Desiderio di donna

Barbara Stanwyck gives this early Douglas Sirk-directed, Universal-produced soap just the kick that it needs. Not nearly as memorable as Sirk's later melodramas, it's easy to see by watching "All I Desire" where Sirk would be heading artistically in the next few years. Stanwyck is a showgirl who returns to her family in smalltown, U.S.A, after deserting them a decade earlier. Her family and community have mixed emotions in dealing with her shocking return. Some of the cinematography is amazing, and Stanwyck is tough-as-nails and really gives this film a shot of energy. Overall, a fairly good show.

"All I Desire" from 1953 is a drama from Douglas Sirk, filmed in black and white and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Carlson, Maureen O'Sullivan, Lori Nelson, Lyle Bettger, Billy Gray, and Marcia Henderson.

Stanwyck plays an actress, Naomi Murdoch, who at this point in her life, isn't very successful. Some years earlier she was living in a small town and left her husband and chldren. The family maid keeps her posted on how everyone is doing.

One of her daughters, Lily (Nelson) is an aspiring actress who is going to be appearing in her high school play. She invites her mother, who is encouraged by the woman sharing her dressing room to attend.

With some new outfits, she comes back into town with much hoopla. Her older daughter (Henderson) isn't happy to see her; her son (Gray) really doesn't remember her; and her husband wonders what she's doing in town.

It doesn't take long to find out why Naomi left town - she was seeing a man Dutch Heinemann (Bettger) and got out before there was too much of a scandal. Now that she's back, her husband (Carlson) realizes that he still loves her, and she him. He wants her to stay. Lily wants her mother to take her to New York. And Dutch wants to pick up where they left off.

Good film about small town nosiness and gossip with a wonderful performance by Stanwyck, who really drives the film. This is from Universal Studios, so frankly, she's really the only true star in the movie and lacks the usual Sirk touch of color.

The musical score is overwrought and very distracting.

This film is about fighting for what you want, following your heart, and realizing the true meaning of success. "All I Desire" brings home these themes very well.

Saw this film yesterday for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a student of screen writing and I loved the way the minor characters intervened just when something pivotal/climatic happened in a scene.

I thought the dialogue was very sharp and the premise of story is rather shocking - at one particular point Barbara Stanwyck is openly flirting with her daughter's boyfriend; AND rekindling some passion in her husband whom she hasn't seen in ten years; AND with the gunshot signal 'two shots and then one' she hooks up with her old shag mate Dutch (the reason she left town in the first place!) ALL AT THE SAME TIME! The moral majority must have been totally incensed when they saw this flick back in the 50's.

Love the costumes and cinematography and the straight from the hip dialogue - just to watch Barbara Stanwyck and Co doing the 'Bunny Hug' is good enough reason to rent this film on DVD.

One of the best films from that period I've seen in a long time.

Douglas Sirk was the prince of melodrama in the fifties.However,there are two kinds of melodramas in his work :the extravaganzas ("Imitation of life" which nearly cut Stahl's version,"written on the wind" "magnificent obsession" ) and the intimate dramas which verge on realism: "all that heaven allows" or "tarnished angels" are good examples.When he connects all the links of the chain ,he produces his masterpiece ,the overlooked "a time to love and a time to die" .

"All I desire " belongs to the second kind of melodrama;its story is simple -but that kind of simplicity ,it takes years and years of practise and a touch of genius to make it work.Barbara Stanwyck -excellent- is the black sheep of the family,the mean woman who walked out on her family and what a nice family they are!In the small town where her husband is a principal in a high school ,people will talk.And there's the prodigal woman's erstwhile beau.

(Re)building of a family was one of Sirk's main permanent features: Hudson and Wyman in "ALL that heavens" and "magnificent obsession" ,Sarah Jane and her mother's friends in "imitation of life" .

Although not in the same class as Douglas Sirk's major melodramas, "All I Desire" has many of the traits that would be developed in these later works. As such it is essential viewing for fans of Sirk's films. His use of color is legendary so much is lost by this being filmed in black and white, the result of a tight fisted Universal Studios.

Fans of Barbara Stanwyk should not miss it either. Stanwyk is one of a handful of actresses who simply never gave a weak performance. Under the direction of the likes of Wilder or Sirk, she's a compelling screen presence. Sirk had great admiration for Stanwyk calling her "one of the best in town". He used her a few years later in "There's Always Tomorrow" which remains his greatest unrecognised opus. There his criticism of the American family values is particularly cutting, whereas "All I Desire" has an altogether more forgiving view of small town narrow mindedness.

Sirks films are always worth watching. They are extremely well crafted with each shot carefully thought out. Nothing is left to chance. Those who dismiss the melodrama as an inferior genre would do well to take a close look at his body of work. "All I Desire" makes a good starting point.