'All that Hollywood Allows' explores the representation of gender in popular Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. Both a work of feminist film criticism and theory and an analysis of popular culture, this provocative book examines from a cultural studies perspective top-grossing film melodramas, such as 'A Streetcar Named Desire', 'From Here to Eternity', 'East of Eden', 'Imitation of Life' and 'Picnic'.