Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Symbolic Trees of Cinema - "All That Heaven Allows" 1955

Douglas Sirk's 50s-era melodramas always do it for me. I love the shiny smooth trappings of upper-middle class existence, always revealing their loveless, shallow core by film's end.

In All That Heaven Allows, well-to-do widow Cary Scott (Jane Wyman--looking all of 38 with those uptight hair curls) falls for her handsome gardener, Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson, as always in the 50s, looking good). Ron lives off the land and could care less about material goods. Cary would love to marry him and live in his quaintly converted barn-house, complete with dappled creek and delicately tip-toeing deer, but alas, her peers and grown children look down on the match and make her feel sleazy for considering a love that dare not speak its name. I am so glad I didn't live in the 50s.

Anyway, Ron's all about trees. He's studying to be an arborist and his favorite book is "Walden Pond." Here, he shows Cary a lovely fir specimen from his yearly crop. Ah, romance!

1 comment:

Mildred Davenport said...

Instead of Cary Scott, one of my most favorite movies from that (or any other) era stars a character named Scott Carey...THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN ('57).

I'm sure there were a number of trees in the movie too, although i'm having trouble remembering any. I do recall him living inside a box of wooden matches at one point, and the matches were probably derived from trees. If i had to guess, i'd say pine trees, due to their light weight and flammable nature.

Mr. MD