OK, Douglas Sirk fans, I'm calling you out! It's not that I don't enjoy Douglas Sirk soaps like
Imitation of Life and
All That Heaven Allows. They're glossy, well-crafted, and entertaining. It's just that Sirk has been anointed as "King of Movie Soaps" (helped in large part by 2002's
Far from Heaven, a classy Sirk homage which sparked renewed interest in his films). I'm contending that there's another director with a claim to the Movie Soap crown--and that's versatile writer-director and Stanford law school graduate Delmer Daves. So let's get down to this clash among movie soap titans (ignoring their work in other genres, of course):
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| Sirk's favorite leading man and Daves' principal star. |
Round 1 - Daves did more with less in regard to his stars. For a leading man, Douglas Sirk had Rock Hudson...but Daves had Troy Donahue. While good-looking and likable, one could never confuse Troy with a good actor. Cinema history validated Rock as a genuine star and Troy, well, he pretty much faded after the 1960s. It's not a knockdown, but this round goes to Daves. (Of course, Sirk did use Troy as a bad boy in
Imitation, but that doesn't count.)
Round 2 - Delmer Daves did a masterful job of integrating story locations into his films. The most lasting image from
A Summer Place is of Troy and Sandra Dee holding each other passionately on the beach... desperately in love, aching to be together, trying to find a secret place to be alone...as the ocean splashes on the shores (OK, it's not
From Here to Eternity, but it's still memorable). Likewise, the New England tobacco fields in
Parrish and the stunning California coast of
Susan Slade enhance these tales of young love. In contrast, it seems like the settings are incidental in Sirk's films, with the possible exception of
Written on the Wind (and even then, most of the action takes place indoors).
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| Susan Slade: An example of Daves' integration of location. |
Round 3 - Douglas Sirk used film like a canvas, skilfully employing color, framing, and objects to enhance character traits and themes. In
Written on the Wind, Lauren Bacall's conservative character sports a wardrobe of muted colors while the "bad girl" (Dorothy Malone) drives a bright red car. At the end of the film, Malone's character--who has lost Rock to Lauren--clutches a phallic model oil well in her office. Delmer Daves' soaps are lushly photographed, but the nod here goes to Sirk.
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| Hudson and Bacall in muted colors in Written on the Wind. |
Round 4 - No soap director used music better than Delmer, but then he had a great composer come up with great themes: Max Steiner's
Theme from A Summer Place is still the best-selling instrumental of the rock'n'roll era and I'll never understand why Steiner's equally melodic love theme from
Parrish seems to have been forgotten. Sirk, on the other hand, frequently employed Frank Skinner, whose scores ranged from lush (
All That Heaven Allows) to mush (
Magnificent Obsession).
Round 5 - Sirk's admirers claim that his soaps are rife with subtext:
All That Heaven Allows is an indictment on social conformity;
Imitation of Life takes aim at racial inequality, etc. Of course, one could make similar arguments for Daves' films: out-of-wedlock pregnancies play a key role in
Parrish,
A Summer Place, and
Susan Slade. In the latter two films, the teenage mothers become social outcasts (societal conformance is so strong in
Susan Slade that the pregnant girl's mother passes the child off as her own!). This is pretty much a draw, but I'll give the edge to Sirk because his films have garnered more documented critical acclaim--and even got the Criterion treatment.
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| Grant Williams worked for both directors. |
Round 6 - Both directors were adept at peppering their films with great supporting actors. Sirk's soaps featured Agnes Moorehead, Juanita Moore, and Dan O'Herily. Delmer Daves had Dean Jagger, Dorothy Maguire, Lloyd Nolan, Dub Taylor, and Constance Ford. This round is a close one; we'll call it a draw. (Interestingly, in addition to Troy Donahue, both directors used Grant Williams. He played Conn White in
Susan Slade and Biff Miley in
Written on the Wind--gotta love those character names!)
If you've followed my scoring of this fight, it's three rounds to Delmer, two to Doug, and one tie. The winner--by decision--is Delmer Daves. He's now the undisputed "King of the Movie Soaps." It's a title he has long deserved. Anyone interested in staging a rematch? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
