{"id":22408,"date":"2016-09-20T17:39:10","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T21:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=22408"},"modified":"2016-09-20T17:40:41","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T21:40:41","slug":"high-noon-1952-olive-signature-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/20\/high-noon-1952-olive-signature-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"High Noon (1952): Olive Signature [Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"highnoon\"<\/a>Fred Zinnemann\u2019s classic Western is an absolute masterpiece that continues to hold its place as my favorite Western of all time. It\u2019s a marvel of cinema, and a wonderful dramatic thriller set in the old West and ponders on the question of what happens when the helpers need help. It\u2019s also a stunning albeit cynical glimpse at the ultimate summary of a hero and how they can sometimes be cast aside by those that they\u2019ve protected for so many years. Gary Cooper\u2019s role as Will Kane is absolutely pitch perfect, especially when it pertains to his role as a man desperately seeking help in staring down imminent death and settling score that will meet him at the end of his day, no matter what he does.<\/p>\n

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Cooper plays Marshall Will Kane, a man who has just married the love of his life and is readying for his retirement. After watching over the town of Hadleyville New Mexico for so many years, Will is preparing to leave with his new wife Amy to live the rest of his life in a new town. Unfortunately a vicious criminal named Frank Miller has been released from jail after Will put him there years before. Intent on murdering Will when he arrives at noon by train, Frank\u2019s three brothers wait for him in the station, prepared to face Will Kane and murder him in cold blood for vengeance. Despite Amy\u2019s insistence that Kane flee town and not look back, he\u2019s dead set in staring Frank down once again and facing off with him. He\u2019s unfortunately outnumbered and without an army.<\/p>\n

As the minutes tick by, Will spends the afternoon walking around the town anxiously trying to find someone to help him fight Frank, but much to his horror, no one is willing to step up and aide him. With the inevitability of the showdown, Will has to decide if he wants to flee town as a coward, or potentially die as a hero. And on the slim chance Will survives the attack, what then? How can Will possibly continue on with a life knowing he has no one to lean on, and may also likely experience other criminals with a score to settle? Is it still worth playing the hero once you\u2019ve seen how ungrateful those you\u2019ve saved are toward you? How can one possibly lend others a hand when they\u2019ve been turned away in their darkest time? The urgency presented in \u201cHigh Noon\u201d is nail biting, offering an unnerving mood that makes Will\u2019s journey to find some form of help absolutely harrowing.<\/p>\n

You can sense the sheer desperation and fright in Will Kane\u2019s eyes throughout the duration of \u201cHigh Noon,\u201d as director Zinnemann consistently cuts to a ticking clock, and silent shots of Frank\u2019s gang waiting at the train station for him to finally arrive. Every second counts for Will Kane, and his hope of finding an ally in his final war is a crushing one that ends in a compelling unfolding of events. \u201cHigh Noon\u201d is an absolutely masterful Western that ponders on the hero and what happens when they need to be saved themselves.<\/p>\n

Olive Films\u2019 new label the Signature series offers up special editions for a lot of remarkable and acclaimed dramas and cult films. The Signature Edition for \u201cHigh Noon\u201d comes with a booklet with an essay by Sight and Sound Editor Nick James. On the Blu-Ray, there\u2019s \u201cA Ticking Clock\u201d a wonderful six minute look at Mark Goldblatt\u2019s excellent editing for \u201cHigh Noon\u201d and how he used editing to tighten the tension at every turn. \u201cA Stanley Kramer Production\u201d is a fourteen minute look at producer Michael Schlesinger, with pictures and anecdotes about his life. \u201cImitation of Life: The Blacklist History of High Noon\u201d is a nine minute look at how the screenwriter for \u201cHigh Noon\u201d suffered through the McCarthy era of Hollywood\u2019s witch hunt and blacklisting epidemic.<\/p>\n

The segment is hosted by historian Larry Ceplair and blacklisted screenwriter Walter Bernstein. \u201cUlcers and Oscars: The Production History of High Noon\u201d is a twelve minute visual essay with wonderful and rare archival footage, and is narrated by the late Anton Yelchin. There are looks at early production stages of casting, the scripting complications due to the \u201cobjectionable\u201d subject matter of the era, and there\u2019s a discussion about the film\u2019s reception, its awards reception, and its legacy. There\u2019s even an interesting look at how John Wayne and Howard Hawks hated the movie. \u201cUncitizened Kane\u201d is an eleven minute original essay by Sight and Sound editor Nick James. Finally, there\u2019s the original theatrical trailer for \u201cHigh Noon.\u201d<\/p>\n