detached irony. It all depends on how much subtext you want to read into this story of an impotent, alcoholic Texas oil baron and his middle-class nemesis. Although Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall are little more than vacant statues filling up cinematic space, Dorothy Malone and Robert Stack more than compensate with rich, over-the-top performances that leave you shaking your head in disbelief. That Sirk could get away with this sort of storytelling audacity within the rigid confines of 1950s Hollywood says much about his skill as an artist, just as it does about his desire to bend film genres to the breaking point. He never quite gets there, though, which is what makes his films so fascinating and multi-layered. This is a flick for both film buffs and casual moviegoers. Not to be missed.
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Summary: Sirk
Review: This is Douglas Sirk's masterpiece. To explain it to you would be to rob you of the joy of seeing it for the first time.
It should be noted that Sirk's use of camera angles, shadows, colors, and violent emotional underpinnings are the best ever used by a film maker. Ever.
See it for Dorothy Malone ("I'm going to have some of my towels sent over to you, honey. You're still a little wet behind the ears."). She deserved the Oscar for her performance.
See it for the most over-the-top performance by a male in screen history (a very rare thing, indeed): Robert Stack as Kyle Hadley.
See it because it is a brilliant film, with a brilliant score, by a brilliant director. It has more impact in the first three minutes than "Giant" had in the three hours IT ran!
Douglas Sirk was a genius, and this film is painted in his genius.
Just see the film.
Rating:
Summary: I Am Shocked By the Other Reviews
Review: This is one of the most clever, metaphorical, and stunning movies ever made. I have not seen many other films that are this flawless. Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, and Lauren Bacall are all perfectly cast - Robert Stack in particular is very effective (and believable) as this spoiled son of a texas oil hancho who turns to alcohol for his failed personal relationships (impotence). If you are a fan of Fassbinder, Almodovar, or John Waters you know just how inspirational Douglas Sirk's film is - truly a masterpiece.
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Summary: BEST MOVIE EVER.
Review: THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER.
Rating: 
Summary: A soap opera on the big screen
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film. This movie was groundbreaking in several ways. It can be descibed best as a soap opera. It is the story of a family and their relationship with friend of one of the family members. A man falls in love with the sister of his best friend. Later both of them fall in love with a different woman who they fight over. She later marries one of them but when she becomes pregnant, the husband, believing himself to be sterile, accuses his friend of being the father. The film deals with subjects rarely (if ever) mentioned in movies of the time and sparked controversey as a result. The DVD has theatrical trailers for both this film and the film "All That Heaven Allows" which was also directed by Douglas Sirk and released by Criterion as well. There is also a huge presentation and slideshow of many of Douglas Sirk's other films.
Rating: 
Summary: Pure camp, with a capital C
Review: This turgid potboiler is among the best...and of course the best are done by Douglas Sirk. The movie really belongs to Dorothy Malone, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Marylee Hadley, the over-tanned, over-bleached, boozy, slutty daughter of an oil tycoon. Marylee's in love with her brother Kyle's best friend, Mitch (Rock Hudson), and will try practically anything to trap him. Mitch is in love with Lucy (Lauren Bacall). Lucy is married to Kyle (Robert Stack), but is in love with Mitch. Marylee is insanely jealous that Mitch doesn't want her. Kyle wants children, but there seems to be a problem - Kyle is sterile...or so he thinks. Everyone's always dressed to the nines and they all drink and drive all the time. The actresses all wear gorgeous 50s couture, and look fabulous - even if their 50s eyebrows are twice the size of the mens. Meanwhile, the viperous Marylee is telling the drunken Kyle to keep an eye on his wife and Mitch. "You're a filthy liar," he says, to which she replies, "I'm filth. Period." And she's right. As she performing a very tawdry mambo in her room, she is peeling out of her evening gown and into a flame-colored peignoir, kicking up her heels and caressing herself...while on the stairs outside her room, her father is dying of a heart attack. When it is revealed that Lucy is pregnant, Kyle presumes it's Mitch's and beats Lucy to a pulp, causing her to miscarry. Kyle lurches off in a sodden, violent haze, returning later to kill Mitch. Marylee shows up, and there is a struggle for the gun. Kyle is fatally wounded. Marylee threatens to pin the death on Mitch unless he agrees to marry her. But on the witness stand, she recants, and the death is ruled accidental. Mitch and Lucy depart to happier, greener pastures, and we end with a shot of Marylee, now the queen of Hadley Oil, in her butchest Eve Arden lady-boss suit, as she almost-lasciviously strokes and caresses a miniature oil derrick beneath a portrait of her father. Pure camp, with a capital C.
Rating:
Summary: Campy 'Fifties Technicolor melodrama
Review: Uber-melodrama, '50s style, with adultery and scandal packaged in silly circumlocution. Lauren Bacall inexplicably falls for the super-creepy Robert Stack, who simply oozes onscreen portraying the sleazy, self-tortured black sheep heir of a rich Texas oil family. Meanwhile, Rock Hudson moons around in the background, pining for his lost love. Dorothy Malone steals the show as a hard-partying, dyed-blonde hotty who carries her own unrequited torch (for Hudson) All four characters tear one another apart until the film reaches its hysterical and wind-swept crescendo. Watch for Malone's silly, spasmodic, ungainly "mambo" dancing, which is almost worth the price of admission alone. This isn't really a great movie -- sort of a tepid rehash of "Giant," but it does provide some good campy fun.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks again to Criterion
Review: Who is/was Douglas Sirk? That's the question I asked when I saw that my favorite dvd production company was releasing this film. Danish born, German raised and transplanted to Hollywood in the late '30s, Sirk was an enormously literate and well-educated man of the theater who knew how to conjure up film magic from what on paper seemed like pretty trashy, unpromising material. 'Written on the Wind' is acknowledged as one of his best, and the story is pure over-the-top nonsense. A lesser director would have made a complete hash of this, but Sirk is a visual virtuoso, and he coaxes great performances from his actors. I was REALLY taken by this film; not only does it look fantastic in this Criterion release, but also because like all worthwhile stuff there are some piercing, not altogether pleasant truths lurking amongst the melodrama. Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone are wildly good, and Sirk's worldly eye cuts right through to some real malaise among those folk who supposedly have it all. A film I would probably not seen but for Criterion's relentless pursuit of lesser-known cinematic gems. The extras on this disc are enjoyable, and they put me onto the excellent book 'Sirk on Sirk', (out of print but purchased through Amazon's ZShops at a great price).
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