Wednesday, November 20 @ 7:30 PM / NEIU — The Auditorium at NEIU — 3701 W Bryn Mawr Ave
Tickets: $10 at the door
Directed by Douglas Sirk • 1955
“To thine own self be true. That’s Ron.” Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), a moneyed New England widow and mother of two rather unlikable children, faces off against societal expectations, familial pressure, vicious gossip, pesky television salesmen, and her own anxieties — all in the name of love. Hunky arborist Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson) offers Cary the unexpected: genuine love with a nonconformist, a younger man with nothing to prove but his own devotion. He also reminds her of her own desirability, and in turn of her own desires. The transcendent film followed Sirk’s 1954 hit Magnificent Obsession, another visually rhapsodic and unabashedly romantic melodrama starring Wyman and Hudson. Wyman was 38 and Hudson was 29 at the time of the release of Heaven; still, Cary must prove she’s not quite dead yet. Will she be able to marry Ron? The stakes feel as high as the cliffs of the countryside Ron inhabits. As Cary wavers between love and conformity, the seasons flip decisively from fall to winter. The vibrantly artificial suburban setting is as captivating to the eye as it is unnerving; it was very obviously shot on a backlot. It depicts a perfect ideal of autumn, along with snow that’s never looked as white, and cruelty that’s never been more pointed — ordinary lives trapped in a snow globe. (RIN)
89 min • Universal-International • 35mm from Universal
Preceded by: “Toccata for Toy Trains” (Charles & Ray Eames, 1957) – 14 min – 35mm from Library of Congress
NEXT UP: Birth on Monday, November 25 at the Music Box Theatre
