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All That Heaven Allows (1955)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 2

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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 4,715

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Movie Info

One of director Douglas Sirk's best and most successful romantic soapers of the 1950s, All That Heaven Allows is predicated on a May-December romance. The difference here is that the woman, attractive widow Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), is considerably older than the man, handsome gardener-landscaper Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson). Sirk builds up sympathy for Cary by showing how empty her life has been since her husband's death, even suggesting that the marriage itself was no picnic. Throwing conventionial

Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.

Drama, Romance, Classics

Peg Fenwick, Edna L. Lee

Jun 19, 2001

Cast

All Critics (26) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (2) | DVD (16)

Hudson is handsome and somewhat wooden. Laconic of speech, and imbued with an angel's patience and understanding, it's at times hard to understand his passion for the widow, what with pretty girls just spoilingfor his attention.

October 16, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
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Solid and sensible drama plainly had to give way to outright emotional bulldozing and a paving of easy clichés.

March 25, 2006 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment (1)
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A masterpiece (1955) by one of the most inventive and recondite directors ever to work in Hollywood, Douglas Sirk.

September 4, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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Sirk benefited immeasurably from the fact that the chief subject of his crazy cinema was postwar America.

August 21, 2009 Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul | Comment

A classic and beautiful film for those who love romantic stories

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

Romance novel in narrative this transcends its genre with visual depth and perceptive socio-cultural insights.

October 16, 2007 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

One of Sirk's finest films.

October 16, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

'Time, if anything, will vindicate Douglas Sirk,' wrote Andrew Sarris in 1968. He was right.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Beneath the stunningly lovely visuals -- all expressionist colours, reflections, and frames-within-frames, used to produce a precise symbolism -- lies a kernel of terrifying despair

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

When Carey (Jane Wyman) first visits the Andersons, friends of Ron (Rock Hudson), Thoreau's Walden is placed on the table. She then reads a passage in which he describes the "mass of men living lives of quiet desperation," a summation of her life.

February 7, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Yet another mystifyingly lionized Sirkian soaper.

January 7, 2004 Comment
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Quite involving, overblown emotion and all, particularly due to Wyman's gentle sincerity.

January 2, 2004 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | Comment
TheMovieReport.com

The rich visual texture, using glorious Technicolor, and a soaring emotional score lend what is essentially a thin story a kind of epic tension.

October 4, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

The enjoyability of All That Heaven Allows is hampered by the fact that there's no real plot here.

April 13, 2003 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | Comment
Reel Film Reviews

A potent story for the ages.

March 10, 2003 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | Comment
Austin Chronicle
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Audience Reviews for All That Heaven Allows

One of the cheesiest, yet one of the most beautiful romance films I have ever seen. This film tells the tale of an older woman, as her family is not as happy as they used to be before their father (her husband) passed away. As she begins to fall for their family gardener (Ron), he does whatever he possibly can to get

October 14, 2011
KJ Proulx

Super Reviewer

Far more progressive than many films of the decade, this film deals with the societal stance on May-December romances when an older, rich woman is involved with a former gardener years after she is widowed. It held all the culpabilities of reasoning for both sides of the debate, but was also a nice love story that held

October 6, 2010
FrizzDrop

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Was der Himmel erlaubt (DE)
  • All That Heaven Allows (1955) (UK)
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