Blu-ray Review: Criterion Edition of Douglas Sirk’s Essential ‘All That Heaven Allows’

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CHICAGO—The word “melodrama” has become a lazy one for too many critics who use it as a way to dismiss films that deal with extreme emotions. For a film to be melodramatic, it must be flawed. Any fan of Douglas Sirk will tell you that this is a fallacy. Melodrama can be a heartbreaking, genuine form of artistic expression, arguably never more so than in Sirk’s most beloved film, “All That Heaven Allows,” recently released on Criterion Blu-ray. With a gorgeous 2k digital restoration that really allows Sirk’s colorful compositions room to pop while not presenting an overly plastic remaster that would have drained the film of its humanity and fascinating special features that include the entirety of “Rock Hudson’s Home Movies,” “All That Heaven Allows” is one of the stronger Criterion releases of 2014. It’s a film that too many have been quick to dismiss in the past that keeps proving itself a work to remember.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Like so many great filmmakers, Sirk knew that his chosen genre would give him different freedoms and different tools with which to play. Ignorant critics look at Sirk’s melodramas superficially, missing how Sirk uses the genre to provide social commentary. The doomed romance of “All That Heaven Allows” is doomed for no other reason than social prejudice. How could someone of privilege fall in love with a “common man”? And how could a widow’s happiness matter nearly as much as that of her embarassed children? “All That Heaven Allows” holds a mirror up to how we often treat those willing to step out of line from the social norm and how easily we can ignore the happiness of others if said happiness impacts us negatively. It’s a beautiful film with great performances all around, heightened by a Criterion treatment that understands its nuances and wants to bring them to a wider audience.

All That Heaven Allows was released on Blu-ray on June 10, 2014
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Criterion Collection

Synopsis:
The heartbreakingly beautiful indictment of 1950s American mores by Douglas Sirk follows the blossoming love between a well-off window (Jan Wyman) and her handsome and earthy younger gardener (Rock Hudson). When their romance prompts the scorn of her children and country club friends, she must decide whether to pursue her own happiness or carry on a lonely, hemmed-in existence for the sake of the approval of others. With the help of ace cinematographer Russell Metty, Sirk imbues nearly every shot with a vivid and distinct emotional tenor. A profoundly felt film about class and conformity in small-town America, All That Heaven Allows is a pinnacle of expressionistic Hollywood melodrama.

Special Features:
o Audio commentary featuring film scholars John Mercer and Tamar Jeffers-McDonald
o Rock Hudson’s Home Movies (1992), a groundbreaking essay film about the actor by Mark Rappaport
o French television interview with director Douglas Sirk from 1982
o Excerpts from Behind the Mirror: A Profile of Douglas Sirk, a 1979 BBC documentary featuring rare interview footage with the director
o Contract Kid: William Reynolds on Douglas Sirk, a 2007 interview with the actor, who costarred in three Sirk films, including All That Heaven Allows
o Trailer
o PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Laura Mulvey and an excerpt from a 1971 essay on Sirk by filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder

By BRIAN TALLERICO Contributor HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com