Category Archives: Melodrama

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957)

A classic romance with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, who are both very agreeable as usual, but I have to say that something on a basic level did not work for me.

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)

A big romantic melodrama among army guys and ladies on Hawaii, with the impending doom of Pearl Harbor hanging over everything.

GIANT (1956)

This sweeping story of a huge Texas cattle ranch over several decades lives up to its name, but I think falls short of its clear ambition to be “Gone With the Wind, but as a Western.”

SANSHO THE BAILIFF (1954)

A classic Japanese film where every frame looks like a classical painting. From a plot perspective, the weepiest of weepies.

IMITATION OF LIFE (1959)

This over-the-top melodrama about mothers and daughters from director Douglas Sirk was considered populist trash at the time and is today seen as high art.

SOME CAME RUNNING (1958)

A mid-century melodrama in which Frank Sinatra plays a soldier returning to a small town. It has some interesting shots but never really rises above its potboiler status.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)

There are several great performances in this Southern Gothic adaptation of a famous stage play, but the whole thing is really not for me.