One of my guilty pleasures

You nailed it perfectly- it is a guilty pleasure. Yes, it's sappy at times, the music is tooooo dramatic and heavy, and yet......like you, growing up in the 1950s, I like the re-creation of that era. The fashions, the simple moral principles, the snootiness of the country club set, all this adds up to a slice of life of that time. Every town had a gossip like Mona and wasnt she delicious to listen to????

By the way, you don't have to be gay to realize how handsome Rock Hudson was! It's a fact! Such a presence on the screen and such a versatile actor, playing dramas to comedies with ease.

Don't apologize for liking to watch this movie. There are scads of other soapy type movies like this that when I see them on the schedule, I watch them. Movies like Diamond Head, Peyton Place, et al. are diversions that require nothing from you other than 2 hours of your time. No heavy thinking involved, no what ifs, just a bit of sugar.


"Sympathy doesn't butter the parsnips." - Mrs. Patmore

I love the film and, yes, it is sappy. But it deals with issues that remains very pertinent to this day: Can love overcome all? Should you sacrifice happiness for what your children want? Can you marry someone from a different "social" class? Does it really matter what other people think?

It's gorgeous looking film.

For all the reasons you give, it's pure escapism, period. Good to have a go-to for that!