Comments on: Written on the Wind

By: keelsetter

keelsetter — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:36:29 +0000

Hi, Becca – Unfortunately, my memory is reliably useless in such matters. But I did ask a friend of mine who is a huge fan of both films and he said that he thought the song Dorothy danced to was just a bit of Mambo that was part of the original score for Written on the Wind and not the same as was used in Singin’ in the Rain. But he wasn’t a hundred-percent sure, and said maybe they were musically similar.

By: BECCA

BECCA — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:57:33 +0000

Hey, I was wondering if you can clarify the name of the song Dorothy Malone’s character dances to in her room when her father has a heart attack. I recognize the same tune from Singing in the Rain, during R.F.’s after party.
Most appreciated

By: The Playlist

The Playlist — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:56:56 +0000

I just stumbled upon this blog. It’s fantastic.

By: moirafinnie

moirafinnie — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:49:26 +0000

Thanks for the reply, Keelsetter. Your outdoor theater sounds like great fun. The colorful over the top bits in Sirk’s movie will undoubtedly add to the occasion. (I personally think Sirk was kidding, too).
Enjoy & can’t wait for the next installment of the backyard cinema!

By: Patricia

Patricia — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 08:03:34 +0000

While I’ll never turn my nose up at his glorious melodramas, I have a special place in my heart for Sirk’s lighter, feel-good pictures: “Take Me to Town”, “Meet Me at the Fair” and “Has Anybody Seen My Gal?”. He practically outdoes Henry King on the Americana bit.

By: Keelsetter

Keelsetter — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:03:52 +0000

Hi, Moira – I’ll be happy to report back on how the crowd reacts. Thanks for the heads-up on the other titles. Methinks that Dirk’s tongue-in-cheek & overstated style will be more fun for a crowd than the muted (or bleak!) titles you mention – which says nothing, of course, of their quality. Context is king. I’m just psyched the Technicolor print is still strong and vibrant.

By: moirafinnie

moirafinnie — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:56:57 +0000

I enjoyed reading about Douglas Sirk's background here, keelsetter, and was particularly interested in the influences on his visual style. While I am, I fear, one of those philistines who finds the opulent excesses of Magnificent Obsession (1954), Written on the Wind (1956), Imitation of Life (1959) pretty absurd rather than watchable, I admire Sirk's ability to try to turn a sow's ear into a flashy silk purse. Some of Sirk's other, more muted American made movies, such as Lured (1947), the influential All That Heaven Allows (1955), The Tarnished Angels (1958) and a particularly bleak and still moving view of American loneliness in the midst of our sea of plenty, in the unjustly obscure There's Always Tomorrow (1956) are among the man's more interesting movies, at least to me. Btw, while your friends and neighbors enjoy your outdoor movies, do many of them make comments aloud about them? I would think that in between guffaws at the over-the-top aspects of Written on the Wind , (especially during that scene when Dorothy Malone seems to be having an attack of St. Vitus' Dance in her room), someone might ask: "Was this guy Sirk kidding?" Thanks for writing this very informative and thought-provoking blog.