Douglas Sirk

[soundchaser]

A Sirk list project would be difficult, since so many of his (admittedly not top-tier) films are totally unreleased on DVD at all. But if it gets more people to see this one and Interlude, I’d be all for it.

[Glowingwabbit]

I've heard Imogen Sarah Smith commentaries in the past but not that particular one. Some are better than others, but she's always very knowledgeable.

I'm currently working my way through Sirk's filmography (chronologically) and have never seen Has Anybody Seen My Gal? but i'm looking forward to that one given the praise I've seen here. Sirk did well with his early comedy outings in Germany (with hints of Rene Clair and Lubitsch) so it will be interesting to see one of his American comedies (I'd mostly only seen his major melodramas prior to this)

Having just finished his European films, I'd love to see an Early Sirk box with his German films (a la the MOC Lubitsch set) so more people can see them. At the very least Schlußakkord absolutely deserves a release of it's own as I'd place that one in the top tier of Sirk films I've seen (It would certainly rank very high if I were to make a 30's list).

[therewillbeblus]

Thanks for the tip, Glowingwabbit, I'll definitely look into those!

soundchaser, I'll check out Interlude off your praise, since it seems I've missed that one (unless I forgot I watched it, which is entirely possible outside of any reflection on the film). Of course none of this is motivating me at the current moment as I organize a chronological viewing schedule of Howard Hawks for the next actual list project

[soundchaser]

Interlude is a deeply weird film, and if you bounce off June Allyson (which I don’t *think* is an issue for you, if I remember correctly), then you probably won’t get much out of it. But I can’t help being fascinated by it — it’s probably the closest thing to a horror film Sirk ever made.

[therewillbeblus]

That's very intriguing, and as a lover of Good News and The Reformer and the Redhead she's alright by me

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

Is the Imogen Sarah Smith commentary any good? IIRC, I've enjoyed her on podcasts and video essays before, but those aren't necessary good predictors for whether someone gives good commentary.

I wrote my thesis on Sirk and The Tarnished Angels, so I may be a little biased but I found her commentary to be lacking. I listened to it once and sold off my Kino (I managed to buy the OoP MOC for $20). For someone less knowledgable about Sirk, including how the critical histories that have prevailed for the last fifty years (admittedly enabled by Sirk himself, who some argue did so intentionally) misrepresent his body of work, I think it'll be valuable. I really like Smith generally, so was disappointed. It's a little dry and doesn't really engage with Sirk's actual work, cinematically speaking, as much as the basic outline and ideas of the film. I should note though, that for me one of the pleasures of commentaries is to hear a critic (or whoever) engage with the work as its being shown, so as to highlight and direct our viewing; I tend to get bored when they start to refer to encyclopedic details that I could very easily read on the web or in any written pieces. If you can pick it up cheap, I recommend getting it, especially if you don't have another version.

As for this other discourse: Has Anybody Seen My Gal? is indeed one of Sirk's best––but certainly not his best, although it comes close for its sheer elegance and erudition (it is, however, probably his most lovable). The Tarnished Angels or Imitation of Life are for me, after many revisits of most of his films, his greatest. Although it's also silly to suggest that that Gal? is his only funny one––Imitation of Life is incredibly funny, in a darker, more ironic way of course.

Interlude is a weaker film, and its stiffness doesn't help when compared to Stahl's masterpiece When Tomorrow Comes, which it's a vague reworking of. I'm glad to see, however, Shlussakkord getting some praise because it really is a great, great work and shows how Sirk was pretty much fully-formed as a filmmaker by 1936. It certainly makes the Criterion Channel labelling his 1946-1949 films as 'early films' seem silly and oblivious. If anyone is having difficulty getting their hands on these last two films, by the way, feel free to DM me.

[senseabove]

Tarnished is also, most days, my favorite Sirk, which is why I have the temptation to pick it up just for a commentary, since I already own the Eureka release... Maybe I'll just save the Kino to round out a cart one day. Thanks!

[therewillbeblus]

Although it's also silly to say that Gal? is his only funny one––Imitation of Life is incredibly funny, in a darker, more ironic way of course.

Did anyone say Has Anybody Seen My Gal? is Sirk's "only" funny movie? Ozu has plenty of comedies too, and weaves comedy into most of his dramas, but my point was that they're both more well-known for their command of dramatic moods. I also find many of Sirk's best moments to be handoffs between comic amusement and raw unfunny truths, but as you say, Gal? holds onto a brighter comic tone that is unlike anything I've personally seen from him.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

Sorry, TWBB, I wasn't referring to you. I got caught up in my own internal monologue, which has many (often infuriating) voices I've read over the years bouncing around in it.

[Glowingwabbit]

It certainly makes the Criterion Channel labelling his 1946-1949 films as 'early films' seem silly and oblivious.

A Scandal in Paris (1946) is next for me and having just watched the 11 feature films that come before that one I'm glad to finally be at his "early" films. :-k

[therewillbeblus]

Sorry, TWBB, I wasn't referring to you. I got caught up in my own internal monologue, which has many (often infuriating) voices I've read over the years bouncing around in it.

It's cool, I honestly had to go back and make sure nobody did, including me, which says something. I should give Imitation of Life another shot one of these days. We watched that and the Stahl back-to-back in college and deeply analyzed them in the context of racial dynamics in film history, and I haven't had the interest in revisiting them since. I'll look forward to your writeups for those Sirks in the 50s thread at some point

[therewillbeblus]

For those interested, Interlude has a fairly strong copy on YT for free. I enjoyed the bookends of the film more than the meat in the middle. We first get a juxtaposition of June Allyson excitedly smiling as she approaches her destination, only for a “friend of the family” male doctor to call and declare the “best medicine” is to be with a man, a stranger immediately intruding in on her freedom through her employer, the very moment she arrives! “You’re smarter than you look” is one of his first lines to her (and is taken as a compliment) and Dr. Dwyer immediately declares he’s her best option, coercing her into a permanent union with forceful persuasion -a courting process that feels like assault.

The ensuing relationship with the conductor is deceptive, and Allyson’s inner conflict is a fair ethical dilemma regarding her promises to herself and others, vs. 'what the heart wants.' The philosophical questions become emotional ones, as they often do in Sirk’s melodramas, and yet this is all more internalized than usual, which I appreciated even if it amounted to less interest as a result. Regarding a “horror” comparison, I get it in the sense that the mentally-ill wife is trapped (and traps him) in a web of doomed concrete. She functions a bit like a ghost haunting the couple, but one who we empathize with because she is human, and I personally wondered (perhaps as a stretch) if her German ancestry hinted at a trauma rooted in WWII activities or poverty from loss.

Others more familiar with Sirk can probably comment more in this area, but I’m interested in the motive behind his choice to bring an American character to Germany to integrate back there post-WWII. I know Sirk did return there after the war briefly, and that soon after this film was made he retired and went back to Europe, so his expatriate status was obviously in some conflict around this time period. I also wonder about the parallels with his own wife being in danger from the Nazis, prompting his escape, and if her own traumatic experience, even just the fear from very real threats, was an inspiration for the dynamic. I’m not insinuating that this relationship is a reflection of Sirk's, (I'm sure if they had a happy marriage, but they stayed married until death), and am speculating that this could be an imagined bizarro world of 'what could have been.'

Reni’s loneliness and abandonment is fully-realized by her, and in the process she is desperate to hold onto the only stability she has, even if it means unreturned love. It’s not out of idealistic social-emotional goals, but this as a need on a physiological level. She's the best part of the film, but also the only variable I felt drawn to with curiosity, so I hate to say this one ultimately joins the pile of Sirks that didn't do it for me.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

Others more familiar with Sirk can probably comment more in this area, but I’m interested in the motive behind his choice to bring an American character to Germany to integrate back there post-WWII. I know Sirk did return there after the war briefly, and that soon after this film was made he retired and went back to Europe, so his expatriate status was obviously in some conflict around this time period.

Sirk claims that this was the film he had the smallest role in shaping of all the late pictures. He literally says "The story is in no way mine" in Sirk on Sirk. So while that doesn't change any arguments you can make about the film itself, I suspect the motivation was more in line with the general craze in the 50s of making films very European, as detailed in Runaway Hollywood. Sirk would, a few pictures later, actually return to Germany to make A Time to Love and a Time to Die, which he was much more hands on about, and which was much more consciously drawn from his biography.

[soundchaser]

Although how much the Sirk of that book is to be trusted is a big question...

I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy Interlude as much as I’d hoped, TWBB, but I always appreciate your thoughts on films regardless! I’m glad you picked up on what I think are some of the more horror-tinged elements (Allyson’s only options being men, the almost-ghost of a wife, etc.) too. I thought of another film this one reminds me of: Secret Beyond the Door. They both have characters circling a central void (whether literal or metaphorical) that comes to define their relationship. Although I prefer the Sirk to the Lang.

[therewillbeblus]

The more I think about it, the creepier the opening is... for Dwyer to call a stranger to inquire about another stranger, as soon as she walks in the door, so confidently with such high expectations. I felt unsettled in the moment, but there is something conspiratorially satanic about the way her beginnings in Germany unfold, intentionally or not.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

Although how much the Sirk of that book is to be trusted is a big question...

While I agree, I tend to take most of Sirk's statements of biography to be on the whole factual (sadly there's been no critical biography to establish a source-based narrative). There's no reason to believe after all that he didn't have a large role in shaping this film, made in a year where he completed three (!) films, after breaking his leg, when said film was based on prior material.

[Altair]

For those interested, Interlude has a fairly strong copy on YT for free.

Thanks for pointing this out twbb, I just downloaded it and I'm looking forward to seeing it for the first time.

[Feego]

I just watched There's Always Tomorrow, and the thing that immediately struck me is how it comes across as an absurd flipside to the "Father Knows Best" style sitcoms of the day. The early scene of Fred MacMurray (ironically a future TV dad himself) coming home only to be flatly snubbed by everyone, including the cook, was hilarious. Joan Bennett has a way of seeming warm while being cold and stilted, a perfect model-wife who is endlessly understanding and never jealous. That would seem to be ideal for MacMurray's stepping out, but in some ways it's even more disturbing than if she suspected his flirtations. Her failure to see anything wrong speaks to the unchanging monotony of their marriage. Barbara Stanwyck brings such a glowing presence to the film that it's easy to see why MacMurray is so attracted to her and why his kids are horrified by her, immediately perceiving her as a threat to their normal existence. Speaking of the kids, has anyone ever written a scholarly piece on monstrous children in Sirk's melodramas? Between this, All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind, and Imitation of Life, Sirk's output in this period is like an ongoing birth control ad. It's actually fun, though, to see William Reynolds and Gigi Perreau returning as brother and sister after their nicer turns in Has Anybody Seen My Gal. Reynolds in particular has a knack for playing guys you just want to punch in the face, as evidenced by his even more hateful turn as Jane Wyman's hellspawn in All That Heaven Allows. Russell Metty's black-and-white cinematography seems drab at first compared to his glossy Technicolor extravaganzas, but it works again in evoking TV sitcoms (albeit with much more elaborate framing). There's a shot toward the end in which MacMurray looks out the window of his business studio in utter hopelessness while a toy robot walks toward the camera and the music swells. It's up there with that shot of Robert Stack in Written on the Wind having just learned of his impotence and walking past a child riding a mechanical horse in conveying palpable rock bottom while being hysterically over the top.

Regarding the earlier discussion of Has Anybody Seen My Gal as one of Sirk's finest, I agree that it is an unheralded masterpiece. From what I've seen of his output (which doesn't go far beyond his most popular films), it's firmly in second place behind Imitation of Life.

[Cash Flagg]

that shot of Robert Stack in Written on the Wind having just learned of his impotence and walking past a child riding a mechanical horse

One of my favorite moments in all of cinema, which is why it's been my avatar here for the last twelve years! (Though it doesn't really work as a small, static image, it still makes me chuckle.)

[whaleallright]

ha! I've showed that scene to students several times, and it always gets a big laugh—although once a student looked a little perturbed and asked aloud, "What does it mean?" I daren't have showed him the shot of Dorothy Malone caressing the oil derrick....

[senseabove]

The Kino Classics line will be releasing another pair of German early Sirk films in late February a la their To New Shores/La Habanera release, this time with The Girl from the Marsh Croft and Schlußakkord:

[Glowingwabbit]

The Kino Classics line will be releasing another pair of German early Sirk films in late February a la their To New Shores/La Habanera release, this time with The Girl from the Marsh Croft and Schlußakkord:

Hell yes! I had heard the first release was a poor seller so I was so worried we'd never get Schlußakkord. For me it's a top tier Sirk and definitely deserving of a special edition of it's own but I'll take what I can get.

[Stefan Andersson]

The 2022 Locarno fest will have a complete Sirk retrospective, co-curated by Bernard Eisenschitz, who also has an upcoming book about Sirk, "published by Les éditions de l’Œil. After researching the wealth of archive material, Eisenschitz will put forward a new approach to Sirk’s work."

Source:

https://www.locarnofestival.ch/LFF/abou ... iva75.html

[pistolwink]

really looking forward to that Eisenschitz book, and hope it gets translated as well. there's probably nobody (save for Lutz Bacher) more qualified to write on this subject.

[Red Screamer]

Thanks to all of the board recommendations, I finally caught up with this one. And on a pristine Technicolor print, no less!

Has Anybody Seen My Gal?
America as a puritanical nightmare of shame and anxiety, where you not only have to work on Christmas Eve but also get timed on your breaks. In other words, a light semi-musical comedy by Douglas Sirk. This jolly film tells the same story as Sirk’s melodramas, even sharing a key image with the next year’s All I Desire: someone standing outside of a house, watching the family they could have had through a window. Here the outsider putting middle America under their microscope is Charles Coburn, who begins as a rich fish out of water disrupting the life of a lower-middle class family trying to make ends meet, then winds up becoming their guardian angel when the family turns nouveau riche and nasty. Money changes everything, including the color scheme, as deep browns and oranges give way to shimmering grey-blues, marking the split in the film’s two-part structure.

In a reversal of genre norms, the few musical numbers are the film’s most naturalistic scenes, often drawing out gentle domestic moments between worries. “This is a story about money. Remember it?” The joke is that no one ever forgets about it. An emblematic melancholy scene: Rock Hudson tries to start his rundown car while his girlfriend sings to him, asking him to “Gimme a Little Kiss”—but he’s fixated on his broken engine, too miserable to enjoy it.