Douglas Sirk
Encyclopedia
Douglas Sirk was a Danish
-German
film director
best known for his work in Hollywood melodrama
s in the 1950s.
, Germany
to Danish parents. He was raised in Denmark
, but later moved to Germany
as a teenager. He spread his education over three universities. He started his career in 1922 in the theatre of the Weimar Republic
, including the direction of an early production of The Threepenny Opera
. He joined UFA
(Universum Film AG) in 1934, but left Germany in 1937 because of his political leanings and Jewish wife. On arrival in the United States
, he soon changed his German name. By 1942 he was in Hollywood, directing the stridently anti-Nazi Hitler's Madman.
He made his name with a series of lush, colorful melodrama
s for Universal-International Pictures
from 1952 to 1958: Magnificent Obsession
(1954), All That Heaven Allows
(1955), Written on the Wind
(1956), and Imitation of Life
(1959). But it was at the pinnacle of his high-profile accomplishments as Universal's most successful director that he left the United States and filmmaking. He died in Lugano
, Switzerland
nearly thirty years later, with only a brief and obscure return behind the camera in Germany in the 1970s.
Sirk's reputation was also helped by a widespread nostalgia for old-fashioned Hollywood films in the 1970s. His work is now widely considered to show excellent control of the visuals, extending from lighting and framing to costumes and sets that are saturated with symbolism and shot through with subtle barbs of irony. Film critic Roger Ebert
, in praise of Written on the Wind
, has said that "To appreciate a film like Written on the Wind
probably takes more sophistication than to understand one of Ingmar Bergman
's masterpieces, because Bergman's themes are visible and underlined, while with Sirk the style conceals the message."
Sirk's films have also been praised and quoted in films by directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder
, his Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is partly based on All That Heaven Allows and, later Quentin Tarantino
, Todd Haynes
, Pedro Almodóvar
, Wong Kar-wai
, John Waters
and Lars von Trier
. For instance, Almodóvar's vibrant use of color in 1988's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
recalls the cinematography of Sirk's films of the 1950s, while Haynes' Far From Heaven
was a conscious attempt to replicate a typical Sirk melodrama—in particular All That Heaven Allows
- but with a more obviously ironic take on the material. Tarantino paid homage to Sirk and his melodramatic style in Pulp Fiction
, when character Vincent Vega, at a '50s-themed restaurant, orders the "Douglas Sirk steak" cooked "bloody as hell."
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
-German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
best known for his work in Hollywood melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s in the 1950s.
Life and work
Sirk was born Hans Detlef Sierck in HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to Danish parents. He was raised in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, but later moved to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
as a teenager. He spread his education over three universities. He started his career in 1922 in the theatre of the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
, including the direction of an early production of The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
. He joined UFA
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
(Universum Film AG) in 1934, but left Germany in 1937 because of his political leanings and Jewish wife. On arrival in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, he soon changed his German name. By 1942 he was in Hollywood, directing the stridently anti-Nazi Hitler's Madman.
He made his name with a series of lush, colorful melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s for Universal-International Pictures
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
from 1952 to 1958: Magnificent Obsession
Magnificent Obsession (1954 film)
Magnificent Obsession is a Universal International Pictures romantic feature film directed by Douglas Sirk; starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. The screenplay was written by Robert Blees and Wells Root, after the book Magnificent Obsession by Lloyd C. Douglas. The film was produced by Ross Hunter...
(1954), All That Heaven Allows
All That Heaven Allows
All That Heaven Allows is a romance feature film starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a tale about a well-to-do widow and a younger landscape designer falling in love. The screenplay was written by Peg Fenwick based upon a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee...
(1955), Written on the Wind
Written on the Wind
Written on the Wind is a 1956 American drama film directed by Douglas Sirk. It stars Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone....
(1956), and Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...
(1959). But it was at the pinnacle of his high-profile accomplishments as Universal's most successful director that he left the United States and filmmaking. He died in Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
nearly thirty years later, with only a brief and obscure return behind the camera in Germany in the 1970s.
Contemporary reception
Sirk's melodramas of the 1950s, while highly commercially successful, were generally very poorly received by reviewers. His films were considered unimportant (because they revolve around female and domestic issues), banal (because of their focus on larger-than-life feelings) and unrealistic (because of their conspicuous style).Later reception
This dismissal of Sirk's films changed drastically in the 1970s when his work was re-examined by British and French critics. From around 1970 there was a considerable interest among academic film scholars for Sirk's work - especially his American melodramas. Often centering on the formerly criticized style, his films were now seen as masterpieces of irony. The plots of the films were no longer taken at face value, and the analyses instead found that the films really criticized American society underneath the banal surface plot. The criticism of the 1970s and early 1980s was dominated by an ideological take on Sirk's work, gradually changing from being Marxist-inspired in the early 1970s to being focused on gender and sexuality in the late 1970s and early 1980s.Sirk's reputation was also helped by a widespread nostalgia for old-fashioned Hollywood films in the 1970s. His work is now widely considered to show excellent control of the visuals, extending from lighting and framing to costumes and sets that are saturated with symbolism and shot through with subtle barbs of irony. Film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, in praise of Written on the Wind
Written on the Wind
Written on the Wind is a 1956 American drama film directed by Douglas Sirk. It stars Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone....
, has said that "To appreciate a film like Written on the Wind
Written on the Wind
Written on the Wind is a 1956 American drama film directed by Douglas Sirk. It stars Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone....
probably takes more sophistication than to understand one of Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
's masterpieces, because Bergman's themes are visible and underlined, while with Sirk the style conceals the message."
Sirk's films have also been praised and quoted in films by directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
, his Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is partly based on All That Heaven Allows and, later Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
, Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar
Pedro Almodóvar Caballero is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer.Almodóvar is arguably the most successful and internationally known Spanish filmmaker of his generation. His films, marked by complex narratives, employ the codes of melodrama and use elements of pop culture, popular...
, Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...
, John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
and Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
. For instance, Almodóvar's vibrant use of color in 1988's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas...
recalls the cinematography of Sirk's films of the 1950s, while Haynes' Far From Heaven
Far from Heaven
Far from Heaven is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, and Patricia Clarkson....
was a conscious attempt to replicate a typical Sirk melodrama—in particular All That Heaven Allows
All That Heaven Allows
All That Heaven Allows is a romance feature film starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a tale about a well-to-do widow and a younger landscape designer falling in love. The screenplay was written by Peg Fenwick based upon a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee...
- but with a more obviously ironic take on the material. Tarantino paid homage to Sirk and his melodramatic style in Pulp Fiction
Pulp fiction
Pulp fiction may refer to:* pulp magazines, short stories presented in a magazine format, printed on cheaply made wood-pulp paper* Pulp Fiction, a 1994 film directed by Quentin Tarantino...
, when character Vincent Vega, at a '50s-themed restaurant, orders the "Douglas Sirk steak" cooked "bloody as hell."
Awards
- 1985 Bavarian Film AwardBayerischer FilmpreisThe Bavarian Film Awards have been awarded annually since 1979 by the State Government of Bavaria in Germany for “exceptional achievement in German filmmaking.” Along with the German Film Awards, these are the most highly regarded awards for filmmaking achievement in Germany.The Bavarian Film...
, Honorary Award http://www.bayern.de/Anlage19170/PreistraegerdesBayerischenFilmpreises-Pierrot.pdf
Feature films
- Das Mädchen vom Moorhof (1935)
- April, April! (1935)
- Stützen der Gesellschaft (1935)
- La Chanson du souvenir (1936) co-director
- T' was een AprilT' was een April't Was één April is a 1936 Dutch film directed by Douglas Sirk and Jacques van Tol. It is a lost film.-Plot:When Mister Vlasman gets promoted from baking bread to making macaroni, he and his wife want to enter high society. So friends try to pull an april fools prank, by faking the...
(1936) co-director - Schlußakkord (1936)
- Das HofkonzertDas kleine HofkonzertDas kleine Hofkonzert is a musical comedy in three acts "from the world of Carl Spitzweg", music by Edmund Nick, libretto by Paul Verhoeven and Toni Impekoven...
(1936) - Zu neuen Ufern (1937)
- La HabaneraLa Habanera (film)La Habanera is a 1937 German melodramatic feature film directed by Detlev Sierck . Zarah Leander, recently signed by UFA, is the main star in the lead role of Astrée Sternhjelm and performs its title song, "La Habanera"...
(1937) - Accord Final (1938) (uncredited)
- BoefjeWilton's ZooWilton's Zoo or Boefje is a 1939 Dutch crime film directed by Douglas Sirk.-Cast:*Annie van Ees ... Boefje*Albert van Dalsum ... Pastoor*Enny Snijders ... Vrouw Grovers *Piet Bron ... Vader Grovers...
(1939) - Hitler's MadmanHitler's MadmanHitler's Madman is a 1943 World War II film about the assassination of Nazi Reinhard Heydrich and the revenge taken by the Germans. It was produced by Seymour Nebenzal for PRC and Angelus Pictures, Inc. The shooting of Hitler's Madman took place late in 1942 and early 1943...
(1943) - Summer Storm (1944)
- A Scandal in ParisA Scandal in ParisA Scandal in Paris is a fictionalized 1946 biographical film, directed by Douglas Sirk and starring George Sanders. It depicts the life of Eugène François Vidocq, a French criminal who reformed and became a famous French prefect of police during the Napoleonic era.-Plot:The rogue who would later...
(1946) - LuredLuredLured is the title of a film noir released by United Artists, directed by Douglas Sirk, and starring Lucille Ball, George Sanders, Boris Karloff, Charles Coburn, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke.-Plot:...
(1947) - Sleep, My LoveSleep, My LoveSleep, My Love is a feature film directed by Douglas Sirk, and starring Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings and Don Ameche.-Plot:Alison Courtland, a wealthy New Yorker, hasn't a clue how she ended up on a train bound for Boston...
(1948) - ShockproofShockproofShockproof is a 1949 movie starring Cornel Wilde and Patricia Knight.The director of Shockproof, Douglas Sirk, said he took the assignment because the movie dealt with one of his favorite themes: the price of flouting taboos....
(1949) - Slightly French (1949)
- Mystery Submarine (1950)
- The First Legion (1951)
- Thunder on the HillThunder on the HillThunder on the Hill is a 1951 mystery drama film made by Universal International Pictures. It was directed by Douglas Sirk and produced by Michael Kraike, from a screenplay by Oscar Saul and Andrew Solt, based on the play Bonaventure by Charlotte Hastings. The music score was by Hans J. Salter and...
(1951)
- The Lady Pays Off (1951)
- Week-End With Father (1951)
- No Room for the Groom (1952)
- Has Anybody Seen My Gal?Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (film)Has Anybody Seen My Gal? is a 1952 film comedy film directed by Douglas Sirk, and starring Piper Laurie, Rock Hudson, Lynn Bari, and Charles Coburn. Set in the 1920s, the film is named after The California Ramblers jazz tune Has Anybody Seen My Gal?....
(1952) - Meet Me at the Fair(1953)
- Take Me To Town (1953)
- All I DesireAll I DesireAll I Desire is a 1953 drama film starring Barbara Stanwyck as an actress who returns to visit her husband and children after having run off with another man years before...
(1953) - Taza, Son of CochiseTaza, Son of CochiseTaza, Son of Cochise is a 1954 western film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson and Barbara Rush. The film was shot in 3D, but only released in 2D at the time.-Plot synopsis:...
(1954) - Magnificent ObsessionMagnificent Obsession (1954 film)Magnificent Obsession is a Universal International Pictures romantic feature film directed by Douglas Sirk; starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. The screenplay was written by Robert Blees and Wells Root, after the book Magnificent Obsession by Lloyd C. Douglas. The film was produced by Ross Hunter...
(1954) - Sign Of The Pagan (1954)
- Captain LightfootCaptain LightfootCaptain Lightfoot is a 1955 film starring Rock Hudson and Barbara Rush.It is a historical drama set in Ireland and was filmed at Clogherhead, County Louth, Ireland.-Cast:* Rock Hudson as Michael Martin* Barbara Rush as Aga Doherty...
(1955) - All That Heaven AllowsAll That Heaven AllowsAll That Heaven Allows is a romance feature film starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a tale about a well-to-do widow and a younger landscape designer falling in love. The screenplay was written by Peg Fenwick based upon a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee...
(1955) - There's Always TomorrowThere's Always TomorrowThere's Always Tomorrow is a 1956 drama film made by Universal Pictures, directed by Douglas Sirk, starring by Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett. The screenplay was written by Bernard C...
(1956) - Written on the WindWritten on the WindWritten on the Wind is a 1956 American drama film directed by Douglas Sirk. It stars Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone....
(1956) - Battle HymnBattle Hymn (film)Battle Hymn is a Universal Studios feature film starring Rock Hudson as Colonel Dean E. Hess, a real-life United States Air Force fighter pilot in the Korean War. Hess's autobiography of the same name was published concurrently with the release of the film. He donated his profits from the film and...
(1957) - Interlude (1957)
- The Tarnished AngelsThe Tarnished AngelsThe Tarnished Angels is a 1958 American drama film directed by Douglas Sirk. The screenplay by George Zuckerman is based on the 1935 novel Pylon by William Faulkner.-Plot:...
(1958) - A Time to Love and a Time to DieA Time to Love and a Time to DieA Time to Love and a Time to Die is a 1958 CinemaScope drama film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring John Gavin. It is based on the book by the German author, Erich Maria Remarque, set on the Eastern Front , and in Nazi Germany.-Cast:...
(1958) - Imitation of LifeImitation of Life (1959 film)Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...
(1959) - Bourbon Street Blues (1979) co-director
Short films
- Zwei Genies (1934)
- Der Eingebildete Kranke (1935)
- Dreimal Ehe (1935)
- Sprich zu mir wie der Regen (1975) co-director
- Sylvesternacht (1977) co-director
Quotes
- "This, anyhow, is what enchants me about Sirk: this delirious mixture of medieval and modern, sentimentality and subtlety, tame compositions and frenzied CinemaScope." - Jean-Luc GodardJean-Luc GodardJean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
in a review of Sirk's A Time to Love and a Time to Die".[SOURCE - Godard on Godard, Translated by Tom Milne, Da Capo Press]
See also
- Far from HeavenFar from HeavenFar from Heaven is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, and Patricia Clarkson....
(2002) directed by Todd HaynesTodd HaynesTodd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
was largely inspired by Sirk's work—especially All That Heaven AllowsAll That Heaven AllowsAll That Heaven Allows is a romance feature film starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a tale about a well-to-do widow and a younger landscape designer falling in love. The screenplay was written by Peg Fenwick based upon a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee...
.
- PolyesterPolyester (film)Polyester is a 1981 comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters, and starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole...
(1981) directed by John WatersJohn Waters (filmmaker)John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
was, according to Waters, informed by Sirk's Universal melodramas.
- Ali: Fear Eats the SoulAli: Fear Eats the SoulAli: Fear Eats the Soul is a 1974 West German film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starring Brigitte Mira and El Hedi ben Salem. The film won two awards at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival and is considered to be one of Fassbinder's most powerful works...
(Angst essen Seele auf) (1974) by Rainer Werner FassbinderRainer Werner FassbinderRainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
transposes All That Heaven AllowsAll That Heaven AllowsAll That Heaven Allows is a romance feature film starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in a tale about a well-to-do widow and a younger landscape designer falling in love. The screenplay was written by Peg Fenwick based upon a story by Edna L. Lee and Harry Lee...
into contemporary GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, with Rock HudsonRock HudsonRoy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
's Thoreau-esque man of the soil recast as a Moroccan "guest worker".
- Out There in the Dark (2006) by Wesley StrickWesley StrickWesley Strick is an American screenwriter who has written such films as the comic-horror hit Arachnophobia, the Martin Scorsese remake of Cape Fear and the videogame adaptation Doom.-Life and career:...
features a protagonist called "Dieter Seiff" loosely based on Sirk.
- DrachenfelsDrachenfelsDrachenfels is the name ofMountains:* Drachenfels , a mountain on the Rhine between Königswinter and Bad Honnef, Nordrhein-Westfalen...
(1989) in this gothicGothic fictionGothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
fantasyFantasyFantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novel by Kim NewmanKim NewmanKim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
(who penned it under the pseudonym Jack Yeovil) the protagonist is a young thespian and dramatist named Detlef Sierck, who receives the task of writing a piece about a renowned epic deed by the same prince who accomplished it twenty years before.
Further reading
- Douglas Sirk Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)
- Klinger, Barbara. Melodrama and Meaning: history, culture, and the films of Douglas Sirk. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, USA, 1994.
External links
- Douglas Sirk Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)
- "Douglas Sirk", Dartmouth College course, "Exiles and Émigrés"
- "Douglas Sirk" Yahoo! Movies
- "Douglas Sirk" MSN Movies
- Austin Chronicle overview of Sirk's work and life
- Bright Lights Film Journal special on Sirk
- Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
- The Films of Douglas Sirk: The Epistemologist of Despair, by Fred Camper