Westerns being aired on network television on a Sunday afternoon were the epitome of boring when I was a child. However, my limited general knowledge of film was enough for me to know the difference between John Wayne and Gary Cooper, unlike the uncultured 80s supervillain Hans Gruber in Die Hard.
High Noon has arrived in 4K Ultra HD from Eureka Entertainment, a quintessential classic starring Gary Cooper as the isolated town marshal, Will Kane. He’s just been married to his bride Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), but moments after, word arrives that outlaw Frank Miller is coming on the noon train with vengeance in hand for being sent up by Kane years prior.
Hollywood often glorifies protagonists like Kane, whether lawful or mercenary, who typically overcome villains in a blaze of glory and gun smoke. Still, we’re presented with a different reality in High Noon. Despite the film beginning on a day of holy matrimony, the start of a new chapter, no one is prepared to help our hero, who stands alone as the hour looms. The personal trust that Kane has built through public service is not rewarded. We discover that the good citizens of Haleyville are fickle and pessimistic. This is far from the lively, action-filled westerns that dominated the ’50s and ’60s. High Noon is a stark reflection of societal distrust and suspicion that was sweeping throughout the United States during the “Red Scare”.
Gary Cooper breaks convention with his portrayal of Kane, who, while stoic, suffers indignity, gets hurt, and even cries as his situation grows increasingly dire. Yet it’s this display of vulnerability that makes the marshal such a more admirable, commendable figure than his contemporaries, as he has every reason to run, but doesn’t.
In a brief but meaningful scene with a former lawman and mentor, played by Lon Chaney Jr, the growing disillusionment towards justice is compounded by a man who has lost faith, offering little advice or wisdom. Chaney struggled a lot throughout the later stages of his career, and while his roles became mostly supportive, this is one example of how he occasionally reminded us that he was a much better actor than people gave him credit for.
High Noon has become an archetype for not only westerns, but genre hybrids well into the modern age, such as James Mangold’s urban rendition, Cop Land, in which Sylvester Stallone plays a passive sheriff of a small New Jersey town that’s largely populated by corrupt New York City policemen. He’s comparable to Kane but is eventually the reckoning to those who have used him for their gain.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Limited Edition [2000 copies]
- Limited edition O-card slipcase
- A limited-edition collector’s booklet featuring the original short story The Tin Star by John W. Cunningham, a 1974 essay by screenwriter Carl Foreman and a retrospective review of the film from 1986
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation from a 4K digital restoration, presented in Dolby Vision HDR (HDR 10 compatible)
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Audio commentary by historian Glenn Frankel, author of High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic
- Audio commentary by Western authority Stephen Prince
- Women of the West: A Feminist Approach to High Noon – new video essay by Western scholar J. E. Smyth
- Interview with film historian Neil Sinyard, author of Fred Zinnemann: Films of Character and Conscience
- A 1969 audio interview with writer Carl Foreman from the National Film Theatre in London
- The Making of High Noon – a documentary on the making of the film
- Inside High Noon and Behind High Noon – two video pieces on the making and context of the film
- Theatrical trailer
As High Noon has been released on several different formats over the past two decades, it’s only appropriate that Eureka’s assembled an assortment of vintage featurettes for its 4K disc. One interesting curiosity is a DVD-era making-of in which Bill Clinton, of all people, appears as an interview subject! Oh, the glory days of physical media! Appropriately, Eureka also include author Neil Synyard’s deep dive into the themes and development of High Noon, which was initially included on the label’s 2019 Blu-ray. For a more thorough examination of how this classic revolutionarily portrayed woman, check out Western scholar J.E. Smyth’s brand-new video essay. – by Hannah Lynch
VIDEO AND AUDIO
Naturally, with 4K, one does prefer a hint of colour, but it was only a matter of time before reviewing a black and white classic. High Noon is flawless in Ultra HD, which presents that timeless quality and detail that only film can capture. If anything, the film was too bright at first, but that boiled down to my television’s questionable “Movie Mode”- but once I adjusted it to the more appropriate “Filmmaker Mode”, it was perfect.
Presented in the film’s original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 with an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 Mono track, fans new and old alike are treated to an authentic experience short of a projectionist and an old-fashioned movie palace.
While the myth of the Old West may have culminated with Unforgiven, it was High Noon that first dared to paint a more realistic portrait of life during that period. There’s no pleasure in killing, even in fleeting moments of triumph; the bravest of individuals are afraid.
HIGH NOON
(1952, director: Fred Zinnemann)
★★★★
direct blu-ray screen captures
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