Tonight on TV: This movie is almost 70 years old, but it’s one of the most beautiful tunes ever made

German-born film director Douglas Sirk refuses to cooperate with the Third Reich and leaves his native land in dramatic circumstances to emigrate to the United States. It was there, in the 1950s, that his most prolific period began, under the auspices of Universal. All I Desire (1953) marked his first foray into the melodrama genre. A genre of which he soon became one of the absolute masters.

Never cute, Douglas Sirk’s eight melodramas, by contrast, burst with boring violence. Made in 1956, Written on the Wind is one of his films placed under the seal of fate.

Adapted from Robert Wilder’s novel of the same name, it tells the story of the thwarted love of four characters, impeccably played by Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone (the latter winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress).

Beneath the shimmering Technicolor varnish (we meet Russell Matt as director of photography) and the mannerism of his staging, the director exposes both the darkness of human passions and the depravity of capitalism.

Considered by many to be Douglas Sirk’s masterpiece, Written on the Wind still impresses today with its lyrical breath that inevitably leads the characters to their destiny.

Ecrit sur du vent has an average viewer rating of 4.1 out of 5 on AlloCiné.

Written on the Wind by Douglas Sirk with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack…

Tonight on Arte at 20:50.