User reviews

Although not in the same class as Douglas Sirk's major melodramas, "All I Desire" has many of the traits that would be developed in these later works. As such it is essential viewing for fans of Sirk's films. His use of color is legendary so much is lost by this being filmed in black and white, the result of a tight fisted Universal Studios.

Fans of Barbara Stanwyk should not miss it either. Stanwyk is one of a handful of actresses who simply never gave a weak performance. Under the direction of the likes of Wilder or Sirk, she's a compelling screen presence. Sirk had great admiration for Stanwyk calling her "one of the best in town". He used her a few years later in "There's Always Tomorrow" which remains his greatest unrecognised opus. There his criticism of the American family values is particularly cutting, whereas "All I Desire" has an altogether more forgiving view of small town narrow mindedness.

Sirks films are always worth watching. They are extremely well crafted with each shot carefully thought out. Nothing is left to chance. Those who dismiss the melodrama as an inferior genre would do well to take a close look at his body of work. "All I Desire" makes a good starting point.

Barbara Stanwyck gives this early Douglas Sirk-directed, Universal-produced soap just the kick that it needs. Not nearly as memorable as Sirk's later melodramas, it's easy to see by watching "All I Desire" where Sirk would be heading artistically in the next few years. Stanwyck is a showgirl who returns to her family in smalltown, U.S.A, after deserting them a decade earlier. Her family and community have mixed emotions in dealing with her shocking return. Some of the cinematography is amazing, and Stanwyck is tough-as-nails and really gives this film a shot of energy. Overall, a fairly good show.

Douglas Sirk was the prince of melodrama in the fifties.However,there are two kinds of melodramas in his work :the extravaganzas ("Imitation of life" which nearly cut Stahl's version,"written on the wind" "magnificent obsession" ) and the intimate dramas which verge on realism: "all that heaven allows" or "tarnished angels" are good examples.When he connects all the links of the chain ,he produces his masterpiece ,the overlooked "a time to love and a time to die" .

"All I desire " belongs to the second kind of melodrama;its story is simple -but that kind of simplicity ,it takes years and years of practise and a touch of genius to make it work.Barbara Stanwyck -excellent- is the black sheep of the family,the mean woman who walked out on her family and what a nice family they are!In the small town where her husband is a principal in a high school ,people will talk.And there's the prodigal woman's erstwhile beau.

(Re)building of a family was one of Sirk's main permanent features: Hudson and Wyman in "ALL that heavens" and "magnificent obsession" ,Sarah Jane and her mother's friends in "imitation of life" .

Absolutely love Barbara Stanwyck and consider her one of the best actresses of her generation. She is/was one of the few to seldom give a bad performance despite being in some very patchy films early on in her career. Have much admiration for Douglas Sirk, another director that explored very real and difficult subjects and conflicts and not in a toned down fashion. Some films of his are better than others, one of my favourites of his being 'Imitation of Life', but there is a good deal to admire about all his films.

1953's 'All I Desire' is no exception. It is not a great film in my view, and both Stanwyck and Sirk did better films in their careers (though individually both fare very well). Like much of Sirk's output, there is a lot to admire about 'All I Desire' that outweigh the not so good things which sadly are present. Fans of Stanwyck are not likely to be disappointed, despite it not being one of her best there is plenty here that made her such a good actress.

Will start with the good things. Regardless of what one thinks of whether the period is well established, 'All I Desire' still looks great in its own way. It is beautifully photographed, at its best quite lavish without being overblown, and it's well designed. The music is often hauntingly beautiful without being over-intrusive or too syrupy. The film is sensitively directed by Sirk, in an understated but never disengaged way, his trademark touches obvious especially in his themes and the realistic way his characters are treated.

Enough of the dialogue is thought-provoking and poignant and the story also has emotional impact and doesn't shy away from its approach to the subject without being too ham-handed. Most of the performances are fine, Stanwyck was a wonderful actress and her steel and vulnerability is abundantly clear. Once he warmed up, after starting off uncomfortable, Richard Carlson actually to me did a mostly good job. Lori Nelson, once one warms to the character, and Maureen O'Sullivan are lovely support, though O'Sullivan could have had more to do. One can argue that it is hard to care for the characters and fair enough, but this is a situation where likeability would not have been as realistic.

Lyle Bettger is however a complete blank and lacks any kind of charisma or intensity in my opinion. The dialogue can get overwrought and soapy.

Did find the final quarter too heavy on the melodrama and really do have to agree with everybody that has panned the very jarring and tacked on ending that absolutely reeks of studio interference.

Summing up, good enough but not great. 7/10

A failed actress returns to the family, the lover and the small town she abandoned years earlier and sets tongues wagging anew. Does it rank up there with ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS or IMITATION OF LIFE? No, not really. It all wraps up too neatly (the "happy" ending was forced by the producer), Lyle Bettger has the charisma of a toilet brush (why would Barbara Stanwyck ever fall for this lummox?) and it's pointlessly set in the early part of the century. The only rationale I can think of for the latter is that Stanwyck's lack of success would be harder to keep a secret in modern times, but it takes the edge off and makes the whole thing a bit too quaint. However, it's not really a dud, either. It's a tight script, Stanwyck is riveting as always, and Sirk's eye for brilliant framing is hard at work. It makes for a quick, easy watch with some slight subversiveness in its commentary on small town gossip and hypocrisy.

Barbara Stanwyck plays turn-of-the-century woman who once left behind her husband and children to pursue a career as a stage-actress; now she's back, at least temporarily, to attend her daughter's graduation. Potentially compelling premise is needlessly set in the 1900s (why not adjust the scenario for the modern age? The narrative certainly seems relevant enough). Director Douglas Sirk nearly smothers the proceedings in a rosy, sentimental hue (also needless), though he's a careful, attentive director and gets good performances from his cast (with Stanwyck giving it some grit). Sirk is also wise with the intricate details of story and character, making this an above-average soaper. **1/2 from ****

Barbar Stanwyck, Maureen O'Sullivan, Richard Carlson and Lyle Bettger make up the leading cast in this Ross Hunter-produced and Douglas Sirk-directed film. Stanwyck goes back home to her small town and the family she left behind, after receiving a letter from her oldest daughter, who's starring in a school play and graduating from high school, and who asked her to attend. Stanwyck is an stage actress, but hasn't found much success, and when she hits the small town, gossip flies. Her son just happens to be fishing buddies and best friends with Lyle Bettger, a guy who had an affair with Barbara, before she up and left. And, Miss O'Sullivan is on hand as a love interest for Richard, even though Barbara's new presence puts a fly in their plans. Does he still love Barbara? Does Barbara still love Richard? And, Lyle Bettger is all upset with Barbara for leaving him. That pretty much sets up another melodramatic story, courtesy of Hunter and Sirk.

The only critique or negative thing I have about it, is that it takes itself too seriously too early in the picture and gets really melodramatic really fast, instead of easing into the melodrama, and the dramatic events evolving and complicating their lives. The not-so-subtle score also adds to the dramatics. Bettger and Carlson seem to be overacting, especially Carlson, who appears to be uncomfortable in this movie. (In other words, they and the movie seem to be overdoing it a bit.) But, as we get to the second half and more complications ensue, this begins to find its heart and the dialogue is a lot more believable and realistic. Carlson and Bettger appear to have settled into their roles. Stanwyck is always great, as usual. The only other question is why did Richard Carlson get this role, instead of someone like George Brent or a more charismatic leading actor? But on the whole, you will definitely enjoy this film and be glad you've discovered this unknown melodrama. It can be found on a new Barbara Stanwyck DVD collection out in 2010. I could watch it again right now, and this cold weather makes me want to snuggle in for a nice quiet Saturday afternoon with Barbara Stanwyck. Who could ask for anything more?

Yes, I call this a perfect movie. Not one boring second, a fantastic cast of mostly little known actresses and actors, a great array of characters who are all well defined and who all have understandable motives I could sympathize with, perfect lighting, crisp black and white photography, a fitting soundtrack, an intelligent and harmonious set design and a story that is engaging and works. It's one of those prime quality pictures on which all the pride of Hollywood should rest, the mark everyone should endeavor to reach.

Barbara Stanwyck is simply stunning. There was nothing this actress couldn't do, and she always went easy on the melodramatic side. No hysterical outbursts with this lady - I always thought she was a better actress than screen goddesses like Bette Davis or Joan Crawford, and this movie confirmed my opinion. Always as tough as nails and at the same time conveying true sentiments. It is fair to add that she also got many good parts during her long career, and this one is by far the least interesting.

The title fits this movie very well. It is about desires, human desires I think everyone can understand. Actually, no one seems to be scheming in this movie, all characters act on impulse, everybody wants to be happy without hurting anybody else. The sad fact that this more often than not leads to complications makes for the dramatic content into which I will not go here.

I liked what this movie has to say about youth, about maturing and about the necessity to compromise. The movie I associate most with this one is Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, it creates a similar atmosphere of idealized and at the same time caricatured Small Town America. The story has a certain similarity with Fritz Lang's considerably harsher movie Clash by Night, made one year earlier, where Stanywck stars in a similar part. I can also recommend it.

Saw this film yesterday for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a student of screen writing and I loved the way the minor characters intervened just when something pivotal/climatic happened in a scene.

I thought the dialogue was very sharp and the premise of story is rather shocking - at one particular point Barbara Stanwyck is openly flirting with her daughter's boyfriend; AND rekindling some passion in her husband whom she hasn't seen in ten years; AND with the gunshot signal 'two shots and then one' she hooks up with her old shag mate Dutch (the reason she left town in the first place!) ALL AT THE SAME TIME! The moral majority must have been totally incensed when they saw this flick back in the 50's.

Love the costumes and cinematography and the straight from the hip dialogue - just to watch Barbara Stanwyck and Co doing the 'Bunny Hug' is good enough reason to rent this film on DVD.

One of the best films from that period I've seen in a long time.

"All I Desire" from 1953 is a drama from Douglas Sirk, filmed in black and white and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Carlson, Maureen O'Sullivan, Lori Nelson, Lyle Bettger, Billy Gray, and Marcia Henderson.

Stanwyck plays an actress, Naomi Murdoch, who at this point in her life, isn't very successful. Some years earlier she was living in a small town and left her husband and chldren. The family maid keeps her posted on how everyone is doing.

One of her daughters, Lily (Nelson) is an aspiring actress who is going to be appearing in her high school play. She invites her mother, who is encouraged by the woman sharing her dressing room to attend.

With some new outfits, she comes back into town with much hoopla. Her older daughter (Henderson) isn't happy to see her; her son (Gray) really doesn't remember her; and her husband wonders what she's doing in town.

It doesn't take long to find out why Naomi left town - she was seeing a man Dutch Heinemann (Bettger) and got out before there was too much of a scandal. Now that she's back, her husband (Carlson) realizes that he still loves her, and she him. He wants her to stay. Lily wants her mother to take her to New York. And Dutch wants to pick up where they left off.

Good film about small town nosiness and gossip with a wonderful performance by Stanwyck, who really drives the film. This is from Universal Studios, so frankly, she's really the only true star in the movie and lacks the usual Sirk touch of color.

The musical score is overwrought and very distracting.

This film is about fighting for what you want, following your heart, and realizing the true meaning of success. "All I Desire" brings home these themes very well.

Douglas Sirk was just hitting his stride in depicting family melodramas with this 1953 feature, produced like all his later major Universal International Pictures Movies in the 50's by Ross Hunter. Although the period setting of turn of the century America might throw the viewing a little off kilter, the familiar Sirk themes of small-town morality, complicated relationships and inter-family tensions are present and correct here.

Barbara Stanwyck is the formerly disgraced wife and mother of meek-mannered Richard Carlson's school teacher and his three children, all with a different viewpoint of Stanwyck's actions years ago when she left them for a life on the stage after a scandal involving another man about town. When the middle daughter, an aspiring actress, sends her adored and revered mother a request to attend her performance in the annual school play, Stanwyck's character, in truth, a hack journey-woman struggling for work, decides to return to her old hometown, knowing her previous infamy will make her the centre of attraction.

All sorts of dynamics are then played out between Stanwyck, her husband and their children, complicated further when the spurned "other man" returns for another bite at the cherry and even if the ending is perhaps unnecessarily upbeat, it doesn't denigrate too much what has gone before.

La grand dame Barbara is in top form as the conflicted central character around whom the whole action revolves, while most noteworthy in support are her "The Big Valley" future co-star Richard Long as her unforgiving oldest daughter's fiancé, at least until he wears his goofy "big R" college shirt near the end and Lori Nelson as the star-struck younger daughter.

Sirk's fluid camera work, particularly his ability to frame and light a scene as well as coax sympathetic and believable work from his cast are well in evidence here. "All I Desire" may lack the emotional wallop of some of his later films and could have dug a little deeper into some of the motivations and desires on display here but is nevertheless a fine stand-alone watch as well as a telling harbinger of better things to come from the producer-director team setting out here.

Fans of classic and not-so-classic films could ask themselves: did Barbara Stanwyck ever give a bad performance, even in the worst vehicles? The 1953 tear-jerker, "All I Desire" is far from her worst film, although the generic title suggests a lurid melodrama far racier than what is on the screen. Set in the early 20th century, Stanwyck is Naomi Murdoch, a stage actress on the way down. Years earlier, she left husband, family, and a lover behind in a small town to pursue the Broadway lights, but she now has fallen to playing follow-up to trained dog acts. Her family knows nothing of her life or failures, and, when her stage-struck daughter lures her back to attend the young girl's debut in a senior-year theatrical production, Naomi invests her savings in a new wardrobe to impress and returns to her roots.

Faced with rejection by some, curiosity by others, and warmth by a few, Naomi struggles with her fabricated past, rekindled emotions, and an uncertain future. Sounds like the makings of a Ross Hunter-Douglas Sirk melodrama, which it most definitely is. Stanwyck is always credible and fascinating to watch, and she stands out amidst a less than stellar supporting cast. A bland Richard Carlson plays Naomi's abandoned husband, a dull school principal, and lovely Maureen O'Sullivan is wasted in a non-demanding part as Carlson's girlfriend, patiently awaiting matrimony. Based on a 1951 novel, the story is awash in emotion as Naomi meets children she never knew, an aggressive lover she wants to forget, and a homebody husband she still loves.

Carl Guthrie's shadowy black-and-white cinematography is outstanding, and some of the landscapes resemble etchings. The photography also captures the lush interior of a comfortable middle-class home, complete with housekeeper, that isolates the family from any inconveniences other than the unexpected appearance of their mother. Thanks to a fine performance by Stanwyck, a glossy production, and steady direction by Sirk, "All I Desire" is vastly entertaining, a warm comfortable movie for a rainy afternoon.

I caught this by accident on TCM and wow - I was just blown away!!! It amazes me how completely Barbara Stanwyck dominates every scene she is in, regardless of dialog or camera angle. I loved everything about this film, and not least that it was in B&W - which made the early 20th century setting just that hair more believable. I had never seen Richard Carlson before and thought he did a wonderful job. Although some may quibble that the ending is phony or forced on by studio heads, I actually thought it comes across today as quite radical and showing a maturity rarely seen from Hollywood in the 50's.

Barbara Stanwyck as a fading cabaret actress is suddenly summoned by her daughter home to the small privincial town life she deserted many years ago for a family reunion with the husband and two other children she left so long ago for private reasons that gave her no choice. She doesn't want to go, but it's her youngest daughter graduating, so she feels she must, and of course meets with all kinds of traumas as she is confronted with old painful memories, especially as her former husband hasn't been expecting her, she comes as an overwhelming surprise, and her oldest daughter refuses to have anything to do with her.

So this is an extremely sensitive situation, but Douglas Sirk handles it perfectly with care, and so does Barbara Stanwyck and her husband Richard Carlson. It's a psychological drama prying into all kinds of family problems of relationships, but it is beautifully well done. Just for security, Douglas Sirk has included some Chopin and Liszt and Shakespeare and even a recital of Robert Browning, which is something of a highlight. It's Barbara Stanwyck's film, you will melt at all those crises you will face with her, but the only way out is as usual the way through, and there is always another side waiting for you, especially in Douglas Sirk films.

Barbara Stanwyck seemed a little haggard but still managed a fine performance in this Douglas Sirk-directed sudser which preceded his other more famous movies such as "Imitation of Life", "All That Heaven Allows" and "Written on the Wind", among others.

The movie was good, although I thought the only charachters with any life to them were Barbara, Richard Long and Lori Nelson, who portrayed her overly-eager daughter Lily. The other charachters were rather drab, although this is due in large part to the material they were given.

A special added treat to watch for is when Barbara and Richard Long (later playing mother and son in "Big Valley") dance the "Bunny Hug".

This is a very fine 'early' Douglas Sirk romantic Hollywood melodrama. It was his last black and white and modest budgeted one before he splashed into the Technicolor world of MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1954, see my review) the next year, with all the famous films of that kind which followed, and which so stirred the hearts of Middle America. Superb performances in this film by Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Carlson, and Lotte Stern as the maid and housekeeper of the Murdoch family go to make this film something of a classic of its kind, and of course there is Sirk's impeccable direction. The film is based on a novel entitled STOPOVER by Carol Ryrie Brink (1895-1981). It is set in a small town in Wyoming in 1910. Barbara Stanwyk left her husband and children ten years before but has now returned. She meets with a mixed reception. Old passions are aroused, loves and hates start seething, and what will the outcome be? This is a good 'un.

Naomi Murdoch (Barbara Stanwyck) abandoned her husband and children long ago in order to have a life on the stage. Now, many years later (1910), she receives a letter from one of her daughters, Lily, and the letter invited Naomi to see the daughter in some school play. Well, despite everything that has transpired, Naomi heads home...and not unexpectedly the folks in the small town where the family lives all begin talking!

While the film is far from perfect, excellent acting and an interesting plot make this one work. I know, at first, you'll dislike Stanwyck's character and have little interest in her. Stick with it....it improves as you watch it and is a most enjoyable story.

Barbara Stanwyck drowns in suds in this mawkish turn of the century nostalgia piece directed by Douglas Sirk. A hint of Stella Dallas (embarrassing mom) it's an uneven mix of stilted melodrama and hum drum performance that fails to raise the temperature beyond tepid.

Small time chorus girl Naomi Murdoch receives a letter from her youngest daughter asking her to attend a play. Murdoch, who blew town after a major scandal with another guy (Lyle Bettger) has been lying to her about her career but decides to go anyway bringing about a minor eruption to the Murdoch home and staid conservative town always up for gossip.

"Desire" is well framed by Sirk but his characters ring hollow with some preposterous actions to go along with a tacked on happy ending that washes away all that took place before it.

We're a big disappointment to each other, aren't we? You've got a mother with no principles; I've got a daughter with no guts.

Strong dialogue line from the movie All I Desire. Douglas Sirk's film tells the story of a mother who had the courage to abandon her family, a father with two daughters and one son.

Instead of continuing the routine of her life in a stuffy environment with a secret lover, she has started a career as an actress. Following an invitation by one of the daughters to attend a play at school, the mother returns to the provincial town. This daughter dreams of becoming a great actress just like her mother. In reality, her mother is not very successful in the acting world at all.

Stanwyck is a very good actress and in this film she manages to portray her character very humanly, with all her faults.

Good drama movie.