Video Essay: "Sirk/Anti-Sirk"

Leftist subversive or consummate professional? A video essay by Christopher Small explores the antinomies of the great director Douglas Sirk. For the accompanying text, visit the Notebook: mubi.io/2Jt8Ilp
In taking a deep dive into Sirk’s contradictions, a picture emerged of somebody obviously drawn to “demonstrative” leftist theatre and the dramaturgical subversions of Greek tragedy as a way to survive in the Hollywood production system-as has been explicated and speculated upon at length by many overeager defenders elsewhere. But he also worked harmoniously with gaudy showmen like Albert Zugsmith and Ross Hunter, the latter of whom pleaded with Sirk as they remade MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION together, “Douglas, please, please make them cry.” In the same moment, in the act of watching one of his masterpieces or listening to him talk about their genesis, one experiences both the Sirk and the anti-Sirk pulling in two directions. In retrospect, his temperament appeared a natural fit with the commercial interests of Universal-International’s canniest producers, and it is this startling synergy, or irreconcilability, that continues to make Sirk movies so hypnotically idiosyncratic-and misunderstood.
For Study Purposes Only.
30 Days of Great Cinema Free: mubi.com/youtube
Subscribe to our TH-cam channel: mubi.io/2XVL0VN
Follow us on Instagram: mubi.tv/299eJ7G
Follow us on Twitter: mubi.tv/1PcdRyO
Follow us on Facebook: mubi.tv/29adiHj

[@SB-sg4em]

This is a compilation of film clips without any commentary or analysis. It is not a video essay.