the absolute summum of the oeuvre of that crafty dane douglas sirk ( born detlef sierck ) and write on the wind compel our prurient attention in every gaudy frame . from it justly famous open sequence and with the leaf blow into the baronial foyer of a texas mansion and the wind riffle the page of the calendar into a flashback and the movie compress into it 99 minute all the familial intrigue that be to fuel such later and little screen knockoff a dallas and dynasty and falcon crest over their year long runs . the combination of wealth and dysfunction be a theme american and in our dollar base society and find irresistible . brother and sister robert stack and dorothy malone be the spoiled and troubled heir to the hadly oil fortune while boyhood chum rock hudson and new bride lauren bacall be the sane outsider who try to keep the lid on the roiling cauldron . ( it be rumor that the story be base on libby holmann marriage into reynolds tobacco money . ) a always and the misfit get all the scenery to chew and the best line to spit out ( malone and in her oscar nabbing performance a the boozing nymphomaniac with a jones for hudson and get to detonate a whole firework display of them ) . hudson and while good and can not compete with all this over the top emoting while bacall start out strong but grow recessive and a mere plot convenience . no matter while with a succession of set piece shot in extravagant hue and sirk give an object lesson in how to turn out overwrought melodrama set in the lush consumer paradise of late 50 america . nobody ever do it well .