Duel in the Sun (1946)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

King Vidor
(more)

Writers:

Niven Busch (novel)
Oliver H.P. Garrett (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

8 December 1948 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Western

Tagline:

Emotions . . . As Violent As The Wind-Swept Prairie !

Plot:

Beautiful half-breed Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between her sons, one good and the other bad.

Plot Keywords:

Shooting | Half Breed | Texas | Desert | Loss Of Father

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Jennifer Jones	...	Pearl Chavez
Joseph Cotten	...	Jesse McCanles
Gregory Peck	...	Lewton 'Lewt' McCanles
Lionel Barrymore	...	Sen. Jackson McCanles
Herbert Marshall	...	Scott Chavez
Lillian Gish	...	Laura Belle McCanles
Walter Huston	...	The Sinkiller
Charles Bickford	...	Sam Pierce
Harry Carey	...	Lem Smoot
Joan Tetzel	...	Helen Langford
Tilly Losch	...	Mrs. Chavez
Butterfly McQueen	...	Vashti
Scott McKay	...	Sid
Otto Kruger	...	Mr. Langford
Sidney Blackmer	...	The Lover
Charles Dingle	...	Sheriff Hardy
Griff Barnett	...	The Bordertown Jailer
Lane Chandler	...	Fence-Line Cavalry Captain
Tom Dillon	...	Train Engineer (as Thomas Dillon)
Robert McKenzie	...	Bartender Zeke
Lloyd Shaw	...	Barbecue Dance Caller
Frank Cordell	...	Sid
Dan White	...	Ed, the Wrangler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hank Bell	...	McCanles Ranch Hand (uncredited)
Johnny Bond	...	Cowhand at Barbecue (uncredited)
Tex Cooper	...	Square Dancer (uncredited)
Steve Dunhill	...	Jake (uncredited)
Si Jenks	...	Dance-Floor Cowboy (uncredited)
Victor Kilian	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Kermit Maynard	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Francis McDonald	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Train Fireman (uncredited)
Rose Plumer	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Bert Roach	...	Barbecue Guest (uncredited)
Al Taylor	...	Cowboy at Barbecue (uncredited)
Orson Welles	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Guy Wilkerson	...	Dance-Floor Cowboy (uncredited)
Hank Worden	...	Dance- Floor Cowboy (uncredited)

Directed by
King Vidor
Otto Brower		(uncredited)
William Dieterle		(uncredited)
Sidney Franklin		(uncredited)
William Cameron Menzies		(uncredited)
David O. Selznick		(uncredited)
Josef von Sternberg		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Niven Busch		(novel)
Oliver H.P. Garrett		adaptation &
David O. Selznick		screenplay
Ben Hecht		uncredited

Produced by
David O. Selznick	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Dimitri Tiomkin

Cinematography by
Lee Garmes		(director of photography)
Ray Rennahan		(director of photography)
Harold Rosson		(director of photography) (as Hal Rosson)

Production Design by
J. McMillan Johnson

Art Direction by
James Basevi

Production Management
Fred Ahern	....	assistant production manager (uncredited)
Glenn Cook	....	unit manager (uncredited)
Richard Johnston	....	production manager (uncredited)
William McGarry	....	unit manager (uncredited)
Argyle Nelson	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Otto Brower	....	second unit director
B. Reeves Eason	....	second unit director (as Reaves Eason)
Lowell J. Farrell	....	assistant director
Harvey Dwight	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Chester M. Franklin	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Art Department
John Ewing	....	associate art director
Emile Kuri	....	interior decorator
John Brent	....	property master (uncredited)
Arden Cripe	....	assistant property master (uncredited)
Roy McLaughlin	....	greensman (uncredited)
Fred Widdowson	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Richard DeWeese	....	sound recordist (as Richard De Weese)
James G. Stewart	....	sound director

Special Effects by
Clarence Slifer	....	special effects
Jack Cosgrove	....	special photographic effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Richard Farnsworth	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles P. Boyle	....	additional photographer
Raymond Bahns	....	key grip (uncredited)
Allen M. Davey	....	additional cinematographer (uncredited)
Homer Plannette	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Morris Rosen	....	key grip (uncredited)
Cliff Shirpser	....	assistant camera: Technicolor (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Harry Apperson	....	master drapes (uncredited)

Editorial Department
John Faure	....	associate film editor
Hal C. Kern	....	supervising film editor
William H. Ziegler	....	associate film editor (as Wm. Ziegler)
Noel Coppleman	....	assistant editor (uncredited)
Wayland M. Hendry	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Dimitri Tiomkin	....	conductor
Lucien Cailliet	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Herschel Burke Gilbert	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Jester Hairston	....	choral director (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Joseph Nussbaum	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
George Parrish	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
David Tamkin	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Dimitri Tiomkin	....	musical director (uncredited)

Other crew
Natalie Kalmus	....	technicolor color director
Tilly Losch	....	solo dances creator
Morgan Padelford	....	associate technicolor color director
Lydia Schiller	....	scenario assistant
David O. Selznick	....	presenter: his production in Technicolor of
Lloyd Shaw	....	group dances
Adele Cannon	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Joel Freeman	....	production clerk (uncredited)
Ann Harris	....	researcher (uncredited)
Paul MacNamara	....	publicity director (uncredited)
Ralph McCutcheon	....	horse trainer (uncredited)
Donna M. Norridge	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Agnes Pottage	....	script clerk (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Vanguard Films (for) (uncredited)
• Selznick Studio, The

Distributors

• Selznick Releasing Organization (1946) (USA) (theatrical)
• Schorcht Filmverleih Gmbh (1952) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Selznick Releasing Organization (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Emerald (2006) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• Playhouse Home Video (????) (USA) (video)

Also Known As:

King Vidor's Duel in the Sun (UK) (complete title) (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

USA:144 min (roadshow version) | USA:129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #11649) | West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (1986) | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

Vanguard Films

Trivia:

This film is listed among The 100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.

Quotes:

The Sinkiller: I don't really know much about Sam Pierce, oh Lord, but from what I hear, he'd be needing no introduction to you. Seeing how Sam was snatched from his loved ones' arms before they even had time to get a good grip on hm, I'm counting on you to give him a better break up yonder.

Movie Connections:

Featured in A Conversation with Gregory Peck (1999)

Soundtrack:

Gotta Get Me Somebody To Love

Overblown, but entertaining and essential for Western fans.

In the trade, this film was derisively known as "Lust in the Dust" and the critics were lukewarm. The Catholic Film Office rated it "C" for "condemned," presumably due to its smoldering sexuality, and Protestant churches denounced it for Walter Huston's windbag and satirical preacher, "The Sinkiller." Just about the only people who liked it were producer David O. Selznick and the public.

By late 1980's, times had changed so much that "Duel in the Sun" was shown in the early evening on Baltimore's Channel 24, then a family-oriented station owned by a bible publisher, Thomas Nelson. It was available on video at that time from Playhouse Video, a family imprint of CBS-Fox! Today, nearly sixty years after its release, we can perhaps consider the film objectively.

In a filmed interview years later, King Vidor said that he signed on to this film expecting it to be a small scale psychological Western like the later "High Noon." However, producer Selznick, relatively young and already living in the shadow of his "Gone With the Wind," consciously or/and unconsciously tried to equal or outdo that film with this one. The result is a Western epic built upon a non-epic story, making it seem a bit grandiose or overblown. Tiomkin's grand and beautiful score for this film would seem better suited for a tale about a true epic, such as a story about the cavalry campaigns or the building of the Pacific railroads.

Inspite of itself, the core of this film is a fascinating psychological Western based on the interplay of varied and sometimes contrasting characters. The acting is excellent, a possible exception being Lionel Barrymore's hamming, which burns up the scenery like a prairie fire and is often irritating. The production values are superb and the scenes of the confrontation with the railroad should be studied by student filmmakers.