All That Heaven Allows
| All That Heaven Allows | |
|---|---|
 Original theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Douglas Sirk |
| Produced by | Ross Hunter |
| Written by | Story: Edna Lee Harry Lee Screenplay: Peg Fenwick |
| Starring | Jane Wyman Rock Hudson |
| Music by | Frank Skinner |
| Cinematography | Russell Metty |
| Editing by | Frank Gross |
| Distributed by | Universal International Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  December 1955 |
| Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
All That Heaven Allows (1955) is a romance feature film starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a tale about a well-to-do widow and a younger landscape designer falling in love. The screenplay was written by Peg Fenwick based upon a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee. The film was directed by Douglas Sirk and produced by Ross Hunter.
In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. All That Heaven Allows has been broadcast on American television and is available in VHS and DVD format.
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[edit] Plot
Cary Scott (Jane Wyman) is an affluent widow in suburban New England, whose social life involves her country club peers, college-age children, and a couple of men vying for her affection.
She becomes interested in Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), her family's gardener and a down-to-earth, younger man. Ron is content with his simple life outside of judgmental society, and the two fall in love. Ron introduces her to other people who have no need for wealth and status, and she responds positively. Cary accepts his proposal for marriage, but becomes distressed when her friends and children look down upon and reject her for this socially unacceptable marriage. Cary breaks off the marriage when her children threaten to abandon her, and she and Ron continue their separate lives in sorrow.
As Cary's social life returns to its original state, she notices other women becoming engaged and living lives of happiness. Even her own children are soon to leave the family home. Cary realizes that she is ready to defy social norms and commit to loving Ron. She rushes to his side when he has a life-threatening accident, telling him that she has come home.
[edit] Cast
- Jane Wyman - Cary Scott
- Rock Hudson - Ron Kirby
- Agnes Moorehead - Sara Warren
- Conrad Nagel - Harvey
- Virginia Grey - Alida Anderson
- Gloria Talbott - Kay Scott
- William Reynolds - Ned Scott
- Jacqueline De Wit - Mona Plash
- Charles Drake - Mick Anderson
- Leigh Snowden - Jo-Ann
- Merry Anders - Mary Ann
- Donald Curtis - Howard Hoffer
- Nestor Paiva - Manuel
[edit] Production
Universal-International Pictures wanted to follow up on the pairing of Wyman and Hudson from Douglas Sirk's Magnificent Obsession (1954). Sirk 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.[citation needed]
[edit] Title
The title may have been taken from the poem "Love and Life" by the Earl of Rochester (1647–1680), the last stanza of which reads:
- Then talk not of inconstancy,
- False hearts, and broken vows:
- If I by miracle can be
- This live-long minute true to thee,
- 'Tis all that heaven allows.[1]
[edit] Reception
Bosley Crowther generally panned the film and commented in the New York Times of February 29, 1956: "The script was obviously written to bring [Wyman] and Mr. Hudson, who made a popular twosome in the Magnificent Obsession, together again. Solid and sensible drama plainly had to give way to outright emotional bulldozing and a paving of easy clichés."[2]
Many critics view the film as a social critique of the conformity obsessed 1950s.
[edit] Awards and honors
In 1995, All That Heaven Allows was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3]
[edit] References in other films
All That Heaven Allows was the inspiration for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) in which a mature woman falls in love with an Arab man. The Sirk film was spoofed by John Waters with his 1981 film Polyester. Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven (2002) is an homage to Sirk's work, in particular All That Heaven Allows and Imitation of Life. François Ozon's 8 Femmes featured the winter scenes and the deer from the film.
[edit] References
- ^ 414. "Love and Life", John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester The Oxford Book of English Verse
- ^ New York Times Review
- ^ "National Film Registry". Library of Congress, accessed October 28, 2011.
[edit] External links
- Criterion Collection essay by Laura Mulvey
- DVD Review
- All That Heaven Allows at the Internet Movie Database
- All That Heaven Allows at AllRovi
- All That Heaven Allows on YouTube (fair use version)
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