All That Heaven Allows
By June 18, 2001
Douglas Sirk once said: “This is the dialectic—there is a very short distance between high art and trash, and trash that contains an element of craziness is by this very Read more »
- United States
- 1955
- 89 minutes
- 1.77:1
- English
SYNOPSIS: Jane Wyman is a repressed wealthy widow and Rock Hudson is the hunky Thoreau-following gardener who loves her in Douglas Sirk’s heartbreakingly beautiful indictment of 1950s small-town America. Sirk utilizes expressionist colors, reflective surfaces, and frames-within-frames to convey the loneliness and isolation of a matriarch trapped by the snobbery of her children and the gossip of her social-climbing country club chums. Criterion is proud to present this subversive Hollywood tearjerker in a special edition.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Cary Scott | Jane Wyman |
| Ron Kirby | Rock Hudson |
| Sara Warren | Agnes Moorehead |
| Harvey | Conrad Nagel |
| Alida Anderson | Virginia Grey |
| Kay Scott | Gloria Talbot |
| Ned Scott | William Reynolds |
| Mick Anderson | Charles Drake |
| Dr. Hennessy | Hayden Rorke |
| Mona Plash | Jacqueline de Wit |
| Jo-Ann | Leigh Snowden |
| Howard Hoffer | Donald Curtis |
| George Warren | Alex Gerry |
| Manuel | Nestor Paiva |
| Mr. Weeks | Forrest Lewis |
| Tom Allenby | Tol Avery |
| Mary Ann | Merry Anders |
Credits
| Director | Douglas Sirk |
| Producer | Ross Hunter |
| Screenplay | Peg Fenwick |
| Based on the story by | Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee |
| Cinematography | Russell Metty |
| Art direction | Alexander Golitzen and Eric Orbom |
| Set decoration | Russell A. Gausman and Julia Heron |
| Editing | Frank Gross |
| Music | Frank Skinner |
Disc Features
- New widescreen digital transfer, enhanced for 16×9 televisions
- A half hour of excerpts from Behind the Mirror: A Profile of Douglas Sirk, a 1979 BBC documentary featuring rare interview footage with the director
- “Imitation of Life: On the Films on Douglas Sirk”: an illustrated essay by filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder
- A collection of vintage lobby cards and production stills
- Original theatrical trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
- Exclusive liner notes by noted film theorist Laura Mulvey
