This is a publicity shot of Tarnished Angels director Douglas Sirk conferring with costars Dorothy Malone and Rock Hudson. Is Hudson’s bored, ‘I’m somewhere else, man” expression affecting or what? Call me eccentric but I think this is one of the most honest and penetrating capturings of Hudson I’ve ever seen. He lived in his own realm, after all, and so much of what he performed on-screen was very much of an “act,” at least in terms of his deep-down personality and sexuality. This is Hudson all by himself, “all alone” in a sense, surrendering to whatever was running through his not-very-deep head. One of the things I dislike about Sirk films (and in fact almost all dramas and melodramas of the ’50s and earlier) is that no one is ever shown spacing out. Each and every character is always engaged in the moment, paying attention, saying something necessary or asserting themselves or reacting full-on. Everybody spaces out, especially creative types. Some of my best thoughts and insights come from my zone-out vacations.