Douglas Sirk was one of the 20th century cinemas great ironists. And perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of the films he made in Europe and America is the way they are able to create a gulf between how his characters see themselves and our view of them.Sirks characters grapple with the same problems that have always afflicted men and women and parents and children, to do with love, death and social circumstance. In some cases, they do so in a world of melodrama as in films as various as Schlussakkord 1936, La Habanera 1937, Theres Always Tomorrow 1955 and Imitation of Life 1958. In others, its a world of colour and music – as in the trio of comedymusicals he made during the 1950s, Has Anybody Seen My Gal? 1951, Meet Me at the Fair 1952 and Take Me to Town 1952, part of a series he had planned about small town America. In others, its the excitement of mystery, romance or adventure in films such as Lured 1946, Taza, Son of Cochise 1953, shot in 3D and Captain Lightfoot 1954.

Address: RMIT University, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne VIC 3001, Australia
Website: http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/04/sirk.html