All I Desire

Douglas Sirk directs Barbara Stanwyck as Vaudevillian Naomi, returning mostly unexpected to the family she left ten years earlier, who believe she’s a legit actress, Lori Nelson the daughter who sent for her, Marcia Henderson the elder, Billy Gray the son, Richard Carlson the surprised husband, in All I Desire,1953.

Riding with her daughter (Marcia Henderson) and beau (Richard Long), Barbara Stanwyck as Naomi, the Vaudeville actress just returned to the Wisconsin town she scandalized by leaving ten years earlier, is finally approached by Dutch (Lyle Bettger), her almost-lover from back then, in Douglas Sirk’s All I Desire,1953.

From the Carol Ryrie Brink novel and director Douglas Sirk, cracking opening all about Barbara Stanwyck, as Vaudeville performer Naomi Murdoch, narrating her back-story then sharing a letter with a colleague (Lela Bliss), in All I Desire, 1953, with Richard Carlson, Lyle Bettger and Lori Nelson.

Barbara Stanwyck as low-rent actress Naomi, maintaining the fiction she’s a big star for the family she’s just rejoined ten years after she ran away, is persuaded by daughter Lily (Lori Nelson), on the night of her own stage debut, to read Elizabeth Barrett Browning, nice moment for director Douglas Sirk, in All I Desire, 1953.

Just after Barbara Stanwyck’s opening narration, director Douglas Sirk introduces parts of the Wisconsin family she abandoned, for the stage, ten years earlier, Marcia Henderson as daughter Joyce, Richard Long her escort, Lori Nelson as younger Lily, Lotte Stein the loyal maid, in Douglas Sirk’s All I Desire, 1953.