Written on the Wind 1956

     Mitch Wayne works for Hadley Oil Company in 1955.  Kyle Hadley is his boss and they have always been  best friends.  Playboy Kyle Hadley is an alcoholic and he marries a woman recently hired by his company.  Kyle doesn't know that his best friend is also in love with Lucy Moore.  Lucy has been good for Kyle and he has stopped drinking plus seeing other women.  Kyle asks the local doctor why Lucy isn't pregnant?  Doctor Cochrane tells Kyle there isn't anything wrong with Lucy.  Doctor Cochrane finds out that it is Kyle that has a problem.  Kyle changes back the boozing person he was before.  Lucy finds out that she is pregnant and Kyle believes the baby is Mitch's baby.  He hits Lucy and she loses the baby and it is really Kyle's baby!! 

    Sometimes being the wealthiest people in town doesn't save you from problems.  Kyle turns himself around but only for a while.  His sister Marylee is in love with Mitch but he can't see anything but the bad in her.  She has a reputation at home and in the town.  She thinks Mitch will become jealous of her other men and love her.  She made too many mistakes for that!!   3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

99 min, Drama directed by Douglas Sirk with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Robert Keith, Grant Williams, Robert J. Wilke, Edward Platt, Harry Shannon, John Larch, Joseph Granby, Roy Glenn, Maidie Norman, William Schallert, Joanne Jordan.

 

Note: Roger Ebert 4*, Rotten Tomatoes 81% critic 75% audience, efilmcritic.com 5*, Imdb 7.4 out of 10 with 9250 reviews, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 95 reviews, Letterboxd average 3.** out of 5*, Metacritic 66 out of 100 with 14 critics (9 positive 5 mixed) 6.4 out of 10 with 11 user reviews (4 positive 6 mixed 1 negative).

Special Note:  Filmed at Colonial Mansion, Backlot, Universal Studios, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California.  Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married at the time of filming.  Bogart was not impressed by the film and he advised Lauren not to make any other films like this one?  Lauren called this film "a masterpiece of suds?"  She claimed to have only made the film to work with Rock Hudson.  Rock Hudson had a pleasant camaraderie with everyone on the set and he seemed happy in his marriage. He was married to Phyllis Gates for three years before their divorce in April 1958.  She was his agent Henry Wilson's secretary.  Dorothy Malone said he was somewhat of a loner and he hid his feelings of sadness and insecurity.  Robert Stack was on loan to Universal for this picture.  Hudson was the star but he didn't ask for Stack to be cut down in his role.  Stack said he never forgot this.