Written on the Wind-1956
Director Douglas Sirk
Starring Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack
Scott’s Review #1,529
Reviewed April 20, 2026
Grade: A-
The terms ‘melodrama’ and ‘soap opera’ unfortunately come with a negative connotation, conjuring up disparaging adjectives like sappy or overwrought. Mix in poor acting, and you’ve got yourself a bad film.
But director Douglas Sirk, well known in the 1950s for his Hollywood melodramas like All That Heaven Allows (1955), Imitation of Life (1959), and Written on the Wind (1956), crafts beautiful visual effects amid powerful performances and compelling storylines.
Casting A-list movie stars only adds to the credibility.
Written on the Wind stars Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall as complicated characters on the cusp of a relationship, but hindered by other selfish characters determined to achieve their own romantic desires.
Hudson starred in an impressive six Douglas Sirk films while Bacall’s career was beginning to wane, leading her to accept the role.
The action makes stops in New York City and Miami before settling in oil-rich Texas, where a central dysfunctional family dynasty led by Jasper Hadley (Robert Keith) is the main focus.
Hadley’s alcoholic son, Kyle (Robert Stack), is in love with Lucy (Bacall), whom he woos and marries. At the same time, Kyle’s scheming, self-destructive sister, Marylee (Dorothy Malone), has her sights set on Kyle’s childhood best friend, the dashing Mitch (Hudson), who longs for romance with Lucy.
The foursome banter, lust after, and become involved in dramatic situations, which lead to secrets and eventually death. Subjects like alcoholism, unrequited love, miscarriage, murder, and a court trial are explored.
While the situations may sound like nothing more than a sudsy afternoon daytime drama, the acting and rich writing more than raise the film above mediocrity.
The juicy sequences alone will entice the rabid viewer.
The exceptional chemistry between Hudson and Bacall is a winning formula, and viewers easily root for them to be together, and they immediately seem destined to be. Their scenes smolder with passion and determination, but both characters are too righteous and benevolent to let anything happen.
After all, Lucy is married to Kyle, and learns she is pregnant, though she remains terribly unfulfilled.
It’s easy to like Mitch and Lucy, especially when they’re contrasted with unsympathetic characters like Kyle and Marylee. Rich and spoiled, Kyle is a lustful playboy, a womanizer, and terribly insecure and jealous.
Marylee is a boozy nymphomaniac who is callous and never satisfied.
Kyle and Marylee are not explored as much as they might have been with a longer running time, so they have hints of being one-dimensional. But both actors’ powerful performances leave audiences mesmerized by their characters.
Marylee nearly steals the show with her fiery bedroom negligee dance to a hi-fi blaring “Temptation,” while another character dies tragically a floor below.
You might say we ‘love to hate’ both characters.
Since Sirk and Hudson were both gay, though not publicly at that time (1956), keen viewers can notice hidden clues about what situations Hudson might have been facing in real life.
We can see how Hudson would have had attractive women like Marylee fawning over him and practically begging him to bed them. Unable to be receptive to their advances, instead, he would feel guilty and lonely.
Besides wonderful writing, Sirk’s direction is inspiring. The opening sequence features a clever ‘the beginning is the ending ‘ approach that many filmmakers borrowed over the years in their cinematic works.
The audience immediately sees Kyle stagger outside the palatial mansion, brandishing a gun and finally collapsing. While the wind whistles, a desk calendar is shown with the pages quickly turning to eighteen months prior when the story really begins.
This opening scene will be recreated at the end of the film, making for instant attention.
Other spicy add-ons, like fine furniture throughout the estate, a grand dinner beginning with a fruit-cocktail appetizer, more than a few sophisticated martinis served, and modern sports cars being driven, lend a robust flair of wealth and glamour to the production.
A sequence was even patterned after a flashy Manhattan nightclub named 21 Club.
For a trip into a world of wealthy yet tortured characters, Written on the Wind (1956) is top-notch. Some cliches can be forgiven, as melodrama was hardly done any better than this film.
Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Supporting Actor-Robert Stack, Best Supporting Actress-Dorothy Malone (won), Best Song-‘Written on the Wind.’
