Editing Written on the Wind (section)

{{short description|1956 film by Douglas Sirk}}

{{Not to be confused with|Whistle Down the Wind (film)|}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Written on the Wind
| image          = WrittenOnTheWind2.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster by [[Reynold Brown]]
| director       = [[Douglas Sirk]]
| screenplay     = [[George Zuckerman]]
| based_on       = {{based on|''Written on the Wind''|[[Robert Wilder (novelist)|Robert Wilder]]}}
| producer       = [[Albert Zugsmith]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Rock Hudson]]
* [[Lauren Bacall]]
* [[Robert Stack]]
* [[Dorothy Malone]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Russell Metty]]
| editing        = Russell F. Schoengarth
| music          = [[Frank Skinner (composer)|Frank Skinner]]
| studio         = [[Universal Pictures|Universal-International]]<ref name=afi/>
| distributor    = Universal Pictures
| released       = {{Film date|1956|10|05|London|ref1=<ref name=evening>{{Cite news|newspaper=[[Evening Standard]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94360529/evening-standard/|title=Poverty and Bliss for Miss Bacall|date=October 4, 1956|page=6|last=Brien|first=Alan|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>|1956|12|25|United States}}
| runtime        = 99 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $1.3 million<ref name="var">{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety206-1957-04/page/n5/mode/1up?q=%22brought+in+at%22|magazine=Variety|title=Reversing Poor Broadway Showing|date=3 April 1957|page=7}}</ref>
| gross          = $4.3 million (North America [[Distribution rental|rentals]])<ref name=AllTime>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=All-Time Film Rental Champs|date=October 15, 1990|page=M196|first=Lawrence|last=Cohn}}</ref>
}}

'''''Written on the Wind''''' is a 1956 American [[Southern Gothic]]<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-southern-gothic-films|title=10 great southern gothic films|last=Wigley|first=Samuel|date=July 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210221048/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-southern-gothic-films|archive-date=December 10, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> [[melodrama film]] directed by [[Douglas Sirk]] and starring [[Rock Hudson]], [[Lauren Bacall]], [[Robert Stack]], and [[Dorothy Malone]]. It follows the complicated relationships among [[dysfunctional family]] members of a Texas oil dynasty: its alcoholic heir, his wife (a former secretary for the family company), his childhood best friend, and his ruthless, self-destructive sister.

The screenplay by [[George Zuckerman]] was based on [[Robert Wilder (novelist)|Robert Wilder]]'s 1946 novel of the same title, a thinly disguised account (or ''[[roman à clef]]'') of the real-life scandal involving [[torch song|torch singer]] [[Libby Holman]] and her husband, tobacco heir [[Zachary Smith Reynolds]], who was killed under mysterious circumstances at his family estate in 1932. A film version of the novel was optioned by [[RKO Pictures]] and [[International Pictures]] in 1946, but the project was shelved because of threats from the Reynolds family. [[Universal Pictures]] acquired the rights to the novel after absorbing International Pictures, and began developing the film in 1955. Zuckerman made numerous alterations in his screenplay to avoid lawsuits from the Reynolds family, among them shifting the setting from [[North Carolina]] to Texas, and having the family fortune originate in oil rather than tobacco.

Filmed in Los Angeles in late 1955 and early 1956, ''Written on the Wind'' was released theatrically in England in the fall of 1956 before opening in the United States on [[Christmas|Christmas Day]] 1956. The film broke opening-day box office records for Universal, and was a financial success. Malone won an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]],<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHl9D9I0Svw Dorothy Malone Wins Supporting Actress: 1957 Oscars]</ref> Stack was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]], and [[Victor Young]] and [[Sammy Cahn]] were nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song]].