All I Desire **** (1953, Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Carlson, Lyle Bettger, Maureen O’Sullivan, Richard Long, Lori Nelson) – Classic Movie Review 5225

‘Now He Knew Her as Other Men Had!’ This superior, touching 1953 soap opera is directed at full emotional throttle by Douglas Sirk and is stirringly acted, especially by the admirable Barbara Stanwyck.

Stanwyck plays actress Naomi Murdoch who, after abandoning her husband (Richard Carlson) and children 10 years earlier to enjoy a career in the wicked theatre, comes back to their cosy small town to see their teenage daughter Lily (Lori Nelson) act in her high school play and then graduate. Does Naomi want to stay and resume her life as a mother and, if so, can she? Has she found all that she desires?

The polished, intelligent screenplay is by James Gunn, Robert Blees and Gina Kaus, based on the novel Stopover by Carol Brink, and it relishes taking on the task of probing the passions and manners of Middle America. The movie boasts a strong sense of its period (it is set in 1910) in a typically meticulous production by Ross Hunter, beautifully shot in black and white by Carl Guthrie and designed by Bernard Herzbrun, with a notable score by Joseph Gershenson.

Also in the cast are Lyle Bettger, Maureen O’Sullivan, Richard Long, Billy Gray, Lotte Stein, Dayton Lummis, Fred Numey, Guy Williams and Charles Hand.

The date is confirmed by reference being made to Halley’s Comet that appeared in April 1910.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5225

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