Great moments of unintentional comedy

"Alright, I'll make the martinis!"

Oh man.. when Harvey said that I nearly died of laughter. I mean, who says that after a heart-felt (poorly acted) and sincere attempt to persuade you to give Ron a chance? I nearly died from laughter. I should sue.

My favorite line was when Cary actually said, "And you want me to be a man?" after Ron picks her up from the meat shop. Now that audiences know that Rock Hudson had been gay, that whole scene takes on a whole new perspective for today's audiences. I'm pretty sure that the audiences of the 1950s didn't think anything of it, especially since Rock Hudson had been quite the idol back then. But for us as an audiences, knowing what we do now, it's almost hard not to read too much into lines like that.

There are a ton of great articles out there concerning Sirk's work with melodrama. I suggest Barbara Klinger's book, Melodrama and Meaning. It totally gives a different perspective of Sirk's works from the initial "this-is-silly" kind of response of today's audiences. It's really quite interesting how much irony Sirk had intentionally put in his films. An example would be that tacked-on ending with that deer. There really is no sense of fulfillment in this film nor in a few of his other works, and it's sort of Sirk's way of poking fun at the general construction of the melodrama.

I thought Sirk or the screenwriter was trying pretty hard with "theory-girl" to be funny. You gotta remember this film was made for a certain audience in a certain time or era. Society was totally different in the 50's, especially American society. Rock Hudson's character is suppose to be a free-spirit? With his quaint little tree-growing business and the converted rustic millhouse or even his old live-in glass greenhouse/shack, he looks more like a yuppie on his vacation property with just enough "taste" not to be ostentatiously "showy". Even the party where Rock Hudson plays the piano among his "friends" and Wyman, the newest member of their circle, seemed pretty tame and kinda boring to me. The "joy and fun" seemed so staged and one-toned. Where was the amusement and playful intelligence you'd expect in such a "free-spirited" gathering? Was the writer handcuffed into a cinematic or scenic short-cut instead of writing a more idiosyncratic scene showing "real" spontaneity and joy? I don't know. Can Wyman's world be so stiff and joyless that Rock Hudson's character and his world (as shown) is so alluring to her? I hear filthy rich people have spontaneous ways of having fun too, apparently not in the fifties though. I guess the gardener/rich widow thing was pretty taboo back then. Now, it wouldn't be such a big deal for Wyman's character unless a plot or murder was involved, with cops and detectives and everything. Then the gossip/disapproval/entertainment would really fly. Oh, a society woman mixed up in a sordid affair with the lowly help. The people behind "All That Heaven Allows" should've went all the way with it but they obviously had the opposite message in mind, I think. Still, it's almost pornographic to have a gardener as beefy and handsome as Rock Hudson. Wyman's remark to Hudson about him wanting her to be a man was no accident. The casting and how stiff and matronly they made Wyman look also had to be part of the joke. I hear there was only eight years difference between the two leads in real-life. That kinda blew me away. I suppose Sirk tried injecting some subtle ironies and inside jokes into this "statement-making" melodrama. But what I really enjoyed was the saturation in the old Technicolor film colors, which made a lot of the scenes look like paintings. So it was worth spectating, even now.

I wouldn't call Sirk's humor unitentional. I think he meant a lot of it. One of the funniest moments in film history for me is when the guy in "Written on the Wind" finds out he is impotent, then he runs outside and the little boy is riding the mechanical horse. Hysterical!

Please stop making fun of this film! I know what do you mean with your observations but the don't destroy the charm of that film. ;-(

er....."Would you like to come to my house and see my silver-tipped spruce?" was intentional, not unintentional.

NO, That Catty brown haired woman saying to Jane Wyman, "Oh dear, Isn't one man enought for you"

And That catty woman saying to an older man who tried to pick up Jane Wyman,and was unsuccesful "Oh Harold did she tuen you down "

The thing that always makes me laugh about this movie is that people keep having to remind Cary to put on her coat and boots! I have visions of her dashing out of the house barefoot and coatless in the middle of a Stoningham winter!