Written In The Wind (1956)

This is a melodrama...music plus drama. Douglas Sirk, creator of Imitation of Life, was known for melodrama. He says "You can't make films about things. You can only make films with things, with people, with light, with flowers, with mirrors, with blood. In fact, with all the fantastic things that make life worth living."

I watched this only because Kathryn Bigelow mentioned it as an inspiration. Melodrama is fairly foreign in our age of self-deprecating sarcasm, violence, outrageousness.

This movie is enjoyable to watch. It opens with a yellow sportscar speeding down the highway. The driver bites off the bottlecap of a beer and abruptly pulls up to some grand mansion in the small town of Hadley...all to the sound of a very cheesey song with the lyric "What's written in the wind is written on my heart." Lauren Bacall's face is all worry as she watches the page-a-day calendar fly backwards in time to Ocotober 24, 1955.

The story unfolds...

Kyle Hadley (Robert Stack) is an wealthy alcoholic playboy who falls for Lucy Moore (Lauren Bacall). Best friend, Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson) is a geologist for his rich friend's dad's company, Hadley Oil. Old Man Hadley speaks highly of Mitch..."He has the kind of assets you can't buy with money." Handsome and sensible. Mitch falls for advertising executive assistant, Lucy. So does his buddy, Kyle. Kyle's sister, Marylee (Dorothy Malone) is a nymphomaniac in love with Mitch, but he regards her like a sister since they grew up together...plus, she is the town slut.

This is classic 1950s glamour all the way. Lauren Bacall leans out the window wearing and apple green sweater and skirt. Her blond hair is tinged with a touch of red. Pale pink chiffon curtains blow in the breeze. Dorothy Malone wears a wide brimmed black straw hat that casts an amazing shadow...when tilted down it sparkles in a perfect black circle.

There is punching. There is a gun. People die. People live happily ever after.

It has been said before, but...they really do not make movies like this anymore.