All I Desire

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100%

TOMATOMETER

Reviews Counted: 5

73%
liked it

Audience Score

User Ratings: 580

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Average Rating: N/A
Reviews Count: 0
Fresh: 0
Rotten: 0

Average Rating: 3.6/5

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Movie Info

All I Desire an early exercise in Douglas Sirk Baroque, is set at the turn of the century. Long divorced from her husband Richard Carlson, itinerant actress Barbara Stanwyck returns to her home town to watch her daughter perform in a high school play. Stanwyck decides to turn over a new leaf and devote herself to the daughter she's never known. This she finds next to impossible, thanks to ugly small-town gossip attending her return. The film was obviously building up to an unhappy ending, but producer Ross Hunter intervened, tacking on an unbelievably upbeat denouement. This artistic outrage evidently didn't hurt Hunter's relationship with director Douglas Sirk, inasmuch as the two would continue to successfully collaborate in the future. All I Desire is based on a novel by Carol Brink.

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Drama
Directed By:

Douglas Sirk
Written By:

James Gunn, Robert Blees, Gina Kaus
In Theaters:

Jan 1, 1953 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Sep 12, 1995
Runtime:

79 minutes
Studio:

Universal

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck
as Naomi Murdoch

Maureen O'Sullivan
as Sara Harper

Richard Carlson
as Henry Murdoch

Lyle Bettger
as Dutch Heinemann

Marcia Henderson
as Joyce Murdoch

Lori Nelson
as Lily Murdoch

Richard Long
as Russ Underwood

Billy Gray
as Ted Murdoch

Lotte Stein
as Lena Engstrom

Dayton Lummis
as Col. Underwood

Fred Nurney
as Peterson

Guy Williams
as Ticket Taker

Charles Hand

Brett Halsey

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Critic Reviews for All I Desire

All Critics (5) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (0)

The dark corners in [Douglas] Sirk's America are first explored in All I Desire...

Apr 26, 2010 | Full Review…

Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com
Sustained by wonderful performances, especially by Barbara Stanwyck, the story is engaging and develops in unexpected ways

Aug 23, 2008 | Full Review…

Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile
All the flaws cannot be attributed to Sirk, who does fine work slicing up small-town America's bourgeois life.

Mar 7, 2007 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
[It] may be the most ironic statement on the disturbing allure of 50s suburbia that Sirk ever made.

Apr 23, 2005 | Rating: 77/100 | Full Review…

Derek Smith
Cinematic Reflections