Douglas Sirk Movies

18 thoughts on “Douglas Sirk Movies”

1. I watched one of Sirk’s ‘weepies’ last year, I think it was ‘Magnificent Obsession’, I couldn’t wait till it was all over. Just not my cup of tea, as Bob would tell you.

   The only other film on the chart I’ve seen on tivo, fairly recently, was ‘Battle Hymn’ which was awful. Hard to believe people were lining up to see these films.

   Topping the critics chart is All That Heaven Allows, no I’m not planning to check it out when it pops up on TCM, life is too short. 🙂

   Sign of the Pagan might be interesting and I may have seen Taza Son of Cochise but can’t remember for sure.

   Good work Bruce. Vote Up!

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   1. “I watched one of Sirk’s ‘weepies’ last year, I think it was ‘Magnificent Obsession’, I couldn’t wait till it was all over.” Steve Lensman [he of the heart of stone] writing above. Has he given up empathizing with his fellow Man?

      I am tired of tears and laughter,
      And men that laugh and WEEP;
      Of what may come hereafter
      For men that sow to reap:

      I am weary of days and hours,
      Blown buds of barren flowers,
      Desires and dreams and powers
      And everything but SLEEP.

      ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE The Garden of the Proserpine [1866]

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   2. BBC ANCHOR-MAN: “Lots of eyebrows have been raised about your Superman fee Mr Brando-$3.7 million plus 11 and a half% of the gross for a few days work. Even Members of Parliament in the House of Commons criticised it. What have you to say to them?”

      MARLON BRANDO: “Who would they give it to? Some British rock star with beads and bubbles coming out of his ears?

      IMAGINARY CONVERSATION BETWEEN MR LENSMAN AND MR BRANDO

      STEVE: “The only other film on the chart I’ve seen on tivo, fairly recently, was ‘Battle Hymn’ which was awful. Hard to believe people were lining up to see these films”

      BRANDO: Millions of cinemagoers found Rock HIGHLY ENTERTAINING but who do you want to watch Mr Lensman? Some ham actor with muscles coming out of his arms?

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2. I have seen 7 Douglas Sirk movies.

   The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Written on the Wind.

   The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is The Strange Woman.

   The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is There’s always Tomorrow.

   Favourite Douglas Sirk Movies In Have seen:

   Written on the Wind
   Imitation of Life
   Magnificent Seven
   The Tarnished Angels

   Other Douglas Movies I Have Seen:

   All That Heaven Allows
   Battle Hymn
   There’s Always Tomorrow

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3. THE DOUGLAS SIRK MOVIES I HAVE SEEN [In no particular order]
   1/Written on the Wind. “What a man tells a woman and a woman tells a man should be written on the wind and gone forever” – tagline on 1950s poster.

   2/Imitation of life-Doug’s tear-jerking but sensitive handling of race relations
   3/Magnificent Obsession 1954 – dubbed “the greatest weepie ever”.
   4/Battle Hymn
   5/Sign of the Pagan – ah Jeff Chandler: you owned me back then.

   6/A Time to Love and a Time to Die-this movie gave a nod to the classic All Quiet on the Western Front and indeed some movie historians dub it All Quiet on the Eastern Front as it is so set.

   7/The Tarnished Angels – one of Rock’s few flops in his heyday
   8/Never Say Goodbye [except to Joel]
   9/Taza Son of Cochise-Rock straying onto his pal at universal Jeff Chandler’s patch

   10/Shockproof
   11/Captain Lightfoot
   12/Has Anybody seen my Gal?

   13/Sleep my Love. The 1st movie I can ever remember seeing that I can put a name to. My dad took me to see it when I was about 10. It scared the living daylights out of me so immature was I back then!

   14/No Room for the Groom
   15/All that Heaven Allows

   16/The Strange Woman-I used to think that this was part of the Bill Powell Thin Man franchise!

   ADDITIONAL TRIVIA
   1. The Work Horse’s item 3 of Possibly Interesting facts illustrates how prolific the Douglas Sirk/Rock Hudson collaboration was in the 1952-57 period. Magnificent Obsession made stars in their different eras of both Rock and Robert Taylor [the self-styled “Cowboy of the Century”].

   2. Rock in the Sirk films was for me a revelation: he surprised me [just as he did in having a flare for comedy in the Doris films] by having the kind of on-screen personality that fitted Doug’s movies like a glove. In a TV interview that I saw Rock paid tribute to Doug for making him a star. [Hudson also mentioned that Spencer Tracy was his own favorite actor].

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4. In my opinion nobody but Sirk in his times could so well depict the negative attitudes in parts of the America of the 1950s [and of course probably elsewhere too].

   When I saw WH’s Douglas Sirk page flagged up a thought occurred to me which hadn’t previously: Douglas is probably my all-time fave director [with the possible exception of the Maestro who directed 1961’s One Eyed Jacks!].

   Yet Douglas almost contradicted himself by showing us the nostalgic beauty of parts of some of those small US towns in the relative stability of the post-war era which many cultural historians have labelled “the Eisenhower era of plus-fours and relaxing trips to the golf course.”

   Magnificent Obsession and All That Heaven Allows have all my life been among my very fave movies and I have repeatedly watched them again over the years. Indeed I am such a fan of Sirk-type movies that Steve Lensman has previously tied me to the mast and given me 40 lashes for watching “women’s weepies”!

   However I don’t care: by coincidence I watched Never Say Goodbye once more last week and was quite happy to be once again almost reaching for the hankies at the film’s close; even George Sanders broke out of his normally “caddish” shell to be endearing at the end.

   And STEVE please take note of the final 2 lines of item No 4 of The Work Horse’s Possibly Interesting Facts above. A list of the Sirk movies that I have seen is in Part 2.

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5. Great UMR Page

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