Duel in the Sun

Producer David O. Selznick never thought small. Dreaming of a magnum opus on the same grand scale as "Gone with the Wind" and, perhaps a little bit self-conscious of the fact that his recent affair with Jennifer Jones had yielded only one stellar performance from the starlet - and not even in a film he had produced - Selznick's driving ambition to make Jones a star on par with the likes of Vivien Leigh, led him to handcraft "Duel in the Sun." This was to be an extravagant Technicolor epic about a doomed mulatto, Pearl Chavez (Jones) and her rabid lust for, Lewton McCanles (Gregory Peck, in the uncharacteristic part as the villain), the ruthless son and roguish playboy of retired senator and bigoted rancher, Jackson McCanles (Lionel Barrymore). After Pearl?s father, Scott (Herbert Marshall) murders her mother, Pearl is sent to live with Jackson and his wife, Laura Bell (Lillian Gish) on their sprawling ranch, Spanish Bit. Pearl is determined to live purely and plainly, but her incendiary disposition leads into the arms of Lewton. Jesse McCanles (Joseph Cotten), the good son, is forced to leave Spanish Bit, returning years later to find that his brother has become a ruthless tyrant and outlaw. Buttressed by a fiery backdrop about the colliding sensibilities of old West morality and the true Northern ambitions to tame it, ?Duel In The Sun? ultimately became an overblown melodrama that seemed almost a garish lampoon of "Gone With The Wind" rather than its successor. It did respectable box office at the time but very little to advance Jennifer Jones? career into the echelons of super stardom. Prior to its release a sensual dance sequence that Pearl performs around a tree stump for Lewton was deleted because the censorship of the period found its sexual implications?well, shocking. Selznick?s usual attention to craftsmanship and story design also seem to be absent from this occasion. He repositions Butterfly McQueen (Prissy from ?Gone With The Wind) as the Prissy-esque house maid, Vashti, who is even dumber than Prissy and, Selznick muddles the supporting cast with oddities of all sorts, including Walter Huston as a religious zealot, determined to rid Pearl of her sexual demons, and Charles Bickford, as an over-the-hill farmer who offers Pearl his hand in a loveless marriage. Because of its sexually charged subject matter (there is, after all, a rape, a murder and the prospect of lovers committing suicide in the mountains) ?Duel In The Sun? acquired the rather unflattering moniker of ?Lust In The Dust.?
?Duel In The Sun? had previously been made available from Anchor Bay in a stunning road show edition. MGM's reissue is the truncated theatrical version ? also made previously available through Anchor Bay. On all three DVD incarnations, colors are well balanced, though on this new version they seem a tad more dated from the rich and vibrant colors on the Anchor Bay version. Black levels are good but fine detail is lost in many darkly lit scenes. There's also more noticeable film grain on this version than the Anchor Bay edition. The audio is remixed to stereo but only marginally appealing, sounding rather forced and re-channeled. There are NO extras.
There's nothing to stand up and cheer about here. If you are a die hard fan of this film, or westerns, then you will definitely want to look up the out of print copy from Anchor Bay, rather than this reissue. Aside from being longer, the Anchor Bay version also tends to be a better visual presentation overall.

It is WONDERFUL!!! What more could one ask for from the Golden Age of Hollywood: Producer David O. Selznick(he did a little something called "Gone With the Wind" - you may not remember that one....), beautiful Jennifer Jones, a young Gregory Peck, stalwart support from Joseph Cotten, a crotchtedy Lionel Barrymore, a luminious Lillian Gish, supendous 3-strip Technicolor, a decent story for a western(my least favorite movie genre), and a history that would equal Selznick's other "little movie" - GWTW. The DVD of this does the film justice, although some commentary or other supporting features would have been fantastic. I have the Anchor Bay releases of this film and just got this MGM release-they seem to be taken from the same source material, which is very, very good. This film's reputation needs to be defended - sure it was shocking in 1947, but in 2004, they could probably touch on these topics in an "Waltons" or "Litte House" episode. Judge for yourself - get this movie - you won't be disappointed!!

If you are in the mood to see a film where two lovers break up and it's a western, this one is for you. David O. Selznick's Duel In The Sun has some interesting shades of GONE WITh THE WIND (1939) to it, including Butterfly McQueen in the cast. But when Selznick does a film, he does it big. What a performance by Jennifer Jones who plays a sex-crazed half-breed. (The first time I ever saw Jennifer Jones was in THE TOWERING INFERNO [1974]. She looked lovely then.) Joseph Cotten brings his wife-intent to the McCanles family ranch to meet his parents Lillian Gish and Lionel Barrymore (ON BORROWED TIME [1939]). While Jennifer gets comfortable and settled in, along comes the sexually aggressive Gregory Peck as "Lewt", the brother of jesse. While Jesse is helping on the ranch, Lewt tries to get closer to Jennifer. She resists. Until one rainy, thunderous night, Lewt rapes her, but more like she gives in. When Jesse finds out about the two, it changes everything and everybodies life.
Also in the cast: Charles Bickford, Herbert Marshall and Walter Huston.
The natural rock formation of the side of a man's face actually does exsist. You'll see the real thing here and also matte shots were used.

"I'm trash I tell ya". This movie is pure camp, politically incorrect in every way, and immensely entertaining. As Greg Peck said to Jennifer Jones at the water hole, "We've been spoofing ain't we?". I think that says it all!

David O. Selznick's Duel in the Sun looks strange right from the opening shot. The Technicolor images in this film have a nightmare quality about them. The whole film almost feels like a very disturbing dream. It is a Western but uses the landscape and the overly sexual Jennifer Jones to spark some erotic emotion inside the viewer the enters regions we normally would not enter. There is a very dark quality about the film that tries to explore the lust the drives the human animal. But we a are more than just animals because of our ability to reason. This film attempts to make the viewer forget all reason and give oneself up to these hidden feelings. Even Dimitri Tiomkin's score tends to reflect this strange nature of the film as he often mixes his traditional Western scoring to something more obscure and enigmatic. The finale between Jennifer Jones and Gregory Peck (cast against type) is so vivid that the images of it my last with you forever. This is powerful filmmaking, but I don't know that I could take a steady diet of it.