The fall is something that audiences can't get enough of, rivaled only perhaps, by the comeback. The ancestral forefather of Dallas, Dynasty, and the entire CW lineup, Douglas Sirk's Written on the Wind is the prototype for American family drama. Over the years, film and television have evolved the formula into melodramatic caricature, but it is Sirk's masterwork that remains entrenched within the genre's DNA. A gothic tale of a powerful family's downfall, this is a tainted reflection of the American dream.
A Texas oil scion marries one of his father's company's secretaries, driving a wedge between him and his childhood best friend. As the family's sins rapidly begin to erode their legacy, lust, betrayal, confusion, and death come to roost as the cold reality of wealth is truly revealed. Beginning with the end, Sirk's treatment of George Zuckerman's script begins with an existential provocation. While death is inevitable, it is the journey that is of import and Sirk wastes no time baptizing the viewer in Russell Metty's lavish cinematography. The trappings of wealth are everywhere, and yet, there is an emptiness to the Hadley's estate that is inescapable.
At the center of this affluent purgatory is a quartet of opposites. Robert Stack stars as Kyle Hadley, the heir of the empire, riddled with alcoholism and obsession. Opposite from him is Rock Hudson as Mitch, his childhood friend who has slowly become a rival over years of hollow friendship. Lauren Bacall gives one of her most nuanced performances as Lucy, the woman whom both men are enamored with. One the other side of desire is Dorothy Malone's Oscar winning performance as Kyle’s promiscuous sister Marylee. The dichotomy between the haves and the used to have nots could not be clearer. The Hadleys act with reckless abandon, behaviors that continue to be mimicked today in high profile dramas. Conversely, Mitch and Lucy are practical and quiet, choosing to avoid confrontation until it is impossible. The result of these magnificent performances is an aura of dread that haunts every frame, echoing the notions that America may not be the promised land it once was that were beginning to take hold within the country at that time.
Beyond the relationship dramas, another interesting aspect of the story is in how Sirk approaches sexual dynamics. Malone's Marylee on the surface appears to be a noir archetype, a possibly dangerous antagonist that threatens to undo everything, and yet, there is a vulnerability to the stunning performance that reveals a lifetime of privilege and emotional devastation. This is echoed in how the patriarch; Robert Keith's Jasper treats Hudson's Mitch as opposed to his own children. Again, a theme that seems too common in the age of prestige tv, but in Sirk's capable hands something that could have easily felt artificial becomes the entire lynchpin of the film. This is a story that's been told hundreds of times, and yet, it is displayed with such desperate tact that it reminds the viewer of their own family's faults, and this is why this picture will forever remain relevant.
Now available for digital streaming or on an outstanding Criterion Collection Blu-ray, Written on the Wind is a cornerstone of 20th century American filmmaking. Sirk takes a tried-and-true formula about a wealthy family undone by secrets and excess and transmutes it into a fable about the perils and loneliness of financial immortality that would create the central archetype from which all other serial dramas would be drafted from. Much like the Hadley's cycles of addiction and shame, Sirk's landmark expose of ungodly American power players would remind users of the intense allure of the fall, an allure that continues to entice today.
--Kyle Jonathan