In the Mood for Love
February 14, 2016
Film Info
- United States
- 1954
- 108 minutes
- Color
- 2.00:1
- English
- Spine #457
Reckless playboy Bob Merrick (Rock Hudson, in his breakthrough role) crashes his speedboat, requiring emergency attention from the town’s only resuscitator—at the very moment that beloved local Dr. Phillips has a heart attack and dies waiting for the life-saving device. Thus begins one of Douglas Sirk’s most flamboyant master classes in melodrama, a delirious Technicolor mix of the sudsy and the spiritual in which Bob and the doctor’s widow, Helen (Jane Wyman), find themselves inextricably linked amid a series of increasingly wild twists, turns, trials, and tribulations. For this release, Criterion also presents John M. Stahl’s 1935 film version of the Lloyd C. Douglas novel, starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor.
Cast
| Helen Phillips | Jane Wyman |
| Bob Merrick | Rock Hudson |
| Joyce Phillips | Barbara Rush |
| Nancy Ashford | Agnes Moorehead |
| Randolph | Otto Krüger |
| Tom Masterson | Gregg Palmer |
| Valerie | Sara Shane |
| Dr. Girsud | Paul Cavanagh |
| Judy | Judy Nugent |
Credits
| Director | Douglas Sirk |
| Producer | Ross Hunter |
| Screenplay | Robert Blees, Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Herman |
| Based on the novel by | Lloyd C. Douglas |
| Adaptation by | Wells Root |
| Cinematography | Russell Metty |
| Editing | Milton Carruth |
| Music | Frank Skinner |
| Costume design | Bill Thomas |
Disc Features
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer
- Audio commentary featuring film scholar Thomas Doherty
- Magnificent Obsession (1935, 102 minutes), a new digital transfer of John M. Stahl’s earlier version of the film
- From UFA to Hollywood: Douglas Sirk Remembers (1991, 82 minutes), a rare documentary by German filmmaker Eckhart Schmidt in which Sirk reflects upon his career
- Video interviews with filmmakers Allison Anders and Kathryn Bigelow, in which they pay tribute to Sirk
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Geoffrey O’Brien
Cover based on a theatrical poster
Current Posts
Photo Galleries
Photo Galleries
Photo Galleries
Video
Features
The Sirk-Hudson Connection
By January 21, 2009
It’s a clichéd truism that moviemaking is a collaborative art. Of course it is, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of examples of directors working time and again with the same crew members, . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Magnificent Obsessions
By January 19, 2009
In 1929, a fifty-one-year-old Congregationalist pastor named Lloyd C. Douglas published his first novel. It was a ramshackle sort of book, at its core an undiluted Christian sermon on the . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Magnificent Obsessions
By January 19, 2009
In 1929, a fifty-one-year-old Congregationalist pastor named Lloyd C. Douglas published his first novel. It was a ramshackle sort of book, at its core an undiluted Christian sermon on the . . . Read more »
Photo Galleries
Big Screen
Repertory Pick: Home for the Holidays with Douglas Sirk
December 24, 2015
As the perfect companion for your holiday blues, spend the final days of the year indulging in a good cry with Douglas Sirk at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Read more »
Photo Galleries
Photo Galleries
Video
Press Notes
PRESS NOTES: AUTHOR! AUTHOR!
February 01, 2009
“By now, the lesson of Douglas Sirk should be clear,” writes David Zuckerman in his auteurist review of our new special edition of Magnificent Obsession, for Film Comment: “an auteur is to be . . . Read more »
Features
The Sirk-Hudson Connection
By January 21, 2009
It’s a clichéd truism that moviemaking is a collaborative art. Of course it is, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of examples of directors working time and again with the same crew members, . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Magnificent Obsessions
By January 19, 2009
In 1929, a fifty-one-year-old Congregationalist pastor named Lloyd C. Douglas published his first novel. It was a ramshackle sort of book, at its core an undiluted Christian sermon on the . . . Read more »
Press Notes
New York Times Holiday DVD Picks
October 30, 2008
This week, the New York Times compiled its special annual holiday movie preview, and judging by Charles Taylor and Stephanie Zacharek’s enthusiasm for a slew of upcoming DVD releases for . . . Read more »
