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Synopsis: Danish-born German
émigré Douglas Sirk carved his Hollywood niche directing socially
aware, now-camp, depictions of 1950s American bourgeois gentility. This
swan-song gem is a vehicle for an unconsciously self-parodying Lana Turner, who
plays an ambitious actress oblivious to various domestic troubles, including
her black maid's trauma at being tragically rejected by her lighter-skinned
daughter on racial grounds. This was Sirk's and producer Ross Hunter's biggest box-office collaboration, helped by the tabloid speculation regarding Turner's possible role in the 1958 fatal stabbing of her boyfriend Johnny Stompanato. A masterfully formalised and sumptuously decorated ten-hanky weepie, it also benefits from Turner's delirious, melodramatic mood swings and a gut-wrenching funeral song performed by international gospel star Mahalia Jackson. Cast: Lana Turner, Sandra Dee, John Gavin, Robert Alda. Runtime: 125 min *Note: USA and Canadian customers should check their dvd players for PAL format compatibility. |
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