High Noon [DVD]

I don't often dress a film with 5 Stars when I personally find it has flaws such as a less than perfect picture quality, less than perfect acting, cinematography that sometimes looks a bit flat. However this was made in 1952 in black & white and the central performance from Gary Cooper is outstanding and more than compensates for the flaws of the film, not least of which is the casting of Grace Kelly as the beautiful wife of Cooper who is old enough to be her father both in appearance and in real life (Kelly in her early 20's, and Cooper in his early 50's).That aside the plot of the film is the heart of the film and resonates. Not the tough guy, not the fast gunman, not in the usual macho image of other cowboy heroes played by countless big stars of the the western genre, Cooper is about to be faced by four killers, gunmen with history, and he pleads for help from the townspeople as he knows he may not be up to the task --- how honest in a western, and Cooper's role would have been spat at by the likes of Wayne, Murphy, Scott et al. Throughout Cooper is uncertain, afraid, reluctant but refuses to run and will face his demons unaided. A real solid performance from Cooper who made the character very believable and probably left many Americans wondering and uncomfortable with a western that appeared to examine the psychology of the characters and wasn't the usual shoot 'em up style that was the staple diet of the genre.Ideas from the film have been stolen by many, perhaps notably by Leone who made a film within a film using the sequence of the three gunmen waiting for the fourth at the railway station in 'Once Upon A Time In The West'. Perhaps Eastwood borrowed the idea of a town full of cowards and making the townsfolk paint their town red in 'High Plains Drifter'. Cooper settled for throwing his badge into the dust.Directed by Fred Zinnemann who made many very good films not least of which was 'Day Of The Jackal', a particular favourite of mine. Music by Dimitri Tiomkin, another classic score by a man who knew how to make music tell a story.My copy states it is digitally mastered, not perfect to my mind but it may depend on the source material as happens so often. English subtitles, a few extras that include a 24 minute documentary, film run time 85 minutes. It is yet another production that is still available in over a dozen variants of the disc format and continues to garner reviews, mostly positive.

Right! this isn't a review on the movie because in my opinion High Noon is without doubt a stone wall masterpiece in the Western genre. This is a review on the DVD. I have to severely shake my head in total bewilderedment in a few of my fellow amazon reviewers opinions when discussing the condition of this print. The print I've got is the 2008 reprint of High Noon - Cinema Universal Classics. And to me the print is perfect, there's NO rips, tears, scratches of any kind when talking about this print. The spectrum of blacks and whites throughout this Black & White movie are very, very good. Secondly, the English Mono Audio track throughout the film is very clear and crisp.This edition of High Noon may not be as exquisitely gorgeous as say the DVD Collectors Edition of Sunset Boulevard which was totally and utterly amazingly good for a film released way back in 1950 film, but for my eyes this particular edition of High Noon (2008 DVD Edition) is very, very good.O' I have got a Bluray player but certain films you just can't get a reasonably priced - English speaking edition which may or may not guarantee you a immaculate picture as well as terrific sound production. So reluctantly I have to hope I get a reasonably happy print of the movie on DVD.For instance my DVD copy of The Big Heat (1953) another Black & White movie is totally terrible with scratches, rips, tears you name it, it is BAD. But because at present you can't get a reasonably priced bluray edition of The Big Heat you just have to put up with a unsatisfactory copy of a movie that you love.Anyway, back to High Noon. In a nutshell my opinion on the 2008 Cinema Universal Classic Edition of High Noon is it's well worth purchasing if a quality print is what you'll after.I hope this review of the DVD has helped.

This is a great film. Gary Cooper is magnificent in his role as retiring Marshall Will Kane and dominates the entire film, even including his very beautiful co-star Grace Kelly. It was fortunate that John Wayne for political reasons turned the central role down. Although very good in a certain type of western film 'High Noon' requires a hero full of inner conflict and doubt rather than a macho super cowboy type.There is very little action until the last ten minutes or so. Until then we have Cooper attempting to persuade various townspeople to join him to fight against the newly released Frank Miller and his gang. Various rationalizations follow justifying the inaction of the 'law abiding' citizens. Nevertheless the build up of tension is relentless and in the end Kane's Quaker wife helps him to kill the Miller gang abandoning her own pacifist principles and possibly her religion in the process.Directed by Fred Zimmerman this is an 'existential' western that also has a touch of Greek tragedy despite the ostensibly happy ending. In every way a wonderful film.