Jump to content

All That Heaven Allows: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
Tag: Reverted
m Disambiguating links to Universal Studios (link changed to Universal Pictures) using DisamAssist.
(14 intermediate revisions by 12 users not shown)
Line 9: Line 9:
| producer = [[Ross Hunter]]
| producer = [[Ross Hunter]]
| writer =
| writer =
| screenplay = [[Peg Fenwick]]
| screenplay = [[Peg Fenwick]] based on the novel by Edna L. Lee<br>Harry Lee
| story = Edna L. Lee<br>Harry Lee
| starring = [[Jane Wyman]]<br />[[Rock Hudson]]
| starring = [[Jane Wyman]]<br />[[Rock Hudson]]
| music = [[Frank Skinner (composer)|Frank Skinner]]
| music = [[Frank Skinner (composer)|Frank Skinner]]
| cinematography = [[Russell Metty]]
| cinematography = [[Russell Metty]]
| editing = Frank Gross
| editing = Frank Gross
| color_process = [[Technicolor]]
| color_process = [[Technicolor]] (as print by Technicolor)
| studio = [[Universal Pictures|Universal-International]]<ref>{{AFI film|id=51424}}</ref>
| studio = [[Universal Pictures|Universal-International]]<ref>{{AFI film|id=51424}}</ref>
| distributor = Universal Pictures
| distributor = Universal Pictures
Line 23: Line 22:
| language = English
| language = English
| budget =
| budget =
| gross = $3.1 million (US)<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956 |magazine=[[ Weekly Variety]] |date=January 2, 1957}}</ref>
| gross = $3.1 million (US/Canada rentals)<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Top Film Grossers of 1956 |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=January 2, 1957|page=1}}</ref>
}}
}}
'''''All That Heaven Allows''''' is a 1955 American [[romance film|romantic]] [[Melodrama#Film|melodrama film]] directed by [[Douglas Sirk]], produced by [[Ross Hunter]], and adapted by [[Peg Fenwick]] from a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee. It stars [[Jane Wyman]] and [[Rock Hudson]] in a tale about the social complications that arise following the development of a romance between a well-to-do widow and a younger man, who owns a tree nursery.
'''''All That Heaven Allows''''' is a 1955 American [[drama (film and television)|drama]] [[romance film]] directed by [[Douglas Sirk]], produced by [[Ross Hunter]], and adapted by [[Peg Fenwick]] from a novel by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee. It stars [[Jane Wyman]] and [[Rock Hudson]] in a tale about the social complications that arise following the development of a romance between a well-to-do widow and a younger man, who owns a tree nursery. In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the [[United States]] [[National Film Registry]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|access-date=2020-09-14|website=Library of Congress}}</ref>

In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the [[United States]] [[National Film Registry]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|access-date=2020-09-14|website=Library of Congress}}</ref>


==Plot==
==Plot==
Line 42: Line 39:


==Cast==
==Cast==
{{cast list|
{{Cast listing|
* [[Jane Wyman]] as Cary Scott
* [[Jane Wyman]] as Cary Scott
* [[Rock Hudson]] as Ron Kirby
* [[Rock Hudson]] as Ron Kirby
Line 52: Line 49:
* [[Charles Drake (actor)|Charles Drake]] as Mick Anderson
* [[Charles Drake (actor)|Charles Drake]] as Mick Anderson
* [[Hayden Rorke]] as Dr. Dan Hennessy
* [[Hayden Rorke]] as Dr. Dan Hennessy
* [[Jacqueline deWit]] as Mona Plash (as Jacqueline de Wit)
* [[Jacqueline deWit|Jacqueline de Wit]] as Mona Plash
* [[Leigh Snowden]] as Jo-Ann Grisby
* [[Leigh Snowden]] as Jo-Ann Grisby
* [[Donald Curtis]] as Howard Hoffer
* [[Donald Curtis]] as Howard Hoffer
Line 73: Line 70:


===Development===
===Development===
After the success of ''[[Magnificent Obsession (1954 film)|Magnificent Obsession]]'' in 1954, [[Universal Studios|Universal-International Pictures]] wanted Sirk to make another film starring Wyman and Hudson. He found the screenplay for ''All That Heaven Allows'' "rather impossible", but was able to restructure it and use the big budget to film and edit the work exactly the way he wanted.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/96-all-that-heaven-allows |title=''All That Heaven Allows:'' An Articulate Screen |first=Laura |last=Mulvey |author-link=Laura Mulvey |date=18 June 2001 |website=[[The Criterion Collection]] |access-date=2 November 2012}}</ref>
After the success of ''[[Magnificent Obsession (1954 film)|Magnificent Obsession]]'' in 1954, [[Universal Pictures|Universal-International Pictures]] wanted Sirk to make another film starring Wyman and Hudson. He found the screenplay for ''All That Heaven Allows'' "rather impossible", but was able to restructure it and use the big budget to film and edit the work exactly the way he wanted.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/96-all-that-heaven-allows |title=''All That Heaven Allows:'' An Articulate Screen |first=Laura |last=Mulvey |author-link=Laura Mulvey |date=18 June 2001 |website=[[The Criterion Collection]] |access-date=2 November 2012}}</ref>


Wyman was 38 when she played the film's "older woman", who scandalizes society and her grown-up children by becoming engaged to a younger man. Hudson, "the younger man", was 29 at the time.
Wyman was 38 when she played the film's "older woman", who scandalizes society and her grown-up children by becoming engaged to a younger man. Hudson, "the younger man", was 29 at the time.


===Filming===
===Filming===
Some exteriors for the film were shot on "[[Colonial Street]]", a studio backlot built by Paramount Pictures on the property of Universal Studios four years earlier and used in the film ''[[The Desperate Hours (1955 film)|The Desperate Hours]]''.<ref name="LAmag">{{cite news |last1=Cowan |first1=Jared |title=Take a Stroll Down Colonial Street, Film and TV’s Most Iconic Suburban Set |url=https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/colonial-street-universal-studios/ |access-date=7 July 2023 |work=[[Los Angeles Magazine]] |date=March 4, 2019}}</ref> The set was re-designed to mimic an upper-middle class New England town. The film contains only one visible crane shot, when the camera scans over the fictional town of Stoningham during the opening credits. Tracking and dollying shots were used frequently for interior shots. The set was later featured on the television series ''[[Leave It to Beaver]]''.<ref name="LAmag" />
Some exteriors for the film were shot on "[[Colonial Street]]", a studio backlot built by Paramount Pictures on the property of Universal Studios four years earlier and used in the film ''[[The Desperate Hours (1955 film)|The Desperate Hours]]''.<ref name="LAmag">{{cite news |last1=Cowan |first1=Jared |title=Take a Stroll Down Colonial Street, Film and TV's Most Iconic Suburban Set |url=https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/colonial-street-universal-studios/ |access-date=7 July 2023 |work=[[Los Angeles Magazine]] |date=March 4, 2019}}</ref> The set was re-designed to mimic an upper-middle class New England town. The film contains only one visible crane shot, when the camera scans over the fictional town of Stoningham during the opening credits. Tracking and dollying shots were used frequently for interior shots. The set was later featured on the television series ''[[Leave It to Beaver]]''.<ref name="LAmag" />


===Music===
===Music===
The music that recurs throughout the film is [[Consolations (Liszt)|Consolation No. 3 in D-flat major]] by [[Franz Liszt]], along with frequent snatches of the finale to [[Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)|Brahms's First Symphony]], the latter re-scored and sometimes elaborated.<ref name="TCM">{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/67083/all-that-heaven-allows/#articles-reviews?articleId=76265|title=All That Heaven Allows|website=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|date=May 24, 2004|last=Steffen|first=James|access-date=July 7, 2023}}</ref> Also heard intermittently is "Warum?" (German for "Why?") by [[Robert Schumann]], from the [[Fantasiestücke, Op. 12]].
The music that recurs throughout the film is [[Consolations (Liszt)|Consolation No. 3 in D-flat major]] by [[Franz Liszt]], along with frequent snatches of the finale to [[Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)|Brahms's First Symphony]], the latter re-scored and sometimes elaborated.<ref name="TCM">{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/67083/all-that-heaven-allows/#articles-reviews?articleId=76265|title=All That Heaven Allows|website=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|date=May 24, 2004|last=Steffen|first=James|access-date=July 7, 2023}}</ref> Also heard intermittently is "Warum?" (German for "Why?") by [[Robert Schumann]], from the [[Fantasiestücke, Op. 12]].


==Reception==
== Release ==
⚫
The film was released in [[Great Britain]] on August 25, 1955, several months ahead of its US premiere. In the United States, it opened in [[Los Angeles]] on Christmas Day 1955, and in [[New York City]] on February 28, 1956. The US release followed an extensive advertising campaign focusing on popular women's magazines such as ''[[McCall's]]'', ''[[Family Circle]]'', ''[[Woman's Day]]'', and ''[[Redbook]],'' which referred to the film as a "[[Woman's film|woman's picture]]".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=January-March 1955 |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturedai77unse#page/n261/mode/2up |magazine=Motion Picture Daily |access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref>
⚫
''All That Heaven Allows'' was referred to as a "[[Woman's film|woman's picture]]" in the film trade press and was specifically marketed towards women. The film press compared it favorably to ''[[Magnificent Obsession (1954 film)|Magnificent Obsession]]'' (1954), which also starred Wyman and Hudson and was directed by Sirk. A review in ''[[Motion Picture Daily]]'' was generally positive and praised Sirk for his use of color and [[mise en scène]], saying: "In a print by [[Technicolor]], the exterior shots and the interior settings are so beautifully photographed that they point up the action of the story with telling effect."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Motion Picture Daily |title=All That Heaven Allows |last=Steen |first=Al |page=7 |volume=October-December 1955 |access-date=18 November 2016 |url= https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai78unse_0/page/n179/mode/1up}}</ref> ''Motion Picture Daily'' also reported that the film earned $16,000 on its opening day and did “above average” business in areas like [[Atlanta]], [[Miami]], [[New Orleans]], and [[Jacksonville]].<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Motion Picture Daily]] |title='Heaven' Sets Record |volume=January-March 1956 |access-date=18 November 2016 |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai79unse/page/n114/mode/1up |page=7}}</ref>


''[[Motion Picture Daily]]'' reported that the film earned $16,000 on its opening day and did “above average” business in areas like [[Atlanta]], [[Miami]], [[New Orleans]], and [[Jacksonville]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title='Heaven' Sets Record |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai79unse/page/n114/mode/1up |magazine=[[Motion Picture Daily]] |volume=January–March 1956 |page=7 |access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref>
⚫
The film was released in [[Great Britain]] on August 25, 1955, several months before its U.S. premiere. It opened in [[Los Angeles]] on Christmas Day, 1955, and in [[New York City]] on February 28, 1956, following an extensive advertising campaign focusing on popular women's magazines, such as ''[[McCall's]]'', ''[[Family Circle]]'', ''[[Woman's Day]]'', and ''[[Redbook]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Motion Picture Daily |title=January-March 1955 |access-date=18 November 2016 |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturedai77unse#page/n261/mode/2up}}</ref>

==Reception==
⚫
The film press compared the movie favorably to ''[[Magnificent Obsession (1954 film)|Magnificent Obsession]]'' (1954), which also starred Wyman and Hudson and was directed by Sirk. A review in ''Motion Picture Daily'' was generally positive and praised Sirk for his use of color and [[mise en scène]], saying: "In a print by [[Technicolor]], the exterior shots and the interior settings are so beautifully photographed that they point up the action of the story with telling effect."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Motion Picture Daily |title=All That Heaven Allows |last=Steen |first=Al |page=7 |volume=October–December 1955 |access-date=18 November 2016 |url= https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai78unse_0/page/n179/mode/1up}}</ref>


Although Sirk's reputation waned in the 1960s—as he was dismissed as a director of dated and insubstantial Hollywood melodramas—it was revived in the 1970s due to the praise of [[New German Cinema]] directors like [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder]] and the publication of [[Jon Halliday]]'s ''Sirk on Sirk'' (1971), in which the filmmaker describes his aesthetic and (often-subversive) social perspective.<ref>{{cite web|first=Manuel |last=Betancourt |title=Douglas Sirk: From the Archives |website=[[Film Comment]] |date=December 22, 2015 |url=http://www.filmcomment.com/blog/sirk-from-the-archives}}</ref> His reputation, and that of ''All That Heaven Allows'', has grown since then, with critic [[Richard Brody]] describing him as a master of both melodrama and comedy, and the film as remarkable for its use of [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s ''[[Walden]]'' as a homegrown American philosophy depicted as a "vital and ongoing experience."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Richard |last=Brody |author-link=Richard Brody |title=Douglas Sirk's Glorious Cinema of Outsiders |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=December 21, 2015 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/douglas-sirks-glorious-cinema-of-outsiders}}</ref>
Although Sirk's reputation waned in the 1960s—as he was dismissed as a director of dated and insubstantial Hollywood melodramas—it was revived in the 1970s due to the praise of [[New German Cinema]] directors like [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder]] and the publication of [[Jon Halliday]]'s ''Sirk on Sirk'' (1971), in which the filmmaker describes his aesthetic and (often-subversive) social perspective.<ref>{{cite web|first=Manuel |last=Betancourt |title=Douglas Sirk: From the Archives |website=[[Film Comment]] |date=December 22, 2015 |url=http://www.filmcomment.com/blog/sirk-from-the-archives}}</ref> His reputation, and that of ''All That Heaven Allows'', has grown since then, with critic [[Richard Brody]] describing him as a master of both melodrama and comedy, and the film as remarkable for its use of [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s ''[[Walden]]'' as a homegrown American philosophy depicted as a "vital and ongoing experience."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Richard |last=Brody |author-link=Richard Brody |title=Douglas Sirk's Glorious Cinema of Outsiders |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=December 21, 2015 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/douglas-sirks-glorious-cinema-of-outsiders}}</ref>
Line 93: Line 93:


==Awards and honors==
==Awards and honors==
In 1995, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the [[Library of Congress]], and was selected for preservation in the [[National Film Registry]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/film/registry_titles.php |title=National Film Registry |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328133050/http://www.loc.gov/film/registry_titles.php |archive-date=2013-03-28 |website=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=October 28, 2011}}</ref>
In 1995, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the [[Library of Congress]], and was selected for preservation in the [[National Film Registry]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/film/registry_titles.php |title=National Film Registry |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328133050/http://www.loc.gov/film/registry_titles.php |archive-date=2013-03-28|website=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=October 28, 2011}}</ref>


==References in other films==
==References in other films==
''All That Heaven Allows'' inspired [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder|Fassbinder]]'s ''[[Fear Eats the Soul|Ali: Fear Eats the Soul]]'' (1974),<ref>{{Cite web|title=All That Heaven Allows |url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/all-that-heaven-allows/Film?oid=1070893 |website=[[Chicago Reader]] |access-date=2016-01-25}}</ref> in which a mature woman falls in love with an Arab man. It was spoofed by [[John Waters]] with his film [[Polyester (film)|''Polyester'']] (1981).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Halberstadt |first=Alex |date=May 22, 2020 |title=Unforeseen Calamities |url=https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/326 |journal=[[Museum of Modern Art|MoMA Magazine]]}}</ref> [[Todd Haynes]]' ''[[Far from Heaven]]'' (2002) is an homage to Sirk's work, in particular ''All That Heaven Allows'' and ''[[Imitation of Life (1959 film)|Imitation of Life]]'' (1959).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taubin |first=Amy |author-link=Amy Taubin |title=Far From Heaven {{!}} Todd Haynes |url=https://www.filmcomment.com/article/in-every-dream-home/ |journal=[[Film Comment]] |issue=September-October 2002}}</ref> [[François Ozon]]'s ''[[8 Women]]'' (''8 Femmes'', 2002) features winter scenes and deer reminiscent of this film.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hornaday |first=Ann |author-link=Ann Hornaday |date=2002-09-27 |title='8 Women': Bonbons With a Wicked Center |language=en-US |work=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2002/09/27/8-women-bonbons-with-a-wicked-center/945c6dd7-efa3-4b46-8d54-3d1fa6005063/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
''All That Heaven Allows'' inspired [[Rainer Werner Fassbinder|Fassbinder]]'s ''[[Fear Eats the Soul|Ali: Fear Eats the Soul]]'' (1974),<ref>{{Cite web|title=All That Heaven Allows |url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/all-that-heaven-allows/Film?oid=1070893 |website=[[Chicago Reader]] | date=March 22, 1985 |access-date=2016-01-25}}</ref> in which a mature woman falls in love with an Arab man. It was spoofed by [[John Waters]] with his film [[Polyester (film)|''Polyester'']] (1981).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Halberstadt |first=Alex |date=May 22, 2020 |title=Unforeseen Calamities |url=https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/326 |journal=[[Museum of Modern Art|MoMA Magazine]]}}</ref> [[Todd Haynes]]' ''[[Far from Heaven]]'' (2002) is an homage to Sirk's work, in particular ''All That Heaven Allows'' and ''[[Imitation of Life (1959 film)|Imitation of Life]]'' (1959).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taubin |first=Amy |author-link=Amy Taubin |title=Far From Heaven {{!}} Todd Haynes |url=https://www.filmcomment.com/article/in-every-dream-home/ |journal=[[Film Comment]] |issue=September–October 2002}}</ref> [[François Ozon]]'s ''[[8 Women]]'' (''8 Femmes'', 2002) features winter scenes and deer reminiscent of this film.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hornaday |first=Ann |author-link=Ann Hornaday |date=2002-09-27|title='8 Women': Bonbons With a Wicked Center |language=en-US |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2002/09/27/8-women-bonbons-with-a-wicked-center/945c6dd7-efa3-4b46-8d54-3d1fa6005063/ |access-date=2023-07-07|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 109: Line 109:
==External links==
==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0047811|All That Heaven Allows}}
* {{IMDb title|0047811|All That Heaven Allows}}
* {{Amg movie|83484|All That Heaven Allows}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|2=All That Heaven Allows}}
* {{tcmdb title|id=83484}}
* {{AllMovie title|83484|All That Heaven Allows}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=83484}}
* {{AFI film|51424}}
* {{AFI film|51424}}
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/96-all-that-heaven-allows-an-articulate-screen ''All That Heaven Allows: An Articulate Screen''] an essay by [[Laura Mulvey]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/96-all-that-heaven-allows-an-articulate-screen ''All That Heaven Allows: An Articulate Screen''] an essay by [[Laura Mulvey]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]
Line 123: Line 124:
[[Category:1955 romantic drama films]]
[[Category:1955 romantic drama films]]
[[Category:1950s Christmas drama films]]
[[Category:1950s Christmas drama films]]
[[Category:1950s Christmas films]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:American Christmas drama films]]
[[Category:American Christmas drama films]]
[[Category:American romantic drama films]]
[[Category:American romantic drama films]]
⚫
[[Category:English-language Christmas drama films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Films about discrimination]]
[[Category:Films about discrimination]]
[[Category:Films about prejudice]]
[[Category:Films about prejudice]]
Line 134: Line 137:
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:Universal Pictures films]]
[[Category:Universal Pictures films]]
[[Category:Melodrama films]]
[[Category:1950s melodrama films]]
⚫
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:1950s American films]]
[[Category:1950s American films]]
[[Category:Christmas romance films]]

Revision as of 01:28, 24 November 2024

All That Heaven Allows
An illustration of a man wearing a red flannel shirt kisses a woman with a 1950s-style updo.
Theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
Directed byDouglas Sirk
Screenplay byPeg Fenwick based on the novel by Edna L. Lee
Harry Lee
Produced byRoss Hunter
StarringJane Wyman
Rock Hudson
CinematographyRussell Metty
Edited byFrank Gross
Music byFrank Skinner
Color processTechnicolor (as print by Technicolor)
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • August 25, 1955 (1955-08-25) (London)
[2]
  • December 25, 1955 (1955-12-25) (United States)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3.1 million (US/Canada rentals)[3]

All That Heaven Allows is a 1955 American drama romance film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter, and adapted by Peg Fenwick from a novel by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee. It stars Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a tale about the social complications that arise following the development of a romance between a well-to-do widow and a younger man, who owns a tree nursery. In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.[4]

Plot

Original release trailer for the film All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Cary Scott is an affluent widow in the town of Stoningham, in suburban New England, whose social life revolves around the weekend visits of her college-age son and daughter, her best friend's country-club activities, and a few men vying for her affection. Feeling stuck in a rut, she becomes interested in Ron Kirby, her arborist. He is an intelligent, down-to-earth, and respectful, yet passionate, younger man, and she discovers he is content with his simple life outside the materialistic society in which they live. Ron introduces Cary to his friends, who seem to have no need for wealth or status, and their exuberance provides a welcome contrast to her staid existence.

Ron and Cary fall in love, and Ron proposes. Cary accepts, but she has concerns about the viability of their relationship, due to their different ages, classes, and lifestyles. These concerns are magnified when she tells her children and friends about the engagement and is met with a solid wall of disapproval, and, eventually, she breaks up with Ron. Particularly influential in her change of mind are her children's protestations against Cary's plan to sell the family home and move to Ron's tree nursery, as they will not want to visit her there.

After spending most of the Christmas season alone, Cary misses her life with Ron, but she thinks she has missed her opportunity for happiness because she mistakenly believes Ron is seeing another woman. On Christmas, her daughter announces she will be getting married soon and her son says that, since he is likely going to study abroad and then work overseas, they should start thinking about selling their house, which is too big for just Cary. She is overwhelmed by how pointless her sacrifice was, and her spirits are not lifted when her children give her a television set to fill her empty life.

Cary goes to see a doctor about recurrent headaches she has started having, and he suggests they are being caused by her body punishing her for ending her relationship with Ron. Leaving the appointment, she runs into one of Ron's friends, and in the course of their conversation she learns that Ron is still single. She goes to his property, but then changes her mind and leaves. Ron sees her from a precipice and excitedly, though unsuccessfully, tries to get her attention. The ground collapses out from under him, and he falls off the cliff.

That night, Ron's friend tells Cary about the accident, and she hurries over to his house. She decides she no longer wants to allow other people to dictate how she lives her life and settles in to nurse Ron back to health. When Ron regains consciousness, Cary tells him that she has come home.

Cast

Production

Screenplay

Screenwriter Peg Fenwick wrote the screenplay for All That Heaven Allows based on the 394-page novel of the same name by Edna L. and Harry Lee. Notations made on various pages of a copy of the original screenplay owned by the New York Public Library indicate that the script was written in August 1954.

Some scenes in the script differ from those in the finished film. For instance, in the screenplay Rock Hudson's character, Ron Kirby, lies on the grass eating his lunch, but in the final cut of the film, he has lunch with Jane Wyman's character, Cary Scott.[5]

Sirk considered having Hudson's character die at the end of the film, but Ross Hunter, the film's producer, would not allow it, because he wanted a more positive ending.

Development

After the success of Magnificent Obsession in 1954, Universal-International Pictures wanted Sirk to make another film starring Wyman and Hudson. He found the screenplay for All That Heaven Allows "rather impossible", but was able to restructure it and use the big budget to film and edit the work exactly the way he wanted.[6]

Wyman was 38 when she played the film's "older woman", who scandalizes society and her grown-up children by becoming engaged to a younger man. Hudson, "the younger man", was 29 at the time.

Filming

Some exteriors for the film were shot on "Colonial Street", a studio backlot built by Paramount Pictures on the property of Universal Studios four years earlier and used in the film The Desperate Hours.[7] The set was re-designed to mimic an upper-middle class New England town. The film contains only one visible crane shot, when the camera scans over the fictional town of Stoningham during the opening credits. Tracking and dollying shots were used frequently for interior shots. The set was later featured on the television series Leave It to Beaver.[7]

Music

The music that recurs throughout the film is Consolation No. 3 in D-flat major by Franz Liszt, along with frequent snatches of the finale to Brahms's First Symphony, the latter re-scored and sometimes elaborated.[8] Also heard intermittently is "Warum?" (German for "Why?") by Robert Schumann, from the Fantasiestücke, Op. 12.

Release

The film was released in Great Britain on August 25, 1955, several months ahead of its US premiere. In the United States, it opened in Los Angeles on Christmas Day 1955, and in New York City on February 28, 1956. The US release followed an extensive advertising campaign focusing on popular women's magazines such as McCall's, Family Circle, Woman's Day, and Redbook, which referred to the film as a "woman's picture".[9]

Motion Picture Daily reported that the film earned $16,000 on its opening day and did “above average” business in areas like Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, and Jacksonville.[10]

Reception

The film press compared the movie favorably to Magnificent Obsession (1954), which also starred Wyman and Hudson and was directed by Sirk. A review in Motion Picture Daily was generally positive and praised Sirk for his use of color and mise en scène, saying: "In a print by Technicolor, the exterior shots and the interior settings are so beautifully photographed that they point up the action of the story with telling effect."[11]

Although Sirk's reputation waned in the 1960s—as he was dismissed as a director of dated and insubstantial Hollywood melodramas—it was revived in the 1970s due to the praise of New German Cinema directors like Rainer Werner Fassbinder and the publication of Jon Halliday's Sirk on Sirk (1971), in which the filmmaker describes his aesthetic and (often-subversive) social perspective.[12] His reputation, and that of All That Heaven Allows, has grown since then, with critic Richard Brody describing him as a master of both melodrama and comedy, and the film as remarkable for its use of Henry David Thoreau's Walden as a homegrown American philosophy depicted as a "vital and ongoing experience."[13]

On Rotten Tomatoes, All That Heaven Allows has an approval rating of 91% based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The consensus summarizes: "Big heart, big drama, and even bigger colors, All That Heaven Allows is tip top Douglas Sirk."[14]

Awards and honors

In 1995, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[15]

References in other films

All That Heaven Allows inspired Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974),[16] in which a mature woman falls in love with an Arab man. It was spoofed by John Waters with his film Polyester (1981).[17] Todd Haynes' Far from Heaven (2002) is an homage to Sirk's work, in particular All That Heaven Allows and Imitation of Life (1959).[18] François Ozon's 8 Women (8 Femmes, 2002) features winter scenes and deer reminiscent of this film.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ All That Heaven Allows at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ^ "All That Heaven Allows". Kinematograph Weekly. London, England. August 18, 1955. p. 12 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ "Top Film Grossers of 1956". Variety. January 2, 1957. p. 1.
  4. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  5. ^ Crowther, Bosley (February 29, 1956). "Screen: Doleful Domestic Drama; Mayfair Offering 'All That Heaven Allows' Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson Teamed Again". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Mulvey, Laura (June 18, 2001). "All That Heaven Allows: An Articulate Screen". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  7. ^ a b Cowan, Jared (March 4, 2019). "Take a Stroll Down Colonial Street, Film and TV's Most Iconic Suburban Set". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  8. ^ Steffen, James (May 24, 2004). "All That Heaven Allows". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  9. ^ "January-March 1955". Motion Picture Daily. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  10. ^ "'Heaven' Sets Record". Motion Picture Daily. Vol. January–March 1956. p. 7. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  11. ^ Steen, Al. "All That Heaven Allows". Motion Picture Daily. Vol. October–December 1955. p. 7. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  12. ^ Betancourt, Manuel (December 22, 2015). "Douglas Sirk: From the Archives". Film Comment.
  13. ^ Brody, Richard (December 21, 2015). "Douglas Sirk's Glorious Cinema of Outsiders". The New Yorker.
  14. ^ "All That Heaven Allows". Rotten Tomatoes.
  15. ^ "National Film Registry". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  16. ^ "All That Heaven Allows". Chicago Reader. March 22, 1985. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  17. ^ Halberstadt, Alex (May 22, 2020). "Unforeseen Calamities". MoMA Magazine.
  18. ^ Taubin, Amy. "Far From Heaven | Todd Haynes". Film Comment (September–October 2002).
  19. ^ Hornaday, Ann (September 27, 2002). "'8 Women': Bonbons With a Wicked Center". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 7, 2023.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=All_That_Heaven_Allows&oldid=1259224832"