In its midcentury heyday, Hollywood melodrama wallowed in blazing Technicolor, operatic plot twists, gloriously bad behavior, and even foul play. These films’ surging emotions push their characters toward outright violence, infusing the women’s picture with noirish thrills. In the hands of masters such as Douglas Sirk (WRITTEN ON THE WIND) and Vincente Minnelli (SOME CAME RUNNING), melodrama became a vehicle for subversive critiques of American life, using stylization and excess to reveal the dark currents beneath a repressed, conformist society. Above all, the genre was a gift that kept giving to women stars like Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, and Dorothy Malone, who sank their teeth into juicy parts that let them “do a little exploding,” as Mary Astor said of her role in the deliciously perverse DESERT FURY.

Featuring:
LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (John M. Stahl, 1945)
DESERT FURY (Lewis Allen, 1947)
NIAGARA (Henry Hathaway, 1953)
QUEEN BEE (Ranald MacDougall, 1955)
THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING (Richard Fleischer, 1955)
VIOLENT SATURDAY (Richard Fleischer, 1955)
A KISS BEFORE DYING (Gerd Oswald, 1956)
BIGGER THAN LIFE (Nicholas Ray, 1956)
WRITTEN ON THE WIND (Douglas Sirk, 1956)
NO DOWN PAYMENT (Martin Ritt, 1957)
SOME CAME RUNNING (Vincente Minnelli, 1958)
THE LONG, HOT SUMMER (Martin Ritt, 1958)
HOME FROM THE HILL (Vincente Minnelli, 1960)
PORTRAIT IN BLACK (Michael Gordon, 1960)