Written On The Wind (1956) ****1/2

I've only seen two Douglas Sirk films at this point, the other being 1955's All That Heaven Allows. While I liked that film a lot when I watched it about six years ago (and would like to revisit it), by contrast I found Written On The Wind (1956) to be close to perfection. 

An ultra-heightened, highly symbolic melodrama (much in the vein of Tennessee Williams) centered on gender, sexuality, jealousy, and class—via hot button topics like impotence, alcoholism, and nymphomania—WOTW exposes the rot beneath the excess wealth of a Texas oil family. Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, and Robert Stack all give wonderful, powerful performances, but Dorothy Malone's horny firecracker, Marylee Hadley, is the cream of the crop.

My Criterion Top 10 [Vol. 7]