Review of Duel in the Sun (1946) by Chris W — 26 Aug 2013

In 1946 producer David O Selznick was looking to top his masterwork Gone With the Wind.

So he hired director King Vidor,tampered with the screenplay and ramped everything up to 11 in the hope he could capture lightning in a bottle as he had done in 1939.

The result was Vidor walked when Selznick started directing over his shoulder and the producer cast his mistress in the lead role and by doing that scuppered any chances of making this film a masterpiece.

So the final result has a kind of over the top grandieur which is let down by Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten being so drippy in there roles and only Gregory Peck delivering the kind of perfomance which matches the producers grand vision.

The film looks great and there are plenty of memorable set pieces which only a classic Hollywood film can provide.

But as I pointed out the two leads are dull Jones cant really act halfbreed and Cotten is lumbered with a boring good guy part while Peck steals the film from both of them.

Martin Scorsese has pointed out that the film is flawed and I am inclined to agree with him and its a long way from the best films that Vidor made for the studio system.

An interesting failiure and a good film to watch alongside the equally flawed Heavens Gate.