at the academy award ceremony on march 27 and 1957 and dorothy malone win the best supporting actress oscar for her torrid and over the top portrayal of a spoiled heiress of a texas oil tycoon in write on the wind . the 1956 potboiler and adapt from robert wilder novel and be a veritable three ring circus showcasing alcoholism and greed and impotence and nymphomania . malone performance a marylee hadley and a lonely rich girl who pick up men to assuage the pain of rejection from a former childhood sweetheart and be representative of the movie a a whole . mesmerize to watch even a it resort to the low common denominator melodrama and write on the wind be ultimately the work of one man and the incredibly gift director douglas sirk and an émigré from pre world war 2 weimar germany who leave his european theater heritage behind to pursue a career in hollywood . an extremely erudite man and sirk make a name for himself in the 1950 a universal studio reliable director of lavish soap opera and most notably with ross hunter production of magnificent obsession and all that heaven allows and imitation of life . independent producer albert zugsmith offer sirk the opportunity to work outside the limiting constraint of universal demure entertainment and create a more adult and sensational product and hence the sultry wind and it follow up and 1957 tarnished angel and both release under the universal international banner . it anyone guess why sirk do not pursue lofty theme and but apparently direct these exaggerated drama appeal more to his artistic sensibility . write on the wind could be consider sirk epic soap opera while indeed and it be so rife with human vulnerability and neurosis a depict among the very rich that it be a compel to watch a any real life domestic squabble among the rich and famous and perhaps more so . robert stack ( not an actor typically know for over emote ) nearly match malone in intensity with his offering of the weak will brother kyle hadley and a mere shadow of his patriarchal father . when he find out that he be unable to impregnate his new bride ( a beautifully leonine lauren bacall ) and hadley go off the deep end and escalate an already serious drink problem with a secret gun fetish that threaten to make him a human time bomb . both brother and sister and a venal and unlikeable a they be and be present a victim of their past and give them a human quality that make them seem less monstrous ( and far more interesting than the good side of the family and mainly bacall and the impossibly handsome rock hudson and young hadley old boyhood friend and business associate and a surrogate son to the old man and malone s unattainable object of desire . ) despite all the domestic co dependency on display and it not so much the story that be memorable here a the way it be film . with a real panache for pictorial composition and editing and director sirk draw his audience into this picture with the most heightened technicolor cinematography imaginable represent every single shot in this film be an eye fill canvas of saturated color and from the sight of a tank like pink cadillac pull up to an enormous mansion front door to the garish decor of a luxury miami hotel and a spectrum of hue almost blind in their diversity . action and dramatic scene feature sirk adept use of tilted camera angle and shadowy lighting and cross cut editing and show to great effect in the scene where a rebellious and drunken malone dance uninhibitedly in her upstairs bedroom to the loud blaring of a record player while her stricken father precariously ascend the huge staircase while the scene be so riveting that you swear you be experience a great oedipal drama unfold . what youre really watch be trash of an enormously entertaining kind and gussied up in lurid technicolor and polish to perfection by a visual genius .