The movie "Deep Lock Spring Light A House of Sorrows / Everything Heaven Allows / Spring Sorrows All That Heaven Allows" (1955) American Standard Collection The Criterion Collection Blu-ray Edition Cover
In the 1950s, when the other side of the ocean was about to set off a new wave of cinema under the banner of "author films", and its influence had not yet spread to the United States, American audiences, especially female audiences, were obsessed with a genre of films called "Hollywood melodrama".
German-Hollywood director Douglas Sirk (1897-1987) somehow pioneered the genre. "Melodrama" is a narrative genre that combines drama and music in the precise sense, but is sometimes described only as a "popular romantic story".
Director Douglas Sirk (second from right) passed on his rich culture to the main cast in the film Deep Locks in Spring (1955): Jane Wyman (second from left), Rock Hudson Hudson (first from left) and Agnes Moorehead (first from right)
The emotional protagonists in the story are always oppressed by the unfair social environment with bad morals.
Douglas Seck's 13 Hollywood films were mostly commercially successful, and they also made a number of big stars in Hollywood, such as Lauren Bacall (1924-2014), Jane Wyman (1917-2007), and Rock Hudson (1925-1985).
Critics in the 1950s called these films "trivial" and "pretentious," equating them with "tear-jerking dramas" and "women's bitter love scenes."
Stills from the film Deep Locks in the SpringLight (1955), Jane Wyman (right) and Agnes Moorehead (left)
By the 1970s, however, critics had developed a highly conscious academic respect for genre films by revisiting the work of Douglas Seck. Critics are beginning to realize that the 1950s melodrama was in fact a strong subversive effect on the dominant ideology.
Douglas Seck's 1954 "Magnificent Obsession" and 1955's "Deep Lock spring light a house of sorrow / Everything Heaven Allows / Spring Sorrow All That Heaven Allows" are outstanding masterpieces in this regard, both of which have the high sensitivity and ingenious metaphorical technique of the 1950s genre films to class, gender, and race.
The Film Magicficent Obsession (1954) is the DVD cover of the American Standard Collection The Criterion Collection, and it is also the first collaboration between Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson
Douglas Seck's film titles have been translated so classically and poetically, such as "Deep Lock Spring Light And a House of Sorrows", "Bitter Rain Loves Spring Wind / Spring Wind and Autumn Rain / Written on the Wind" (1956), "Heaven and Earth Are Old", which is related to the content and aesthetic qualities of Douglas Seck's films, Douglas Seck is good at shooting family dramas and love dramas.
The great director's outstanding artistic talent was once overlooked, and he was even less related to the Oscar Film Festival, but when people began to discover the artistry of his films, he faded out of the film world.
Douglas Seck's fans are masters such as Reiner Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982), Martin Scorsese, Pedro Almodóvar, Quentin Tarantino, quentin Tarantino, and others.
Douglas Seck's works are mostly entertaining romance films, known for lyricism and depiction of musical atmosphere. He once said, "Things develop dialectically." There is only one step between high art and garbage art, and those paranoid garbage art have the characteristics of close to high art. ”
Stills from the movie "Deep Lock Spring Light A Courtyard Sorrow" (1955).
1955's "Deep Locks in the Spring Light" belonged to a kind of Hollywood genre that was ignored by critics at the time, and the audience of this type of film was those "deeply resentful women" who did nothing all day.
Time has passed, and today the film is recognized as the closest work to Douglas Seck's dialectical artistic philosophy, and is a masterpiece of his personal career.
German director Reiner Werner Fassbinder's Angst essen Seele auf (1974) is a remake of Deep Locks in the Spring.
The German version of the movie "Fear Devours the Soul/Fear Erodes Life Angst essen Seele Auf" (1974), this exotic love between young and old is more cold and real
"Deep Lock Spring Light A Courtyard Sorrow" tells the story of an elegant and noble widow Li Er (played by Jane Wyman) who fell in love with the young and handsome gardener Rong (played by Locke Hudson), the difference in identity makes this love hindered, first by the exclusion of the upper class circle, and then by the opposition of the children, for the sake of the children, Li Er gave up this love, but finally found that the children have their own lives, they are selfish and do not care about her feelings, and after the awakening, Li Er finally came together with her beloved.
The film undoubtedly reflects that the love gap brought about by class and identity is so deep, as a Hollywood melodrama, first of all, the hero and heroine are perfect, although Li Er is a mother with two adult children, she is still beautiful and elegant, and the young gardener Rong played by Locke Hudson not only has a handsome appearance, but also is enthusiastic, free and dares to take responsibility. Their love, though hindered, is still romantic.
"Fear Devours The Soul" is very different, the heroine is a cleaner, old and fading, the boyfriend is a foreign worker, in Germany with a strong sense of national superiority, foreign workers are simply not human.
Stills from the film Angst essen Seele auf (1974) from the film Fear Eats The Soul
The union of two people is destined to be suppressed by the cold social environment around them, and neighbors and children will change their attitudes towards them because of the problem of interests, so their love is not only not romantic, but extremely miserable, and the selfishness of their children also has a coldness that penetrates through the marrow. This is the biggest difference in style between the two films.
"Deep Locks in the Spring Light" is regarded as the most representative of The Douglas Seck style, the color is extremely exquisite, on an autumn afternoon, the sun sprinkles on the golden leaves, in the beautiful garden of the Li Er family, the two people feel good about each other. It was a beautiful scene.
And the gardener Rong's place of residence is more beautiful, the trees spread over the mountains, the stream is muddy, and there is a log cabin, which is simply a fairy tale world. The winter scenery is also beautiful, and a beautiful deer adds a stronger fairytale flavor to the story.
The film uses light poles to have a sense of layering, dramatic light is completely different from Hollywood, and a bit like German expressionism, indoor shooting often has several light zones, and the color contrast of each light zone is relatively large, in addition to creating a strong lyrical atmosphere, it is also a reminder to the audience that this is not a real story, but a fairy tale.
Stills from the movie Deep Lockdown Spring (1955), Rock Hudson
In the winter cabin, the outdoor is full of snow, cold light, indoors is warm colors, the two people stand in front of the window to look out the window, a deer hurriedly jumped in front of the window, the pure and beautiful scene. Douglas Seck favors such scenes, as does Earth And Heaven Can't Love.
At the beginning of the film, Li Er is dressed up at the dresser for the social dinner in Stoningham, and the vase next to the table is inserted with branches that the gardener gave her earlier, as a way to show the aroused lust of Li Er, which is reflected in the previous paragraph.
In an elaborate shot, the child appears in the mirror and then straddles the mother and the vase, and as the camera pulls back, Li Er walks backward towards her children.
This shot hints at the dilemma that Lilly will have to face in the rest of the film, which is typical of Douglas Seck's style. The mirrors and screens in the film have symbolic colors, and the relationship between the characters and the psychology of the characters are described through the language of the lens.
In showing the difference between the two classes, through two dances to show, the hypocrisy and sincerity of the characters, simplicity and luxury, of course, also create the inner rhythm of the film.
The film has a clear intention, showing the contradiction and conflict between life outlook, values and love. The first is class contradictions. The upper class and the inferior commoners coexist in the world, seemingly developing harmoniously, but each forming a circle of life, and there are irreconcilable differences in the relationship between them.
This concept has been formed since slave society, and with the development of society, it has developed more solidly. Of course, individuals despise it, they cannot change it, and they have to express their views through art forms such as literature, drama, and film.
This is the main reason why everyone opposes their marriage in the film. The second is ethical contradiction. It is unethical for an older woman to fall in love with a young man. This law exists to a greater or lesser extent in China and other countries. Of course, it is not as sharp and intense as the previous contradiction, and people can give more tolerance, but they will still unconsciously have a different vision.
Stills from the film Deep Locks in the Spring (1955), Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson
It was the signature work of Douglas Seck at the final turning point of his ill-fated career. Because of the success of previous years's "Heaven and Earth", Universal gave him enough money and freedom to better use his mature style to the extreme.
"Deep Locks in the Spring Light" contains all the characteristics of Douglas Seck's works: light, shadow, color, lens angle, plus the signature use of mirrors to divide the frame.
During the studio era, the color schemes created by Hollywood suddenly appeared so electrically saturated (and color-separated) that today no advanced digital technology can replicate them.
Stills version poster for the movie "Deep Lock Spring Light One Courtyard Sorrow" (1955).
In the film Deep Locks in a House of Sorrows, Douglas Seck and his great director of photography, Russell Metty (1906-1978), who collaborated to create a genre example of a 1950s sitcom, cast a prison for the widowed protagonist Lilly in the suburbs, using colorful film-like bright images like candy.
At the time, Universal was concerned about placing Jane Wyman and Locke Hudson at the center of the old woman and boy version of the love story. Jane Wyman was past her heyday, her recent divorce from Ronald Reagan (1911-2004, later the 40th president of the United States), and fears that her future career would be spent in those soap operas, so she was more than happy to work with Locke Hudson.
Jane Whiteman Jane Wyman's ex-husband, Ronald Reagan, 40th President (1981–1988, 49th and 50th President)
Jane Wyman and Locke Hudson's rivalry on the screen is full of sparks, which can be called "a golden wind and jade dew, but more than countless in the world", in the complex inner world of the characters, almost impeccable.
A simple love between men and women becomes impermanent because of the shackles of social identity, status, age, and traditional morality. Rich widows fall in love with young gardeners, whether in small American towns half a century ago when they were conservative in their thinking, or in modern society with materialistic desires and free and open ideas.
The concept of the times has changed, but in fact, the impact and blow on the hearts of the parties concerned have remained unchanged. Douglas Seck uses strong colors and chapter-style narrative techniques to criticize the traditional conservative but hypocritical and vulgar middle-class social circles in the town, and in the era of television and the Internet, large and small gatherings have almost become the best way for people to entertain, and they have also made gossip more lethal than in any other era.
Jane Wyman falls in love with Locke Hedson, and although it is not as shocking as Yang Guo and The Little Dragon Girl, it is enough to make the town uproar, and even the ostensibly enlightened daughter and son are strongly opposed.
Jane Wyman is in a helpless position, the tug-of-war between love and social approval is never a game of equal strength, and Douglas Seck shows the vagaries of the widow's mentality and the ups and downs of emotions through the use of light and shadow in the fluorescent screen.
In a scene where the two meet at the Rock Hedson Cottage, Jane Wyman is hampered by the pressure and bondage of morality, and the sweet sense of love is quickly replaced by cold pain, turning from the warm and yellow fire into the darkness, and the side light casts a dividing line between light and dark on her, symbolizing her inner pain.
From the current point of view, Locke Hudson's role in the play seems to be more led by Jane Wyman, who is hesitant about this relationship than Jane Wyman. Douglas Seck interprets his usual sense of invisible violence and tragedy through light and shadow, and it is no wonder that Reiner Werner Fassbinder is also impressed by him.
At the end of the film, Locke Hudson wakes up from his slump from his coma and clasps the hands of Jane Wyman, who is finally desperate for love, far more meaningful than having Jane Wyman wait for Locke Hudson, who does not know when he will wake up, and accelerates the helplessness and impermanence.
But even if Douglas Seck had such courage, he would eventually be ruined by Hollywood's commercial-first scissors for the cookie-cutter Happy Ending.
At that time, Hollywood began to develop new art complexes and color technology in order to compete with television, and movies began to counterattack with pornography as a selling point. Under pressure, the Hayes Code had to relax the restrictions slightly and make modest corrections, all of which occurred at the time of the release of Douglas Seck's Bitter Rain and Spring Wind.
Since "Deep Lockdown Spring" was not very good at the box office in the market, investors and producers asked Douglas Seck to put more sexual content in "Bitter Rain and Spring Wind" to attract those male audiences back to the theater.
Stills from the movie Bitter Rain Loves Spring Wind / Spring Wind and Autumn Rain / Written on the Wind (1956).
The sexual content shown in 1956 of "Bitter Rain and Spring Wind" is even more than the explicit sexual scenes of today. Subsequently, the newspaper published the following headline: "'Bitter Rain and Spring Wind' is by far the most frank film." ”
For the "authors" and "structuralists", Douglas Seck's masterful use of cinematic language has made it surpass the Hollywood set system; "feminists" have called them "life film directors" because of the female protagonists (prominent positions) in their films, as well as the plot of lustful, privatized scenes and family spaces. His style of work has been imitated by the film industry in various countries.
Critics of the Film Handbook, as far away as France, affirmed Douglas Seck's work as a new aesthetic standard. They highly value "cinematic language above the meticulous plot, the symbolism of the star above its complex character personality, and the meaning conveyed through scene scheduling above the literary quality of the script." ”
Today's critics read in Douglas Seck's royal male protagonist, Locke Hudson, a tacit text that contains bisexual orientation and ambiguous emotions far more than appearances. Although "Deep Locks in the Spring Light" has a happy ending on the surface, this "reunion" is intertwined with more of a "Douglas Seckian satire" of the characterization of the brushstroke.
The movie "Deep Locks in the Spring Light of a House of Sorrows / Everything Heaven Allows / Spring Sorrows All That Heaven Allows" (1955) American DVD edition cover
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