Shane

Released by: Eureka: Masters of Cinema
Released on: November 30, 2015
Directed by: George Stevens
Cast: Alan Ladd, Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, Emile Meyer, Brandon deWilde, Jack Palance, Ben Johnson, Elisha Cook Jr., Nancy Kulp
Year: 1953

The Movie:

Sometime after passage of the Homestead Act in 1862, a hardnosed cattle rancher named Rufus Ryker (Emile Meyer) attempts to intimidate a group of Wyoming homesteaders. He's come to regard a local valley's pastureland as his own, and he wants to keep it that way. Among those feeling the pressure are the Starretts—Joe (Van Heflin), his wife Marian (Jean Arthur), and their 11-year-old son Joey (Brandon deWilde)—who have established a meager farm a short distance outside a small group of buildings called "town."

One day, a cowboy named Shane (Alan Ladd) happens upon the Starrett homestead while Joey is playing alone outside. The youngster listens with rapt fascination as his father converses with the visitor, until a sudden move on Joey's part prompts Shane to instinctively draw his gun. No one is harmed, but a shaken Joe advises Shane to move on. At this point a group of men led by Ryker ride onto the farm. The would-be livestock baron demands that Joe and his family leave immediately. Joe defies the request and when things get tense, Shane gets assertive. Ryker backs off for the time being, and after the men leave, Shane agrees to stay on at the Starrett place indefinitely. Tensions continue to build between Ryker and the homesteaders, and the former enlists the services of a gunslinging desperado named Jack Wilson (Jack Palance). At the same time, Joey grows to idolize Shane, and Marion becomes a bit more smitten with the mysterious drifter than she probably ought to be.

The first incarnation of Jack Schaefer's story Shane appeared in 1946 as a three-part tale called "Rider from Nowhere" in Argosy magazine. Houghton Mifflin placed a polished version of the story between harder covers three years later, and Paramount purchased that novel's film rights the same year. It was assigned to director George Stevens, who had accrued an impressive body of work by that point but had not directed a western since RKO's forgotten Annie Oakley in 1935. At first, Shane's title role was up for grabs between Ladd and Ray Milland. (Some sources claim that Montgomery Clift was offered the role but was not interested.) William Holden was allegedly cast as Joe, then replaced by Van Heflin at the last minute.

The film is said to have been so expensive to make that at one point Paramount tried to sell it to Howard Hughes' RKO Pictures. There are many versions of why that alleged deal fell through, none of which seems any more or less credible than any of the others. Whatever the case, it is known that Paramount did not expect to film to recoup its $3 million cost and that Stevens' spent the year-and-a-half after its October, 1951 wrap-up collaborating with editors William Hornbeck and Tom McAdoo in an attempt to create a serviceable cut of its "flat widescreen" presentation (a first).

The effort paid off. It premiered in 1953 in New York's famed Radio City Music Hall (where a new 50' by 30' screen had been installed for the occasion) and Grauman's Chinese Theater in San Francisco (ditto). In New York alone, it grossed an amazing—by the standards of the time—$114,000 during a four-week run. It went on to earn more than $8 million during its initial domestic release.

While novelist Schaefer is hardly a household name today, the film version of his only successful work is warmly regarded by film buffs, considered by many to be the greatest western film ever made. It's easy to see why; the screenplay, performances, and direction are all top-notch. No less an authority than Woody Allen has called it "a great movie [that] can hold its own with any film, whether it's a Western or not."

Understandably, Shane received a respectable amount of love at the 1954 Oscars, with nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Jack Palance), and Best Screenplay (by Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer Alfred Bertrand Guthrie). Beaten in all of these categories by the inferior From Here to Eternity, Shane did rightly win for Loyal Griggs' awesome color cinematography. And Stevens did get to take home the 13th Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award that year for his lifetime body of work (an honor for which he cemented his worthiness in later years with 1956's Giant, 1959's The Diary of Anne Frank, and 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told).

Video/Audio/Extras:

Eureka has released Shane on Blu-ray through its Masters of Cinema series. The first disc contains the film in its original 'full frame' theatrical ratio of 1.37:1 (which is how the film was shot), while the second disc contains the film in its original 'widescreen' theatrical ratio of 1.66:1 (which suffers from some unfortunate cropping in a few instances) as well as an alternate 1.66:1 presentation supervised by the director's son (which corrects said cropping). (The U.S. Blu-ray release offers the film only in 1.37:1.) Both discs hold 50GB of information and are MPEG-4 AVC encoded in 1080p high resolution. In each case, the image looks fantastic; in fact, it's so strong that even during the opening credit sequence (which naturally contains opticals), the image retains sharp detail and gorgeous color. Speaking of detail, it's extraordinary, regardless of whether the scenes take place indoors or outside, day or night. The beautiful location shots in Bear Valley, Big Bear Lake, Iverson Ranch, and San Bernardino National Forest in California, as well as Jackson Hole, Wyoming, are ripe with detail, and the rich Technicolor is mostly bright and vivid. Grain is well modulated, while black levels are strong with only a couple of shots exhibiting any kind of crush.

All three presentations of the film offer audio in English LPCM Mono and 2.0 stereo. While both are similar in sound reproduction, the 2.0 track is slightly superior, with nice fidelity. Neither track has issues with hiss or fuzz, and there's only minor distortion in one instance. Conversations are clear, and Victor Young's score sounds great, though there is one point in which it overtakes the dialogue just a tad. Overall, however, the mix is a solid one. English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired are included.

Wrapping up the audio options is a commentary track by the director's son, production assistant George Stevens, Jr., and associate producer Ivan Moffat. Stevens dominates the track; some of his comments describe what's going on on-screen, but most of them provide significant and revelatory background information about the film. Clearly, Stevens and Moffat recorded their tracks together, yet they don't talk over each other or compete for attention. They discuss the actors, the script, the direction, the clothing, the sets and locations… It's a well-rounded track with relatively few dead spaces. When these do occur, the dialogue from the film is raised to fill the silence.

Extras include an interview with film historian Neil Sinyard, which runs 22:18. Sinyard discusses Stevens's background and history, as well as specifics about the director's masterpiece. The featurette is punctuated by original promotional images from Stevens's movies, as well as scenes from Shane.

A Lux Radio Theatre audio adaption is included starring Alan Ladd, Van Hefflin, and Ruth Hussey (taking over Jean Arthur's role as Marion). It runs 53:47 and is a pleasant diversion for people into old-time radio.

Rounding out the extras is a widescreen trailer, which runs 1:57. Given that it mentions films which came later in the director's career, it was clearly issued for a widescreen re-release.

The discs are locked to Region B.

The Final Word:

Shane is one of the greatest Westerns in cinematic history, with solid performances, strong direction, and a great script from a classic novel. It was tremendously successful in its day and retains a cult following to this day. Eureka's Blu-ray presentation is worthy of the Masters of Cinema line, with an extremely sharp image and strong sound. The two-disc set has some nice extras (including a commentary track and a theatrical trailer), but for fans of the film, it offers three alternative means by which to view Stevens's masterpiece. For those who have never seen the film, short of a big-screen presentation in high definition, this is the best way to introduce yourself to it.

Shane is a limited edition of 2,000 units.

Christopher Workman is a freelance writer, film critic, and co-author (with Troy Howarth) of the Tome of Terror horror film review series. Volume 2 of that series (covering the 1930s) is currently available from Midnight Marquee Press, Inc.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!