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Released on: Jun. 26, 2012
Released by: 20th Century Fox
Director by: John M. Stahl
Cast: Rex Harrison, Maureen O'Hara, Richard Haydn, Victor McLaglen
Year: 1947
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The Movie:
The Foxes of Harrow is a large-scale melodrama set in and around New Orleans in the 1820's. Rex Harrison is Steve Fox, high-born but of scandal and has thus had to earn his way in the world through his own guile and general scoundrel abilities. Much like Barry Lyndon, he seeks to overcome his birth and background and make something totally his and grand in stature. But, also, like that other character, societal pressures and his own weaknesses and failures seek to drag him down to complete loss.
The adult Steven is introduced by being thrown off a steamboat, onto a sandbar in the middle of the Mississippi River. He calmly introduces himself to 'Lilli' D'Arceneaux (O'Hara) who assumes his upper-class status but is shocked to learn of his true nature. This sets up her mistrust of him later as he's soon introduced to her through socialite Andre LeBlanc (Haydn), after Fox was rescued from his predicament by a salty cutthroat (McLaglen). Lilli and Steven begin a very awkward courtship of sorts, with Steven convinced that he'll have her once she comes running to him. Lilli, for her part, is conflicted by what she sees as his true nature and then by his charming, societal self.
After winning (and then, gentlemanly, purchasing) a plantation in a game of cards and its subsequent duel - I did mention its more-than-passing similarity to Barry Lyndon - he sets about his grand scheme by building both his commercial empire and with his estate which he calls Harrow. His plan is to make himself just plain irresistible to Lilli and, eventually, he does win her over. But on their wedding night when McLaglen and his drunken crew show up to celebrate the nuptials, she's upset and locks Steven out of the bedroom. Enraged, he kicks down the door and, apparently, has his way with her.
From this she never truly recovers, even when this union yields them a son. Steven, for his part, regrets his actions but after years of Lilli's continued shunning he ends up spending more and more time drinking and gambling in town. He even gets himself a proper mistress, much to the shock and dismay of Lilli's father and Andre. Things just get darker and darker as her obstinance and his arrogance combine to ultimately contribute to their son's accidental death. Bereaved, separated and then faced with the economic collapse in the U.S. (1837 and subsequent depression, perhaps?) they stand on the verge of losing everything they have and are. It's only when facing a very real storm do they find what's most important in themselves and each other, returning to an emptied Harrow if only to try filling it again through their actual love for each other.
Audio/Video/Extras:
Like other titles from the Cinema Archives series there are no extra features available on this DVD. The MPEG-2 transfer tries its best with a fairly pockmarked print but balances out what it can as to minimize any damage to the original. But the fullscreen presentation makes the print problems pretty visible. The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is more than ample here as well, providing good support for the more melodramatic scenes in the film.
The Final Word:
Big, soap opera-like story with a swelling score and some very solid performances The Foxes of Harrow is a bit long and dated at this point. But it does capture the grandeur of other similar tales like Gone With the Wind in that sense of Old World sensibilities getting rough treatment when faced with newer realities.
