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46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
New High Noon 2-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition due out June 10th, 2008!, March 30, 2008
Lionsgate has announced a new DVD release of High Noon with new special features. There is what appears to be a reliable report, though unconfirmed, that it will include a new transfer of the film, restored by Paramount. The current and older DVDs are only of average video and audio quality.
This a true classic, combining traditional Western themes with contemporary concerns about popular acquiescence to evil, done in a gripping, unusual (nearly real-time) way, with great actors.
Town marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is caught between his new pacifist Quaker wife Amy (Grace Kelly) and a felt duty to face down evil men coming on the noon train to take revenge on him (and presumably cause whatever other trouble they please). Most of the drama takes place in the lead-up to a climactic battle, as the townspeople choose whether to support Kane with action or to let him stand alone. Amy too must choose between her spouse and her own moral beliefs. The tension builds relentlessly as we see clocks ticking towards noon. The innovative black and white cinematography emphasizes the dramatic points, while the internal drama is captured in Cooper's face.
The new DVD features are these:
-- "Inside High Noon," a 50-minute documentary on the making of the film (see below for more on this)
-- "Tex Ritter: A Visit to Carthage, Texas," on the Tex Ritter Museum
-- the full performance of "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'" from the Jimmy Dean TV Show
The features carried over from the current release are:
-- commentary with Gary Cooper's daughter Maria Cooper Janis, screenwriter Carl Foreman's son Jonathan Foreman, director Fred Zinneman's son Tim Zinnemann and Tex Ritter's son John Ritter
-- "The Making of High Noon" featurette
-- "Behind High Noon" featurette
-- radio broadcast with Tex Ritter
Whether the new features will warrant an upgrade is a matter of personal preference, of course. A 50-minute documentary could be quite interesting, if it's well done.
It does sound interesting. The "new" documentary, actually made a couple years ago but shelved until now, is by film and Gary Cooper expert John Mulholland. It's expected to cover, among other things, the conflict between Cooper and John Wayne over the participation of the blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman. Given that the film is intended in part as an allegory of the public's acquiescence in the Red Scare, this will have more than the usual gossipy behind-the-scenes relevance. It includes interviews with three of the children of the principles who participated in the DVD audio commentary: Cooper's daughter Maria, director Zinneman's son Tim, and Foreman's son Jonathan. There are also interviews with Grace Kelly's son Prince Albert of Monaco, Western and film historians Brian Garfield, Lee Clark Mitchell, Stephen Prince and Meir Ribalow, and High Noon fan President Bill Clinton. The narration is by actor Frank Langella.
Lack of agreement between Paramount and Lionsgate prevented the earlier release of a restored transfer and the documentary, in case you're wondering why this didn't come out before.
(Amazon has a habit of removing or not even accepting outside links, but if you want to read more about this, some of the more interesting tidbits are from a discussion at hometheaterforum. Just do a web search for "high noon" plus "ultimate collector's edition" or "inside high noon" and such keywords to find the links--easy to find.)
A parting note on the ethical side of the film. While everyone can appreciate the strength of Cooper's character and the contrast to the weakness of others, which is no doubt the intended moral focus, we can wonder why the seemingly parallel choices facing Will and Amy are treated differently, with one portrayed heroically for choosing perceived broader duty over duty to spouse, while the other is seemingly approved in doing the opposite (those who have seen the movie will be able to see how that is). I'm not sure writer Foreman saw that parallel as I put it here, and maybe there are good reasons to argue they aren't really parallel. It could be a statement about the limits of pacifism, or it could be a reflection of other cultural mores that Foreman didn't question. Or it could be largely motivated by the need for a certain kind of ending. I'm not a film historian, so maybe these questions have already been addressed. If so, feel free to leave a comment about it.
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56 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cooper Against The Clock, December 10, 2002
High Noon is a classic tale of a man who is torn between his duty and love. Gary Cooper stars as Will Cain, a sheriff of small town Hadleyville, NM, who has just gotten married to Amy played by Grace Kelly. Amy is a Quaker and in deference to her pacifist beliefs, Will is turning in his badge. But just as the newlyweds are preparing to leave town for a new life, Will learns that a criminal, Frank Miller, he put behind bars is being paroled and arriving in town on the 12 noon train for a showdown. Tension fills the air as the anticipated showdown draws closer. Amy begs for Will to leave with her, but he knows he can't run away. He must stay and defend the town and his honor. Will finds himself alone in the battle as everyone in town, including his deputy sheriff Harvey Pell, played by Lloyd Bridges, have turned away from him. The film is just a little over 80 minutes long and it unfolds in essentially real time on the screen. Director Fred Zinnemann effectively uses clocks to convey the time ticking away towards the battle. The movie is filled with tension as the showdown draws near and Mr. Cooper brilliantly plays his part for which he won his second Best Actor Oscar. Tex Ritter, John's father, sings the Oscar winning song, "Don't Forsake Me" which perfectly captures the essence of the film. High Noon is not only a classic western, but a classic American film.
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
HIGH TIME FOR HIGN NOON ON DVD, June 4, 2002
In 1952 writer Carl Foreman, director Fred Zinnemann, cinematographer Floyd Crosby and producer Stanley Kramer created a one-off recipe for a new kind of western. The ingredients; Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Grace Kelly, Lon Chaney, Henry and Otto Kruger interwoven with an unforgettable ballad written by Dimitri Tiomkin/Ned Washington and sung by Tex Ritter. The result is a movie with every second to be savoured.Made at a time when sprawling landscaped Technicolor shoot-em-up westerns were the norm, High Noon was filmed in high contrast black and white. Much of the film`s tension and excitement is due to the fact that each desperate minute that passes on screen is virtually equal to real time heightened by ever closening shots of clocks as noon approaches. Marshall Will Kane is played faultlessly by Gary Cooper in probably his finest role. Kane, afraid, yet courageous and dutiful to his friends and townsfolk finds that, in his hour of need, they turn their backs on him. Kane`s anguished face was not all acting because Gary Cooper was suffering from a bleeding ulcer during filming and was concerned over the fight scene with Lloyd Bridges because of back problems. A film of loyalty and of betrayal in which Kane is torn between his new wife, Amy (Grace Kelly) and his duty when he tells her Kane:They`re making me run. I`ve never run from anybody before.
Amy: I don`t understand any of this.
Kane: (looking at his vest watch) Well, I haven`t got time to tell ya. Crucially, as time passes and tension builds, she speaks to Kane`s old flame, Helen Ramirez (played by Katy Jurado) Helen: If Kane was my man, I`d never leave him like this. I`d get a gun. I`d fight.
Amy: Why don`t you?
Helen: He is not my man. He`s yours. When Kane does win through, with, finally, Amy`s help, his so-called friends then rally round to congratulate him. With contempt he throws his star in the dust and drives off with Amy. 1952 was also `McCarthy` time. To some, unfortunately very influential people, High Noon was seen as `un-American`. Not long after writing the script, Carl Foreman was blacklisted. Listed too was Lloyd Bridges who didn`t work for a few years after and of course Floyd Crosby (after all he had filmed it!). High Noon is not only one of the best westerns ever made but one of the finest films ever created. Beautiful photography, outstanding minimalistic direction and taught editing with a screenplay magnificently performed by a superb cast. There can be few people who have not seen High Noon and even fewer who can recall the outstanding original theatrical print having viewed it only on VHS or as a tv broadcast. This DVD has transferred the sparkling high contrast images seen on the original 35mm negative. The image and sound quality of this DVD breathes new life into a classic making it as fresh and thrilling as it ever was. Robert C Graham (UK)
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