Written on the Wind (1956)

Director:

Douglas Sirk

Writers:

Robert Wilder (novel)
George Zuckerman (writer)

Release Date:

December 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

This woman in his arms was now the wife of the man he called his best friend!

Plot:

Alcoholic playboy Kyle Hadley marries the woman secretly loved by his poor but hard-working best friend, who in turn is pursued by Kyle's nymphomaniac sister.

Plot Keywords:

Inquest | Impotence | Wedding Anniversary | Slap In The Face | Oil

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 12

6:15 PM

TCM

Cast

Rock Hudson	...	Mitch Wayne
Lauren Bacall	...	Lucy Moore Hadley
Robert Stack	...	Kyle Hadley
Dorothy Malone	...	Marylee Hadley
Robert Keith	...	Jasper Hadley
Grant Williams	...	Biff Miley (service station attendant)
Robert J. Wilke	...	Dan Willis (proprietor, The Cove)
Edward Platt	...	Dr. Paul Cochrane (as Edward C. Platt)
Harry Shannon	...	Hoak Wayne
John Larch	...	Roy Carter (with Marylee at The Cove)
Joseph Granby	...	R.J. Courtney (County Solicitor at inquest)
Roy Glenn	...	Sam (butler)
Maidie Norman	...	Bertha (maid)
William Schallert	...	Jack Williams (reporter)
Joanne Jordan	...	Brunette

Runtime:

99 min | UK:100 min (re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 (1989) | Finland:K-16 (1956) | USA:Approved (PCA #17932) | Australia:PG | New Zealand:R16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | West Germany:6

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

Title song is sung by The Four Aces. The song is featured very prominently, and the group is fully credited.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In a few shots over the shoulders of Jasper and Lucy Hadley in Jasper's office we can see out the windows the little smudge pots making the smoke in the "oilfields" outside.

Quotes:

Marylee Hadley: That was no lady. That was your wife.
Kyle Hadley: Where are they going?
Marylee Hadley: I don't know. Where would you take your best friends wife?
Kyle Hadley: You're a real sweet kid.
Marylee Hadley: Now, be nice to me brother. One morning, we'll wake up and be all alone together.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Roma (2004)

Soundtrack:

WRITTEN ON THE WIND

Vertiginous, violet and tongue in cheek social comment.

One of the most oddly colored (violets,bright yellows and reds) wildly flamboyant films made in the 50's, expatriate German director Douglas Sirk made this as a soap opera with a nasty satiric bite. Although Lauren Bacall and Rock Hudson as staid camp followers of a wealthy Texas family are the "stars", it's the perverse characters played by Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone who make the film such a vivid nightmare of the Eisenhower era of outdoor barbecues and post-war wealth. Malone in particular, playing a nymphomaniac oil heiress who dances wildly while her father dies of a heart attack, breaks the mold of the sexually sequestered decade.