In ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, Douglas Sirk's haunting suburban morality play, Jane Wyman plays Cary Scott, a wealthy middle-aged widow in love with a younger man considered by those around her to be far below her social standing. Her torrid affair with Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), a handsome, earthy gardener, quickly creates unbearable societal pressure for Cary. Giving in to the scathing criticism of her stodgy neighbors and her materialistic children, Cary severs contact with Ron. She then discovers--perhaps too late--that her heart cannot be so easily caged.

Wyman delivers a strong, emotive performance, and Hudson smolders as her feverish romantic interest. ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, marked by Sirk's distinctive, lavish visual style, stands as a searing example of how materialism can result in alienation from natural feelings. The film was remade in 1974 with additional interracial themes by German director (and unabashed Sirk fan) Rainer Werner Fassbinder as ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL; and later paid homage by Todd Haynes in his 2002 reworking FAR FROM HEAVEN.

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1995.

This film is the second movie pairing of Rock Hudson, Jane Wyman, and director Douglas Sirk--the first was MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, released a year earlier.

It also marks the screen debut of Gloria Talbott, who plays Wyman's bespectacled daughter.

Shot in three-strip Technicolor.

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Letterbox - 1.85
Audio:
Mono - English
Additional Release Material:
Documentary: BEHIND THE MIRROR: A PROFILE OF DOUGLAS SIRK
Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer
Text/Photo Galleries:
Essay: IMITATION OF LIFE: ON THE FILMS OF DOUGLAS SIRK - Rainer Fassbinder
Liner Notes: Laura Mulvey - Film Theorist
Lobby Card
Production Stills

Jane Wyman: Oscar-winning American actress, THE LOST WEEKEND, JOHNNY BEL
Rock Hudson: American actor
Agnes Moorehead: American actress, JOHNNY BELINDA, HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE
Conrad Nagel: American Actor
Virginia Grey: American actress,
Gloria Talbott: American Teenage Actress

Douglas Sirk: Director/Producer

Ross Hunter: Producer

Frank Skinner: American Composer/D. 1968
Joseph Gershenson: Music Director/Music Supervisor

Russell A. Gausman: Art Director/Sets
Julia Heron: Set Decorator

Frank Gross: Editor\1950s
Fred Baratta: 

"...Drenched in glorious color schemes that must have taken forever to conceive..." -- 4 out of 4 stars