Sirk on Sirk

by Douglas Sirk (Editor), John Halliday

Douglas Sirk is one of the unsung heroes of American cinema. From 1942 to 1958 he directed some 30 lush melodramas starring the likes of Rock Hudson and Lana Turner. Sirk's films are many-layered, the style transcending the melodrama and transforming the material into works of art. Viewed today these films reveal a disintegrating society of pretence and illusion, befogged by alcohol. 30 photos.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, History, Biography

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Film director. Known for 1950s Hollywood melodramas.

Reviews

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

sirk is so intelligent and passionate and well-spoken; just a joy to read. provides insight into his films, acts as a historical document of the arts scene under nazism, and paints a portrait of a life full of love and pain and tragedy.

[Iwannasay ElijhahWood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sirk’s life story has to be one of the most interesting out of any Hollywood figure. This book is great. Halliday is a wonderful interviewer and Sirk provides insightful and interesting answers. You see his humor appear at times and also get numerous anecdotes and side comments (like the story of the time he and Marilyn Monroe met at a Hollywood estate sale). Sirk was clearly a very intelligent guy and getting to read his opinions on such a wide range of topics, whether his own films, politics, or other directors, made for a great read.

I still have a good amount of Sirk movies to watch, I think I’ve seen 14 so far, so I haven’t seen everything they discuss in the book. That being said, I do think it makes the most sense to watch at least 5-10 of his more well known movies before reading this book- in order to get the most out of it.

[Michael O · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sirk is an intelligent mind with a life story right out of a melodrama. Some of his reflections are a bit odd: not a whole lot to say and All That Heaven Allows, his masterpiece IMO, although his thoughts on the title is a fine display of his ironic wit; he also considered Tarnished Angels as his best film, and while great, several of his other films are superior (perhaps even his early German work, which I've been unable to track down but which sound intriguing). It's a shame he stepped away from directing in the 60s after the great success of Imitation of Life; while many of his contemporaries floundered, I wouldn't liked to see how he bridged classic and new Hollywood. Bonus points for charmingly referring to his wife as Mrs. Sirk!

[Andrea Magagnato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un'intervista/biografia gustosissima su Douglas Sirk e il suo cinema, uno che io amo alla follia e che esce da questa lettura senza manco un graffio. Anzi, sono rimasto ammirato dalla sua grande cultura, dal suo raccontarsi senza seriosità, senza mai risparmiarsi e riuscendo pure a essere sintetico.
La conversazione è punteggiata poi di aneddoti squisiti che non vi sto a spoilerare.
Chiude tutto un breve ma spassoso commento di Fassbinder ai sei film di Sirk che ha visto e che, in qualche modo, gli hanno cambiato la vita.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book, two things stand out to me that should be followed up for further anarchist-adjacent research – Sirk's affinity for Gustav Landauer, and his personal familiarity with B. Traven/Ret Marut (however coy he seemed to be about it – it is only mentioned in the footnotes).

It is also curious that not a great deal has been said about Sirk's involvement in the Bavarian Soviet in film studies literature; it was where he first met Traven, and further research would likely provide insight into the director's political expressions.

[Justin Decloux · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've only seen a few of Sirk's pictures, but this is one of the great interview books, so I decided to check it out. He's of course, a fascinating man, with a dramatic life, and a great understanding of his own work, even if he usually ends every discussion with a dismissal or a reason why he's not pleased with the final product (studio interference, editing took out of his hands, etc...) The Introduction to the second edition really hit me in the feels.

[Vahid Mortazavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It gives you more insight on Sirk Cinema than any film criticism does.

[Caitlinlovesreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so good!! I loved the way Sirk spoke about his work and experiences from America and Germany!! Loved his humour so much!!

[Nick Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few weeks ago I was browsing through an interview book on the filmmaker Mike Leigh and was disappointed to find that it was just a series of interviews culled from newspapers and magazines. But a lot of the film director interview books I’ve come across published in the last 25 or so years have been that sort of thing and they are just not as good as those where a single interviewer carries out a series of interviews with the subject. The three outstanding interview books I’ve come across are Francois Truffaut with Alfred Hitchcock, Peter Bogdanovich with Orson Welles and this one, Jon Halliday interviewing the German-Hollywood director Douglas Sirk. As in the other two a sympathetic interviewer who is knowledgeable about the director’s work asks intelligent questions and is answered in a thoughtful and relaxed way. I read this book many years ago and returned to it having recently seen the minor Sirk film Has Anybody Seen My Gal? and wondered what Sirk had to say about it – he said he couldn’t remember much about it – and then ended up reading the whole book. Sirk is interesting because he was a European intellectual who, unlike many American directors, wasn’t embarrassed about taking his work seriously and talking about the themes of his work – although he obviously did not spend a lot of time thinking back over his career, often being vague about projects that had not meant that much to him. He worked in two highly restrictive and commercial industries, the 1930s German industry and 1940s and ’50s Hollywood, and is interesting talking about the way he expressed himself: often working with intractable material, he had to express himself not through plots or dialogue, but through film style, through framing, the use of colour, camera movement and so on – as such he was an ideal subject for an ‘auteurist’ study. He is also interesting talking about working in 1930s Germany, implying there were certain ‘gaps’ within the Nazi system that allowed a certain (if limited) freedom of expression.

[Denis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating series of interview between one of the great movie historian and the extraordinarily literate man who gave us some of the most flamboyant, subversive, and poignant melodramas of the fifties. Sirk's complex vision of his art and his craft illuminates his films in new ways, and to read him talk, for example, about Greek tragedy, the symbolism of the mirror, or his theory of the fake happy ending, is exhilirating for anyone who loves old movies. Halliday guides us through Sirk's career with skill and passion. The revelation of a heartbreaking secret from Sirk's early life in Germany gives even more depth and humanity to his movies: it's an episode that could have been taken from one of his masterpieces.

[Bailey]

i wish sirk remembered more about "all that heaven allows," but otherwise this book was an invaluable resource. i love the directors on directors series.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning awareness in color/form/property/gender

all inside the melodrama that could sell serious tickets

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sirk is delightful and candid and seems genuinely amused at the accolades given him by the auteurists.

[Myles · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a wacko genius.