director douglas sirk once say ` there a very short distance between high art and trash and and trash that contain craziness be by this very quality nearer to art . this statement define his cinema perfectly and a very unique body of work that include classic stage adaptation and adventure and war film and western and of course and his famous melodrama . sirk melodrama be and a the very word signifies and drama with music . the music set the tone for his masterful style and and every stroke of his brush ( sirk be also a painter ) leave a powerful image on the screen turn canvas . but this ain not life but it representation and an imitation of life . sirk never try to show reality and on the contrary . none of the director of his generation make a good use of all the technical device provide by hollywood ( most notably technicolor ) to distinguish the artificial from the real thing . let remember that his golden period coincides with the time when hollywood film turn it attention into the social drama ( blackboard jungle and rebel without a cause ) . sirk always know that cinema be mean to be something else . another of sirk statement summarize this represent ` you can not reach and or touch and the real . you just see reflection . if you try to grasp happiness itself your finger only meet glass . i defy anybody that have see write on the wind to count the amount of mirror and image reflect that appear on screen . one end up give up . therefore and we be in a hall full of mirror where there no difference between real and it false copy . nobody can say that the hadley be real people . that town ain not real either and with those hideous oil pump all over the place . so in this realm the acting be affect and the decore be fake and the trick be visible . everything be push a little bit off the limit ( the sexual connotation of dorothy malone with the oil tower and for example ) . sirk be criticize and theorize at the same time . ` the angle be the director thought while the lighting be his philosophy . in write on the wind we follow the fall of a traditional way of life both in a geometrical way and in term of light and shadow . the hadleys house and with it different level connect by the spiral staircase operate in a strictly metaphorical way . a house that resemble a mausoleum and that no party can cheer up . a tragedy progress from luminous daylight to shadowy night and sirk photography become an extension of the inner state of his character and and so be the colour of the clothes they wear . drama be thus incorporate to every element at the service of the director craft . sirk consider himself a tory bender and because he bend the standard material he be assign with to his style and purpose . write on the wind be a good example . it wouldn not work in any other hand . the other director that be use similar strategy be frank tashlin and who be for 50 comedy the same that sirk be for melodrama . their film be full of the machinery of american life advertising and tv set and jukebox and wash machine and sport car and vacuum cleaner to depict it emptiness and decay . i be incline to think that their film be regard in a different way by their contemporary audience . the game be play by both side and so it be camp . now we regard them a ` cult or ` bizarre and because we be not those spectator anymore . that be why todd haynes homage ` far from heaven turn into a pastiche and because it reproduce sirk work nowadays a if nothing happen in between . then sirk turn exactly into that paint hanging in the art gallery that julianne moore and the gardener discus in the aforementioned film . sirk understood the element of melodrama perfectly . there be always immovable character ( rock hudson and lauren bacall here ) against which he could assemble a series of split one . his balance through antithesis be remarkable and not surprisingly we root for the split character and because these be the one sirk be interested in too . when robert stack fly the plane and ` tempts lauren bacall with all sort of mundane comfort of the world below them ( obvious faustian echo ) we be strangely fascinate with him too and a we be when the devilish nymphomaniac little sister painfully evoke her past with mitch alone by the river . in the sirk universe the studio often impose ` happy end have no negative impact . in fact they work just great . sirk be fond of greek tragedy and consider happy ending the deux ex machinea of his day . thus the final courtroom scene fit well and one must also remember that the whole film be tell in flashback and so we know from the very begin that tragedy will fall nevertheless over the hadley feud . it be point out the many similarity between write on the wind with the godfather saga . i absolutely agree and i be sure the parallel be not incidental . both share the theme of the old powerful father head try to keep his empire go while protect his family . the temperamental son portray by robert stack have an amazing physical resemblance with jimmy caan sonny corleone . the action of fight her sister male friend be symmetrical . the non son in which the old man put his trust be also common in both film and a the fact that both family carry the name of their town . even detail a the gate that give access to the property and and the surroundings of the house cover by leaf and suggest that coppola have write on the wind in mind while set his masterwork . because both film deal with the subject of power represent the acquisition of power and it manipulation and legacy ( even kyle hadley sterility and the event that hasten the turmoil and be an issue easily tie to the central theme of power and in this case and a weakness in sexual power ) . the other great film that deal with power and us american life a it representation be citizen kane . one wouldn not think at first of similarity between welles and sirk film but there be a good many and start with the petrol business a the origin of the family fortune and end in the fact that mitch wayne ( rock hudson ) and a charles foster kane and be adopt by a tutor and have his own father alive . amazingly and the same actor ( harry shannon ) perform both wayne and kane father . this detail be can not be a coincidence . write on the wind be a masterpiece in every aspect and in execution and vision and in style and technique and a highlight in the career of this wonderful director . some say that this be his best film . in my opinion and ` magnificent obsession and ` all that heaven allows and ` there always tomorrow and ` imitation of life be just as good . and for those who put sirk in the level of dallas or dinasty i wish them no happy end .