Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Has There Been Anything More Depressing...

.

... ever put on film than the draining of Dorothy Malone's
wanton technicolor by the end of Written on the Wind?


I think not. It's like someone stuck a pin in Glinda's bubble
and all of Oz deflated in one fell swoop. There's no place like Sirk.
.

11 comments:

Runs Like A Gay said...

Ooh I love the bit where's she's dancing with her red hanky. Gorgeous colours.

Seeking Amy said...

I LOVE this performance, (And film) trashy and campy in the absolute best way. In the context of another film it would seem way off but she was totally in sync in Sirk's hyper-kinetic and soaked technicolor vision that it works so marvelously. Her childhood remembrance by the lake is so over the top but I felt genuine emotion, same goes for the last time we see her. I'd love to dance with her all night long.

NATHANIEL R said...

i love this one too. And boy are you right about the color/character arc.

Jason Adams said...

When I die I am going to write it into my will that my corpse must be stop-motion animated into a recreation of her scene by the lake and then projected behind my casket in a loop during the course of the funeral.

Rick said...

I loved this movie when I first saw it ... I also loved Malone and thought she was the greatest ever!!!!
I was 12 .... I have seen it since and I can see why she never became a major star .. her acting was all done with her nostrils.

At the time this was NOT meant to be camp!

emmanuel ramos barajas said...

I just got this on Netflix. I'm going to watch it in soon.

The Jaded Armchair Reviewer said...

Still my pick for the second greatest supporting actress Oscar winner. That shot in the end where she hugs that paper weight oil rig with her father's eyes in his portrait crushing down on her while finally being separated from worldly desires by losing the only source of love she really only cared for. Gets me every time.

Anonymous said...

I love that scene where she masturbates near the water. F*cking awesome.

Jason Adams said...

Well I have to ask, Jaded Armchair Reviewer - what's your first pick for greatest supporting actress winner?

The Jaded Armchair Reviewer said...

JA - That would be Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind. The definition of being "the heart of the movie", our sympathetic ally in making sense of the world of the movie who reliably (and thankfully) appears when we need her to be while never taking our attention away from the story.

For the opposite example, we will have to leave Tara and travel to Cold Mountain.......

My Top Three:
1. Hattie McDaniel (Gone with the Wind)
2. Dorothy Malone (Written on the Wind)
3. Dianne Wiest (Bullets Over Broadway)

badmofo said...

Love the "masturbation" scene too, Anon. ;-D

Oddly enough, it's also my second favorite Supporting Actress win (Cruz is my favorite -- not the greatest performance ever I know, but the epitome of coming in and stealing a movie... which is right up my alley obviously!)