Friday, March 7, 2025 - 6:00 pm
March 7 - All That Heaven Allows (1955), 89 minutes, directed by Douglas Sirk, starring Rock Hudson, Jane Wyman, and Agnes Moorehead.
All That Heaven Allows was a follow-up to Magnificent Obsession (1954), complete with the same stars and director. But in the subsequent years, it is All That Heaven Allows, not Magnificent Obsession, that has emerged as one of filmdom’s great melodramas. Wealthy small town widow Cary (Jane Wyman) begins a romance with her hunky younger arborist Ron (Hudson), causing a town scandal as she dares to break away from the expectations of her sex, age, and social class. Sumptuously filmed by visual master Douglas Sirk, All That Heaven Allows inspired Rainer Fassbinder and Todd Haynes to riff on its ageless themes of forbidden love and social prejudice in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) and Far From Heaven (2002).
March 2025 CinemaLit - Rock Hudson Centennial
Two points emerge immediately when considering Rock Hudson. One was that he was exceedingly good looking. The other was that his tragic death at 59 after an AIDS diagnosis, alongside the revelation of his homosexuality, was front page news. These facts obscure something else about Hudson: He was a fine actor who was at home in multiple genres. CinemaLit is devoting March to honoring him at the centennial of his birth with three of his strongest films.
Rock Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois in 1925 to working-class parents. He took an interest in acting in high school, but he often forgot his lines and had little stage presence. After serving in the Navy as an aircraft mechanic in World War II, Roy moved to Los Angeles to follow his acting dream. Hudson’s good looks got him the attention of talent scout Henry Willson, who reinvited Roy Scherer as Rock Hudson. After he received exhaustive training under a contract at Universal-International and apprenticed in a number of supporting roles, he graduated to leading man in 1952 with Scarlet Angel. He moved into the top ranks of stardom with the hit Douglas Sirk melodrama Magnificent Obsession (1954), followed by All That Heaven Allows (1955). Giant (1956), an epic of modern Texas, earned Hudson a Best Actor Oscar nomination, while Written on the Wind (1956), became another major success directed by Sirk.
By this time, Hudson had excelled in dramas, period pieces, westerns, and action-adventure. Nobody expected his great facility for comedy as displayed in Pillow Talk (1959), the first of three phenomenally successful on-screen pairings with Doris Day. Hudson continued to star in dramas and comedies in the 1960s. His star faded late in the decade and into the 1970s as more offbeat and unconventional actors, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, and Al Pacino among others, rose to prominence.
Under an unforgiving media microscope, Hudson died in 1985 of complications from AIDS. That remains an indelible part of his legacy, but March at CinemaLit honors his considerable talent as a film actor. Come see Rock Hudson in All That Heaven Allows on March 7, Pillow Talk on March 21, and Written on the Wind on March 28.
Matthew Kennedy, CinemaLit’s curator, has written biographies of Marie Dressler, Joan Blondell, and Edmund Goulding. His book Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, was the basis of a film series on Turner Classic Movies. His most recent book, On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide, examines the screen legend's entire career.
“I don't have a favorite film,” Matthew says. "I find that my relationships to films, actors, genres, and directors change as I change over the years. Some don't hold up. Some look more profound, as though I've caught up with their artistry. I feel that way about Garbo, Cary Grant, director John Cassavetes, and others."
“Classic films have historical context, something only time can provide,” Matt observes. “They become these great cultural artifacts, so revealing of tastes, attitudes, and assumptions.”
Cafe opens at 5:30 pm with wine, beer, sparkling water, juice, and fresh-popped popcorn for sale.
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