All I Desire (DVD)

From Douglas Sirk, the legendary director of Magnificent Obsession, There’s Always Tomorrow, All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind, The Tarnished Angels and Imitation of Life, comes this classic melodrama starring screen legend Barbara Stanwyck (The Lady Eve, Internes Can’t Take Money) as a stage actress who returns to the small town and family she once abandoned. Ten years ago, a turn-of-the-century scandal forced Naomi Murdoch (Stanwyck) to desert her husband (Richard Carlson, The Magnetic Monster) and their children for a stage career. Now, returning to their small Wisconsin town to see her daughter in a play, she has hopes of reconciliation. Her husband, a high school principal, is involved with one of his teachers (Maureen O’Sullivan, Tarzan the Ape Man) and her children have mixed feelings about her. After an unexpected turn of events leads to another scandal, Naomi’s hopes of starting over are suddenly in jeopardy. The wonderful cast includes Lyle Bettger (No Man of Her Own), Marcia Henderson (Naked Alibi) and Richard Long (TV’s The Big Valley).