What's the deal with "Written on the Wind"? (1 Viewer)

[Thomas T]

Thomas, what’s your favorite of the Sirk films?

That's a hard choice since he's one of my 6 favorite English language directors (along with Hitchcock, Nick Ray, Robert Altman, Sam Fuller, Vincente Minnelli). I love them all but if I had to choose just one, it would probably be Imitation Of Life with Written On The Wind a very close second. But I love his "entertainments" like Captain Lightfoot and Sign Of The Pagan too.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

I think you took my post negatively. Written on the Wind is my favorite Sirk because to me it is the most re-watchable IMO. I love the casting, color, story, dialogue.

I didn’t mean to create the notion it was trash. I’ve seen just about every Sirk film and while others may be considered more important, WotW is delicious soap opera of the highest caliber.

also Lauren Bacall is so great in it.

Sigh ..... some 60 years later and it seems Sirk still can't get much respect in the U.S. In Europe, he's considered among the great film makers in cinema. His dissection of American life in the 1950s in such films as All That Heaven Allows, Written On The Wind, Tarnished Angels and Imitation Of Life among them dealing with racism, small town hypocrisy, the strait jacket 1950s society placed on women, ageism etc. shows us the ugliness and hypocrisy of a bourgeois society under its lush veneer. His admirers include such world class film makers as Jean Luc Godard, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodovar, Martin Scorsese, Guillermo Del Toro and Todd Haynes to name just a handful.

Junk food, indeed! Well, as the saying goes (and I'm paraphrasing), "One man's junk is another man's art."

 

[Robin9]

It's already been released on blu ray in Europe by Elephant films in France which has released most of Sirk's Universal films on blu ray. In addition to Written On The Wind, they've also released The Tarnished Angels, A Time To Love And A Time To Die, All That Heaven Allows, Magnificent Obsession, Thunder On The Hill, Imitation Of Life, There's Always Tomorrow, Interlude, Sign Of The Pagan, Captain Lightfoot and Battle Hymn.

Hey Thomas, thank you. I didn't know that. I'll buy some of them.

 

[Nick*Z]

It hasn't been released on Blu-ray in the States. It's not available for streaming on Vudu nor iTunes. It recently played on TCM. Are there some legal/rights issues as to why it's only been released on DVD by Criterion back in 2001?

Robert: It was released in France in a region free disc with removable French subs and looks fabulous on disc.
For a while, Universal was very keen on concentrating their deep catalog efforts in the U.K., France and Japan. It's the reason some of their classic TV shows, like The Incredible Hulk, Magnum P.I. and Murder She Wrote, and Columbo, are only available in region-locked hi-def on that side of the pond. Interestingly, a lot of their deep catalog Paramount and home-grown holdings have had 'region free' releases in Europe and Asia. So, if you absolutely need your fix, I can highly recommend this disc. Color fidelity is excellent, contrast superb, and the transfer is a winner through and through. Perhaps, you could also send Kino and Criterion a hint, as I have done via email, that this deep catalog is still MIA state's side. Anyway, those are my thoughts. Below is the Amazon UK link to order the French disc, if you are so inclined.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01BXUKTCE/dvdbeaver-21/ref=nosim

 

[Will Krupp]

Perhaps, you could also send Kino and Criterion a hint, as I have done via email, that this deep catalog is still MIA state's side.

Thanks for this, Nick, I ordered it. I'm SURE this means that a stateside release is imminent!

You're ALL welcome!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thanks for this, Nick, I ordered it. I'm SURE this means that a stateside release is imminent!

You're ALL welcome!

Yeah, I think I'm going to wait one more year to see if Criterion releases it as I prefer to avoid companies I haven't heard of like that French release.

 

[Worth]

There's an Australian blu, as well.

 

[SultanOfWhat]

Magnificent Obsession, All that Heaven Allows, and Written on the Wind were recently available on Watch TCM, but they are gone now. I only watched the last one, as I have the Criterion blu-rays for the other two. The transfer for WotW was excellent, so I am assuming Criterion would have an easy job of putting out a blu-ray version.

 

[Will Krupp]

Yeah, I think I'm going to wait one more year to see if Criterion releases it as I prefer to avoid companies I haven't heard of like that French release.

I've heard of Elephant FIlms, though. With the name recognition and the recommendations from Nick and Thomas, I feel safe (it came to $23 shipped from the UK)

 

[Robert Crawford]

I've heard of Elephant FIlms, though. With the name recognition and the recommendations from Nick and Thomas, I feel safe (it came to $23 shipped from the UK)

I know Elephant Films too after I found out more about that French release later this morning, but I'm still going to wait to see what Criterion does this year as I just watched WOTW this weekend.

 

[Thomas T]

There's an Australian blu, as well.

I know it's the movie and not the cover that matters but damn, that's one bland and ugly cover. Not to mention that they've left off a picture of the Oscar winning star of the movie but included the three other cast members. Go figure!

 

[Robert Crawford]

I know it's the movie and not the cover that matters but damn, that's one bland and ugly cover. Not to mention that they've left off a picture of the Oscar winning star of the movie but included the three other cast members. Go figure!

I could figure as those three were the actual love triangle in the movie. Sure, Malone deservedly won Best Supporting Actress, but she still was the fourth credited actor in the film.

 

[Thomas T]

I could figure as those three were the actual love triangle in the movie. Sure, Malone deservedly won Best Supporting Actress, but she still was the fourth credited actor in the film.

Actually, it's a love quadrangle. Malone loves Hudson who loves Bacall who is married to Stack.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Actually, it's a love quadrangle. Malone loves Hudson who loves Bacall who is married to Stack.

Not to me as it’s unrequited love while the two men are in love with the same woman and she loves both men.

 

[Gary16]

Watching it now on TCM. Looks beautiful and in the correct 2:1 aspect ratio.

 

[Jim*Tod]

Yes.... it is a lovely transfer and I don't think I have ever seen it in 2:1. The Criterion dvd is 1.75. Looking forward to a Criterion blu ray of this.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Hard to say 2.00:1 is the "correct" ratio due to the inheritently maliable nature of open matte projection in the 1950s.

Also doesn't help that that particular ratio was a novelty one that Universal had already generally abandoned by 1956.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

Sick of waiting for Criterion to upgrade this one to blu.

I ordered the French BLU from amazonFR along with a couple other titles.

The french BLU doesn’t have a knock out bit rate but will buy the Criterion if it ever comes out.

 

[Ed Lachmann]

Sick of waiting for Criterion to upgrade this one to blu.

I'm SICK of underwhelming Criterion altogether. I bought most of the Elephant Films Sirk titles from Amazon.fr and love them all, although the remaining elements of Sign of the Pagan aren't the best (it is still very watchable). Elephant also released BD's of DeMille's Sign of the Cross, Unconquered and Reap the Wild Wind which are drop dead gorgeous and also region free. They recently offered a BD of Hughes' Hell's Angels. which I'm about to order. UK has Nights of Cabiria coming and La Strada recently. Criterion just "ain't what it used to be" to put it mildly.

 

[Thomas T]

Criterion just "ain't what it used to be" to put it mildly.

Agreed. I get much more excited over Kino Lorber and Shout Factory announcements.