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High Noon (Olive Signature Edition)
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High Noon (Olive Signature Edition)
Released by: Olive Films
Released on: September 20th, 2016.
Director: Fred Zimmerman
Cast: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado
Year: 1952
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The Movie:
Directed by Fred Zinneman and released to theaters in 1952, High Noon is set in Hadleyville, New Mexico and tells the story of Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) who we meet just as he is about to marry his fiancé, Amy (Grace Kelly). As Amy is a devout Quaker, Will's marriage to her means that he'll soon be handing in his six shooters and his badge in favor of a more peaceful life but these plans soon change when three men come into town on behalf of a crook named Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) who Will sent to jail some time ago. He didn't realize until know that Miller has been pardoned and that he and his cronies intend to pay Will back just as soon as Miller gets in on the train arriving at noon.
Though he initially wants to run off and live happily ever after with Amy, Will knows that if he doesn't deal with this problem now that the threat of Miller's vengeance will loom large over not only his own life but his family's as well. On top of that, with his replacement not due in town until the next day, he doesn't feel right about leaving the townspeople on their own with a killer in their midst. Despite the protests of everyone around him, Will decides it's time to take a stand and deal with this problem for good, even if he has to do so alone.
There's a lot to like about High Noon, from the somewhat claustrophobic atmosphere to the tension that mounts as that noon train draws ever close. It's a well-made film on a technical level, it's very nicely shot and it's incredibly well paced and as such it does a great job of pulling us into this unique scenario in which our protagonist finds himself having to deal with on the most inconvenient of days. Gary Cooper makes the perfect leading man here and he deserved to take home the Oscar he won for his performance in this picture. He plays Will with a very human sense of nobility and while he is brave and believes in justice the way the best cowboys do, so too is he capable of hesitation, fear and trepidation. Despite the odds being very much against him, however, he takes a stand for what he believes in, which makes the film an interesting allegory when you consider the communist blacklisting that was going on in Hollywood around the time that the movie was made.
Aside from Cooper, however, the rest of the cast are also impressive. MacDonald is great as the main villain and Grace Kelly is lovely as Will's bride-to-be, but be on the lookout for some solid supporting work from the likes of Lloyd Bridges, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney Jr. and a young Lee Van Cleef, all of whom add their own inimitable screen presence to the movie.
All of this is set to a very memorable score by composer Dimitri Tiomkin (who also took home an Oscar for his work on this picture, as did Tex Ritter who sings the memorable song used in the film) that does a great job of setting the mood, punctuating the action and ramping up the tension. The music, coupled with the constant tendency to cut to a shot with a clock prominently displayed helps keep the fact that time is very quickly running out for our hero at the forefront of our consciousness as we watch the movie. It all builds up to a remarkable finale, the kind that literally goes down in the history books (or at least the film history books). The shoot out we know is coming is a good one, but it's not all violence for the sake of violence and there is a point to all of it made quite clear by the time that the end credits hit. The editing ensures that the film plays out not quite in real time but damn close to it - a clever trick to help hammer home the urgency of the situation and a technique that definitely works in the film's favor. For its time, High Noon was a very atypical western and it was criticized for not giving audiences what they expected - time, however, has been very kind to the picture and we now see its influence and importance recognized throughout the film industry.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Olive Films' 1.37.1 fullframe transfer on this Blu-ray looks beautiful. The AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer is taken from a new 4k scan of the original negative. Detail is strong, there are no issues with anything but the tiniest instances of print damage, and contrast looks nice as well. Black levels are pretty solid and the black and white image shows good depth and clarity throughout playback. There are no obvious authoring issues and the transfer is free of compression artifacts, noise reduction and edge enhancement. Really, the image quality here is top notch and the picture is gorgeous.
The English language DTS-HD Mono track on the disc is quite good. The limitations of the source material are noticeable throughout the movie and while nothing sounds particularly flat, the mix is on the simple side as you would no doubt expect it to be. However, dialogue is always easy to follow and understand and there are no problems with hiss or distortion. The score sounds quite a bit stronger here than on the previous DVD release, and there's better range and clarity here too. Optional subtitles are provided in English only, there are no alternate language tracks provided.
The extras on this disc start off with a six minute piece called A Ticking Clock where Academy Award-nomined editor Mark Goldblatt talks about the effectiveness of the editing featured in of High Noon, how it works in the movie's favor, what it accentuates and why the movie flows the way it flows. In the fourteen minute long piece called A Stanley Kramer Production film historian talks about what the film's producer brought to the production and gives a nice overview of why having Kramer's name attached to the film mattered the way that it did. The ten minute Imitation Of Life: The Blacklist History Of High Noon lets film historian Larry Ceplair and screenwriter Walter Bernstein talk about the effect of Joe McCarthy's witch hunt had on Hollywood and writers like Bernstein in particular. It's a fascinating and fairly terrifying piece that makes you really appreciate what some of these guys went through. Ulcers And Oscars: The Production History Of High Noon is a twelve minute visual essay narrated by Anton Yelchin overtop of a series of archival photos and production mementos. This is quite an in-depth examination of all the elements that came into play while the picture was being made: the casting, the story, the production locations, and yes, some of the blacklisting issues that were such a hot spot during the fifties. A second essay appears in the form of the eleven minute Uncitizened Kane which comes courtesy of Sight & Sound magazine editor Nick James. This also details the history of the picture and offers some critical insight into its effectiveness as well.
Rounding out the extras on the disc are the film's original theatrical trailer, menus and chapter selection. Inside the Blu-ray case is an insert booklet containing a text version of the same essay on the film by James and some nice archival artwork. The Blu-ray case itself, made of clear plastic, fits inside a nice cardboard slipcover. The packaging for this is really classy and worth mentioning. The commentary and other extras from previous DVD releases have not been carried over to this disc, which is a decision bound to irk diehard fans of the film.
The Final Word:
High Noon is widely regarded as a classic for all the right reasons - it's superbly directed, impeccably acted and its influence can be seen spreading far and wide. Olive Film's new Blu-ray release presents the film in gorgeous shape, with really strong audio and with a nice array of exclusive extra features as well. Highly recommended!
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