Dir: Various | Cast: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton, Grégory Peck, Lionel Barrymore, Herbert Marshall | US Western 146’
For the reminder of his life the phenomenal success of ‘Gone With the Wind’ hung like a millstone around the neck of David O. Selznick, of which Duel in the Sun’ represented the most determined attempt to surpass.
This classic western sees a beautiful Pearl Chavez (Jones) torn between two brothers, one good and one bad in a notoriously extravagant production bedevilled by Selznick’s incorrigible back seat driving who got through more than one directors in the process after the first choice King Vidor walked off the film.
The result was hardly the masterpiece Selznick hoped, but it certainly isn’t dull, looks good in Technicolor, the distinguished casts acts well, and it boasts a memorable score by Dimitri Tiomkin. @RichardChatten