All That Heaven Allows (1955)

All That Heaven Allows

“Few directors could use color as expressively as Douglas Sirk could. Sarah Jane’s emotionally and mentally fragile state being expressed through dark purples and sad clown faces says more about her character than any words could in Imitation of Life. Or the hedonistic, wild pagan dance that Marylee does in her garish pink and red room and clothing explains practically everything we need to know about her self-destruction and wild sex life in Written on the Wind. This same use of expressive color coding allows us deeper emotional access to the plastic, gilded surface world on display in All That Heaven Allows.

Like many great films, it was made because a previous film (Magnificent Obsession) featuring the main creative team (Sirk, Hudson, Wyman) had been a runaway success. Much ” read more

Watched In 2012 (Michael M) (330 movies items)

" 14/4/12"

Greatest Film Tearjerking Moments A - C (51 movies items)

"The scene in which fortyish widow Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), after suspending her love affair with her handsome gardener Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), was presented with a brand new TV set (adorned with red ribbons) as a Christmas present to keep her company - she saw her reflection on the screen as the unctuous salesman told her: ("All you have to do is turn that dial and you have all the company you want right there on the screen - drama, comedy, life's parade at your fingertips...")"

Dear Cinema Diary - Vol 3 E3 - March 2012 (28 movies items)

" While some aspects of the film may seem dated. The message of how social conventions born out of spite and ignorance still influence our lives however is still relevant. Walden by Henry David Thoreau is brought up frequently in the film which I found interesting. I have never been too big of a Rock Hudson fan and in this film his screen presence was so wooden he might have been one of the trees his character was so fond of talking about."

Martin Scorsese’s 85 Films You Need To See (85 movies items)

"#2"

New-To-Me Films: 2012 (163 movies items)

"February 8 - 7.9/10"