Written on the Wind (1956)

Written on the Wind (1956)

This is the Douglas Sirk directed soaper that earned Dorothy Malone and Robert Stack their only recognition from the Academy; Malone won the Supporting Actress Oscar playing Marylee Hadley Stack was nominated in the Supporting Actor category for playing her brother Kyle. The film’s title song was also Oscar nominated. George Zuckerman based his screenplay on the Robert Wilder novel. The Hadleys are a rich oil family thanks to their father Jasper (Robert Keith) a first generation multi-millionaire who now relies more on the trustworthy Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson) than his drunken son Kyle who grew up best friends with Mitch who’s always been coveted by Marylee. Enter Lucy Moore (Lauren Bacall) who captivates both younger men causing Kyle to sober up long enough to impress with his wealth and marry her before Mitch can express his feelings. But he sucks it up and keeps it to himself that is until Kyle learns that he may be sterile and ‘falls off the wagon’. Rejected by Mitch Marylee conspires to hurt him by inferring to her brother that Lucy’s pregnancy is Mitch’s doing; Jasper gets caught in the middle. Lots of over-the-top scenes typical of any Sirk drama and a less than satisfying film unless you like this sort of thing. If so Sirk would team the three principles again two years later in The Tarnished Angels (1958).

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