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Shorter Reviews 127
his people in seemingly real locales. Ford's direction has removed many of the artificialities of actors saying lines and, as a result, the characterizations by Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine and others are superb.
John Ford seems to be a great craftsman and an imaginative director but one with a very unsure sense of taste. Certainly when he has a good script and helpful guidance (Dudley Nichols, etc., in The Informer and Darryl Zanuck in Grapes) he is able to present a work that is relatively unblemished. Unfortunately, however, too many of his films are marred by outbreaks of farcical behavior, excruciating sentimentalism, and outright hokum. Although he has debased his reputation in his recent efforts, Ford remains one of America's finest directors. His Grapes of Wrath is definitely one of the best sound films — not only a great cinematic achievement, but a great human document.
(Contemporary Films)
HIGH NOON
(U.S.A.. 1952)
Directed by Fred Zinneman
If a film society feels that it must show some recent American pictures, certainly High Noon is one of the best. It is not as patently an "epic" film as Shane with its issue of cattle ranchers vs. farmers, but it is far more exciting as cinema and definitely more literate. Its theme is intelligently developed and entirely believable. Faced with the arrival of a criminal on the noon train, the marshal (Gary Cooper) resolves not to avoid the issue by leaving town until he has done his duty. His personal bravery is contrasted to the cowardly expediency of the townspeople. Zinneman has made this material visually exciting. Omitting the turgid talkiness of the average film, Zinneman has returned to many of the long neglected devices of the silent screen. High Noon is not only an excellent story but perhaps the purest film to come out of Hollywood in many a year. Certainly it assures Zinneman a high place in the history of the screen.
(Contemporary Films and Audio Film Classics)
THE INFORMER
(U.S.A., 1935)
Directed by John Ford
Only occasionally has Hollywood chosen a serious subject and recreated it on the screen with taste, imagination, and artistry. Certainly The Informer is one of the rare attempts. It tells the brief story of a good natured but weak-willed Irishman, played by Victor MacLaglen, who betrays his friend and the Irish revolution for twenty pounds so that he and his girl can go to America. He suceeds only in wasting most of the money in a nightmarish evening of partying. Finally he is shot by the revolutionaries, but before he dies he asks forgiveness from the murdered boy's mother.