This is a very fine 'early' Douglas Sirk romantic Hollywood melodrama. It was his last black and white and modest budgeted one before he splashed into the Technicolor world of MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1954, see my review) the next year, with all the famous films of that kind which followed, and which so stirred the hearts of Middle America. Superb performances in this film by Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Carlson, and Lotte Stern as the maid and housekeeper of the Murdoch family go to make this film something of a classic of its kind, and of course there is Sirk's impeccable direction. The film is based on a novel entitled STOPOVER by Carol Ryrie Brink (1895-1981). It is set in a small town in Wyoming in 1910. Barbara Stanwyk left her husband and children ten years before but has now returned. She meets with a mixed reception. Old passions are aroused, loves and hates start seething, and what will the outcome be? This is a good 'un.
Review of All I Desire
