Tonight's Movie: All I Desire (1953) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

ALL I DESIRE (1953) is one of a pair of Barbara Stanwyck marital melodramas now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

The other film, THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW (1956), was reviewed here in September.  Both movies were directed by Douglas Sirk.  

I hadn't seen ALL I DESIRE since 2010 and enjoyed giving it a fresh look after so many years.  It features a top cast in a thought-provoking story.

The screenplay by James Gunn and Robert Blees, adapted by Gina Kaus from the Carol Ryrie Brink novel STOPOVER, tells the tale of Naomi Murdoch (Stanwyck), who abandoned her husband Henry (Richard Carlson) and three children in small-town Wisconsin in order to pursue her dream of life on the stage.

Naomi has been gone a decade when she receives a letter from her daughter Lily (Lori Nelson, who passed away last summer) asking her to come home for Lily's senior class play.

Naomi's career has never amounted to much and she's struggling financially, but she impulsively decides to spend her savings on upgrading her wardrobe and returns home, giving the impression she's a successful theatrical star.

Lily is thrilled to see her long-lost mother, while Henry and oldest daughter Joyce (Marcia Henderson) are stunned.  Joyce harbors bitterness over her mother's abandonment, which pushed family responsibilities on Joyce at a young age, while the surprised Henry gradually warms up to the idea that Naomi is back in their lives.

Youngest son Ted (Billy Gray) is ambivalent, but rises to his mother's defense when she's attacked by her one-time flame Dutch (Lyle Bettger), with whom she was having an extramarital romance before leaving town years before.

 

It's a rather somber yet engrossing story of a deeply flawed woman, who -- perhaps initially pushed by financial necessity -- struggles to rebuild relationships.  She ultimately seems to be genuinely recommitted to her family, but there were definitely questions left in my mind about whether she could ever be truly happy with any choice she made; that said, the financially stark, lonely future awaiting her living on her own was doubtless a powerful motivator toward reconciliation.

The scripting and depictions of the daughters struck me as particularly realistic. Joyce is resentful and wary of being wounded; she's so tightly wound that at times she inadvertently takes her tension out on her charming fiance, Russ (Richard Long).  She gradually unbends toward him, if not her mother, but one wonders if a thaw might be coming there as well.

The younger Lily, on the other hand, has concocted a dream image of her mother, excusing her behavior and even wanting to emulate her.  She imagines her mother giving her a start in a theatrical career, not realizing that rather than being a great lady of the dramatic stage, her mother is playing the lower half of vaudeville bills, if she's lucky enough to be employed.

Carlson is quite good as a man still quietly carrying a torch for his wife despite having had to weather the scandal of Naomi's abandonment and raise his children alone.  I think I appreciated his performance more on this viewing.  One hopes that Naomi will prove worthy of his trust.

Maureen O'Sullivan is fine in a small role as a teacher who loves but cannot have Henry, a fact she's smart enough to recognize.  Her attempt to smooth the way for Naomi and Henry to resume their marriage, because she wants Henry to be happy, is touching.

  

The film was beautifully shot in black and white by Carl Guthrie, with many of Sirk's trademark views looking at characters through doors and windows.

As I noted in 2010, the film somewhat foreshadows Sirk's great ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1956), examining the impact of both children and society on their mother's love life.  It's an engrossing and worthwhile 80 minutes.

Back in 2005 I linked to a Jeanine Basinger essay on ALL I DESIRE and THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW, and it seems appropriate to share it again, given that both titles were jointly released on Blu-ray.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray features a commentary by the always-interesting Imogen Sara Smith and the trailer.  A trailer gallery for half a dozen additional films available from Kino Lorber is also included.

For those who enjoy the work of Douglas Sirk, another of his films, TAZA, SON OF COCHISE (1954), was released by Kino Lorber earlier in 2020 and reviewed here last summer.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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