Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		5.0

All That Heaven Allows Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 7, 2014

Douglas Sirk's "All That Heaven Allows" (1955) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; new audio commentary by film scholars John Mercer and Tamar Jeffers-McDonald; Mark Rappaport's documentary "Rock Hudson's Home Movies" (1992); interview excerpts from the BBC documentary "Behind the Mirror: A Profile of Douglas Sirk" (1979); video interview with actor William Reynolds; and an archival interview with director Douglas Sirk directed by Pascal Thomas for the French television program Cinema cinemas. The reelase also arrives with a 20-page illustrated booklet featuring: "An Articulate Screen" by Laura Mulvey and "Fassbinder on All That Heaven Allows". In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

"I'll be gone a couple of weeks. I'll see you when I get back."

The beautiful Jane Wyman is Cary Scott, a wealthy middle-aged widow who lives in the fictional New England town of Stoningham where people know everything there is to know about each other. Most of the time Cary looks relaxed and happy, but deep inside she feels like a bird locked in a cage.

The widow’s life changes dramatically when she meets Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson, Seconds, Ice Station Zebra), the handsome gardener who twice a year visits her home to prune her trees and shrubs. She invites him to have coffee with her and suddenly realizes that he is the type of man she can fall in love with. Much to Cary’s surprise, Ron then kindly invites her to visit the cabin he has built on the outskirts of Stoningham.

Soon after, Cary and Ron begin seeing each other. The news quickly annoys Cary’s affluent friends and angers her grown up children because Ron is from a different social class. The handsome gardener also happens to be a lot younger, which as far as Cary’s friends and children are concerned means that he cannot possibly be in love with an older woman.

At a lavish party, Ron is forced to defend Cary’s honor in front of some of the town’s most prominent residents. Shortly after, Cary is openly confronted by her children and asked to make an important decision.

Douglas Sirk’s classic melodrama All That Heaven Allows tells two very different stories. The first is about the romantic relationship between the lonely widow and her handsome gardener. After the two begin seeing each other, Sirk presents them with a number of different but not unusual dilemmas. It is important to note, however, that the relationship is observed and analyzed from Cary’s point of view, which is rather unusual for an early ‘50s Hollywood melodrama. (Most similarly themed films from the same era would typically have the male character as the central figure).

The second story is about the environment in which the two lovers exist and the morality standards that define it. The film’s visual style is an integral part of this story. For example, carefully selected colors are effectively used to identify the hypocrites that criticize and humiliate the lovers. Even the colors of the dresses the women wear are carefully chosen and captured by the camera in unique ways that reveal a lot about their personalities and social status. (See the opening sequence where Cary is visited by her friend Sara and pay attention to the colors of their dresses).

This visual deconstruction of middle-class America is what makes Sirk’s All That Heaven Allowsso fascinating to behold. There is always a subtext behind the minor triumphs and failures pointing to a much bigger story and seemingly minor but truly fascinating relationships between characters and colors.

The use of light and shadow is equally intriguing. Throughout the film Sirk and cinematographer Russell Metty (Lewis R. Foster’s Crashout, Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil) routinely capture light and shadow in ways that actually reveal a lot more about the main characters and their feelings and emotions while they are in front of the camera than the words they utter.

Note: Rainer Werner Fassbender was a big admirer of Douglas Sirk and his work. The German director’s Ali: Fear Eats the Soul was loosely inspired by All That Heaven Allows. American director Todd Haynes’ beautiful Far From Heaven also pays homage to Sirk’s masterpiece.

All That Heaven Allows Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.75:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"After extensively researching the aspect ratio history of All That Heaven Allows, Criterion found that theaters projected the film in aspect ratios ranging from 1.37:1 to 2.00:1. We're presenting the film here at 1.75:1, which we believe to be the most commonly projected image.

This new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the original 35mm camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, noise reduction, jitter, and flicker. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical-track print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using iZotope RX 3.

Colorist: Joe Gawler/Harbor Post, New York.
Transfer supervisors: Ed Lachman, Lee Kline.
Scanning: Universal Studios, Universal City, CA."

This very beautiful film looks quite spectacular on Blu-ray. Detail and especially image depth are enormously impressive. The carefully framed close-ups as well as so many of the large panoramic shots literally look like gorgeous paintings (see screencaptures #4 and 11). Shadow definition and contrast stability are dramatically improved. Unsurprisingly, the visuals are far more nuanced and better textured. Arguably the most impressive improvements, however, are in the area of color reproduction. Indeed, there is an entirely new range of exceptionally well saturated and strikingly vivid colors (see screencaptures #3 and 5). There are no traces of problematic degraning and sharpening adjustments. Predictably, the film has a wonderful, very pleasing organic appearance. Finally, overall image stability is very good. Also, debris, scratches, stains, warps, cuts, and damage marks have been carefully removed to ensure that the film looks as healthy as possible. All in all, Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release of All That Heaven Allows truly is a thing of beauty, and a very strong upgrade of the existing R1 DVD release of the film. (Npte: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

All That Heaven Allows Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

Depth and clarity are excellent. Frank Skinner's beautiful score also shines in all the right places. For example, listen to the wonderful violin solo at 00.42.00 where Rock Hudson holds Jane Wyman in his arms -- the solo is wonderfully rounded and well balanced with the dialog. During the mass scenes -- for example, the two large parties -- random sounds and noises are also very easy to identify. The dialog is always crisp, clean, stable, and very easy to follow. Lastly, there are no pops, cracks, problematic background hiss, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.

All That Heaven Allows Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - film scholars John Mercer (Melodrama: Genre, Style, Sensibility) and Tamar Jeffers-McDonald discuss the romantic relationship between Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson's characters, the unique use of color throughout the film, Douglas Sirk's careful framing, the social overtones in the film, the key conflicts in the film, the different reviews the film received, etc. The audio commentary was recorded exclusively for Criterion in 2014.

• Trailer - original trailer for All That Heaven Allows. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Rock Hudson's Home Movies (1992) - a fascinating documentary focusing on Rock Hudson's sexuality and celebrity status narrated by filmmaker Mark Rappaport (Mozart in Love, From the Journals of Jean Seberg). The documentary features a large collection of clips from films with Rock Hudson and some archival stills. In English, not subtitled. (64 min, 1080i).

• Behind the Mirror: A Profile of Douglas Sirk - presented here are interview excerpts from the 1979 BBC documentary Behind the Mirror: A Profile of Douglas Sirk. The legendary director discusses the socio-political climate in Germany after Hitler's rise to power, his work in Holland and consequently in Hollywood, his collaboration with Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson on Magnificent Obsessions and All That Heaven Allows, the visual style of the latter, etc. In English, not subtitled. (58 min, 1080i).

• Contract Kid: William Reynolds on Douglas Sirk - in this featurette, actor William Reynolds, who played Cary Scott's son in All That Heaven Allows, discusses his acting career and the various films he made with Douglas Sirk. William Reynolds started his career at Paramount, where he was discovered by the great director William Wyler (Ben-Hur, Roman Holiday). The featurette was produced by Robert Fischer for Fiction Factory. In English, not subtitled. (24 min, 1080i).

• Cinema cinemas - presented here is an archival interview with director Douglas Sirk, directed by Pascal Thomas, which originally aired on the April 14, 1982, episode of the French television program Cinema cinemas. The director discusses the importance of light and shadow in his films, the camera movement and the manner in which faces are captured in his films, the crucial role music has in his films, his cutting/editing preferences, etc. A good portion of the footage was shot in Lugano, Switzerland. In English, with printed French subtitles. (16 min, 1080i).

• Booklet - 20-page illustrated booklet featuring: "An Articulate Screen" by Laura Mulvey (the author is professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck College, University of London) and "Fassbinder on All That Heaven Allows" (the text was excerpted from a piece the great German director wrote for the February 1971 issue of the journal Fernsehen und Film).

All That Heaven Allows Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Criterion's upcoming release of director Douglas Sirk's classic melodrama All That Heaven Allows is guaranteed to appear on my Top 10 list at the end of the year. As far as I am concerned, it is every bit as impressive as the label's recent releases of Dino Risi's Il Sorpasso and Ingmar Bergman's Persona. Recently restored in 2K, All That Heaven Allows looks simply spectacular on Blu-ray. The upcoming release also comes with an outstanding selection of supplemental features. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.