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Community Corner

Magnificent Imitations: The Melodramas of Douglas Sirk at Russell Library

This film discussion series will continue with Written on the Wind, on Tuesday, November 12
at 12 noon in the Hubbard Room at
Russell Library, 123 Broad Street, Middletown. 
Acclaimed Hollywood director Douglas Sirk defined the movie melodrama in
four gorgeous films of the 1950s. Sirk, who began his career directing the work
of Berthold Brecht in Germany, immigrated to America during the rise of
fascism. His lush popular melodramas starring the likes of Jane Wyman, Lana
Turner, and Rock Hudson were dismissed by critics of the time. Since then, they
have been hailed as masterpieces of visual elegance and ironic critique.

In Written
on the Wind
, millionaire playboy Robert Stack’s new wife Lauren Bacall
falls for his down-to-earth friend Rock Hudson. 
At the same time, Dorothy Malone, Stack’s sister, jealously pines for
Hudson.  Will she accuse Hudson of her brother’s
murder to keep him from Bacall? How can this story possibly end happily for
anyone?  This series will conclude with Imitation of Life (Dec. 10). These
movies are over the top, but also under the skin of 1950s America.

Scott Higgins, a film
historian and an Associate Professor of Film Studies at Wesleyan University,
will lead a discussion following each movie. 
Viewers are invited to
bring a sandwich and the library will serve dessert and beverages.  This program is sponsored by The Friends of
the Russell Library.


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