High Noon. (U.)
Directed by Fred Zinnemann. 1952.
Starring Gray Cooper, Grace Kelly, Lloyd Bridges, Thomas Mitchell, Katy Jurado, Harry Morgan, Lon Chanay Jr, Jack Elam and Lee Van Cleef. Black and White. 85 mins. Released on Blu-ray as part of Eureka! Masters of Cinema series.
It starts with a song. And it continues with a song, and that damn song goes all the way through it. Along with shots of clocks and a haggard-looking Gary Cooper asking people for help, it is the main plank of the film. The song Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling sang by Tex Ritter is good enough for one or two plays but in this film it is used like muzak: whenever there is a moment of quiet Tex pipes up, or composer Dimitri Tiomkin is reworking it into the score. This song will never forsake us, it's in our ear right to the bitter end.
Now, I'm not sure how you'd rate High Noon as a title, but it is probably the film's major strength: whatever the merits of the actual film, its concept has retained its potency down the decades. Everybody knows the idea of High Noon, even if they haven't seen it: a date with destiny at a given time. It didn't originate the idea but it has become its guardian.
The irony of a film that has stood the test of time is that as its hero, Kane, Gary Cooper looks thoroughly beaten by the passing of the years. He's tall and lean but the weather-worn face and the bags under the eyes suggest someone much older than just over fifty. At the start of the film, we see him marrying the young Grace Kelly and that just emphasises how old he looks. Just married, he's about to hang up his marshall's badge when some pesky little railroad man turns up with a telegram saying that a villain he once stopped terrorising the town and had had a death sentence commuted to life in prison by the bleeding hearts up north has now been pardoned and will be arriving on the noon train, where he will be met by three of his equally bloodthirsty mates. Everybody wants Kane to run and get away before he arrives but Coop isn't so sure.
Though there are the repeated shots of clocks, events do not take place in real-time, least not in the 24, ticking clock sense. Most of the rest of the film is citizen Kane striding around asking for help and being deserted by the folk whose town he cleaned up in the first place and has protected ever since. Even his wife rides out on him because of her Quaker pacifist beliefs – though it turns out that little miss high and mighty is no better than she ought to be.
(During the wait Kelly meets up with Cooper's ex, a sultry, Mexican, slightly Adams Family type played by Jurado. Whatever you say about Kane, he didn't have a type.)
You'll have to trust me when I say that some of my favourite films are westerns because I always seem to be putting the boot into classic westerns and, sure enough, High Noon left me cold. As you'd expect of a film produced by Stanley Kramer and written by Carl Foreman it is more lecture than western, nothing happens till the final shoot out and that is unremarkable. It looks drab to make the west seem more realistic than idealised but is mostly shot on the same sets used for countless other westerns, so it just looks drab and fake.
Supposedly Howards Hawks and John Wayne made Rio Bravo as a reaction to this film, and specifically, the final shot where Cooper throws his badge on to the ground. The Duke described it as the most UnAmerican thing he'd ever seen – bet he didn't object when Eastwood did something similar at the end of Dirty Harry. Though the film was made by a triumvirate of what Wayne would no doubt view as lefty Jews (Kramer, Foreman, Zinnemann) and was an allegory for the blacklisting of writers and actors by the House of UnAmerican Activities, it's really pure a-man's-gotta-do-what-a-man's-gotta-do Americana. There is no such thing as civilisation just cringing cowards clinging together out of self-interest, so a real man has to rely on himself. Like a war vet, Cooper is shunned by the people he risked his life protecting and even pacifism is shown to be phoney when the pressure is on.
Extras
A LIMITED EDITION 100-PAGE Collector’s book featuring new writing on the film; the original short story The Tin Star by John W. Cunningham; excerpts from writings and interviews with director Fred Zinnemann; archival articles and materials relating to the film
Directed by Fred Zinnemann. 1952.
Starring Gray Cooper, Grace Kelly, Lloyd Bridges, Thomas Mitchell, Katy Jurado, Harry Morgan, Lon Chanay Jr, Jack Elam and Lee Van Cleef. Black and White. 85 mins. Released on Blu-ray as part of Eureka! Masters of Cinema series.
It starts with a song. And it continues with a song, and that damn song goes all the way through it. Along with shots of clocks and a haggard-looking Gary Cooper asking people for help, it is the main plank of the film. The song Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling sang by Tex Ritter is good enough for one or two plays but in this film it is used like muzak: whenever there is a moment of quiet Tex pipes up, or composer Dimitri Tiomkin is reworking it into the score. This song will never forsake us, it's in our ear right to the bitter end.
Now, I'm not sure how you'd rate High Noon as a title, but it is probably the film's major strength: whatever the merits of the actual film, its concept has retained its potency down the decades. Everybody knows the idea of High Noon, even if they haven't seen it: a date with destiny at a given time. It didn't originate the idea but it has become its guardian.
The irony of a film that has stood the test of time is that as its hero, Kane, Gary Cooper looks thoroughly beaten by the passing of the years. He's tall and lean but the weather-worn face and the bags under the eyes suggest someone much older than just over fifty. At the start of the film, we see him marrying the young Grace Kelly and that just emphasises how old he looks. Just married, he's about to hang up his marshall's badge when some pesky little railroad man turns up with a telegram saying that a villain he once stopped terrorising the town and had had a death sentence commuted to life in prison by the bleeding hearts up north has now been pardoned and will be arriving on the noon train, where he will be met by three of his equally bloodthirsty mates. Everybody wants Kane to run and get away before he arrives but Coop isn't so sure.
Though there are the repeated shots of clocks, events do not take place in real-time, least not in the 24, ticking clock sense. Most of the rest of the film is citizen Kane striding around asking for help and being deserted by the folk whose town he cleaned up in the first place and has protected ever since. Even his wife rides out on him because of her Quaker pacifist beliefs – though it turns out that little miss high and mighty is no better than she ought to be.
(During the wait Kelly meets up with Cooper's ex, a sultry, Mexican, slightly Adams Family type played by Jurado. Whatever you say about Kane, he didn't have a type.)
You'll have to trust me when I say that some of my favourite films are westerns because I always seem to be putting the boot into classic westerns and, sure enough, High Noon left me cold. As you'd expect of a film produced by Stanley Kramer and written by Carl Foreman it is more lecture than western, nothing happens till the final shoot out and that is unremarkable. It looks drab to make the west seem more realistic than idealised but is mostly shot on the same sets used for countless other westerns, so it just looks drab and fake.
Supposedly Howards Hawks and John Wayne made Rio Bravo as a reaction to this film, and specifically, the final shot where Cooper throws his badge on to the ground. The Duke described it as the most UnAmerican thing he'd ever seen – bet he didn't object when Eastwood did something similar at the end of Dirty Harry. Though the film was made by a triumvirate of what Wayne would no doubt view as lefty Jews (Kramer, Foreman, Zinnemann) and was an allegory for the blacklisting of writers and actors by the House of UnAmerican Activities, it's really pure a-man's-gotta-do-what-a-man's-gotta-do Americana. There is no such thing as civilisation just cringing cowards clinging together out of self-interest, so a real man has to rely on himself. Like a war vet, Cooper is shunned by the people he risked his life protecting and even pacifism is shown to be phoney when the pressure is on.
Extras
A LIMITED EDITION 100-PAGE Collector’s book featuring new writing on the film; the original short story The Tin Star by John W. Cunningham; excerpts from writings and interviews with director Fred Zinnemann; archival articles and materials relating to the film
- 4K Digital Restoration
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Brand new and exclusive audio commentary by historian Glenn Frankel, author of High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic
- Brand new and exclusive audio commentary by western authority Stephen Prince
- New video interview with film historian Neil Sinyard, author of Fred Zinnemann: Films of Character and Conscience
- A 1969 audio interview with writer Carl Foreman from the National Film Theatre in London
- The Making of ‘High Noon’ [22 mins]– a documentary on the making of the film on the making of the film
- Inside ‘High Noon’ [47 mins] and Behind ‘High Noon’ [10 mins] – two video pieces on the making and context of the film
- Theatrical Trailer
