Duel in the Sun (1946)

Director:

King Vidor
(more)

Writers:

David O. Selznick (screenplay)
Niven Busch (suggested by a novel by)
(more)

Release Date:

12 September 1947 (Mexico)

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:

Half Breed | Lovers | Shooting | Texas | Father Son Estrangement

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Griff Barnett	...	The Bordertown Jailer (uncredited)
Hank Bell	...	McCanles Ranch Hand (uncredited)
Johnny Bond	...	Cowhand at Barbecue (uncredited)
Lane Chandler	...	Fence-Line Cavalry Captain (uncredited)
Tex Cooper	...	Square Dancer (uncredited)
Frank Cordell	...	Sid (uncredited)
Tom Dillon	...	Train Engineer (uncredited)
Steve Dunhill	...	Jake (uncredited)
Si Jenks	...	Dance-Floor Cowboy (uncredited)
Jack Kenny	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Victor Kilian	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Ann Kunde	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Kermit Maynard	...	Barfly (uncredited)
Francis McDonald	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Robert McKenzie	...	Bartender Zeke (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Train Fireman (uncredited)
Rose Plumer	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Bert Roach	...	Barbecue Guest (uncredited)
Lloyd Shaw	...	Barbecue Dance Caller (uncredited)
Al Taylor	...	Cowboy at Barbecue (uncredited)
Orson Welles	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Dan White	...	Ed, the Wrangler (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
David O. Selznick		(screenplay)
Niven Busch		(suggested by a novel by)
Oliver H.P. Garrett		(adaptation)
Ben Hecht		uncredited

Produced by
David O. Selznick	....	producer

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)

Casting by
Ruth Burch		(uncredited)

Production Design by
J. McMillan Johnson

Art Direction by
James Basevi

Costume Design by
Walter Plunkett

Makeup Department
Margaret Martin	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Gale McGarry	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Norbert A. Myles	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Robert Stephanoff	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Fred Ahern	....	assistant production manager (uncredited)
Glenn Cook	....	unit manager (uncredited)
Charles L. Glett	....	general 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
Bert Chervin	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Harvey Dwight	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Arthur Fellows	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Chester M. Franklin	....	second unit director (uncredited)
William Cameron Menzies	....	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)
Harold Fenton	....	construction superintendent (uncredited)
Roy McLaughlin	....	greensman (uncredited)
Josef von Sternberg	....	visual consultant (uncredited)
Fred Widdowson	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Richard DeWeese	....	recordist (as Richard De Weese)
James G. Stewart	....	sound director
Charles L. Freeman	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Clarence Slifer	....	special effects
Charles L. Freeman	....	special effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Spencer Bagdatopolis	....	matte painter (uncredited)
Jack Cosgrove	....	special photographic effects (uncredited)
Harold Grigg	....	visual effects camera operator (uncredited)
Robert Hansard	....	chief effects projectionist (uncredited)
Hans Ledeboer	....	matte painter (uncredited)
Owen Marsh	....	visual effects assistant cameraman (uncredited)
Jack Shaw	....	matte painter (uncredited)
Clarence Slifer	....	visual effects cinematographer (uncredited)

Stunts
Richard Farnsworth	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles P. Boyle	....	additional photography
Raymond Bahns	....	key grip (uncredited)
Allen M. Davey	....	additional cinematographer (uncredited)
Eddie Fitzgerald	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Madison S. Lacy	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Owen Marsh	....	assistant camera: visual effects (uncredited)
Edward Petzoldt	....	chief electrician (uncredited)
Homer Plannette	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Morris Rosen	....	key grip (uncredited)
Cliff Shirpser	....	assistant camera: Technicolor (uncredited)
Al St. Hilaire	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Harry Webb	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Harry Apperson	....	master drapes (uncredited)
Frank Beetson Jr.	....	wardrobe superintendent (uncredited)
Elmer Ellsworth	....	wardrobe superintendent (uncredited)
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)
Ann Peck	....	wardrobe superintendent (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)
George C. Emick	....	music editor (uncredited)
Herschel Burke Gilbert	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Audrey Granville	....	music coordinator (uncredited)
Jester Hairston	....	choral director (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Joseph Nussbaum	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
George Parrish	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
David Tamkin	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Natalie Kalmus	....	color director
Tilly Losch	....	solo dances creator
Morgan Padelford	....	associate color director
Lydia Schiller	....	scenario assistant
David O. Selznick	....	presenter: his production in Technicolor of
Lloyd Shaw	....	group dances
Fred Andrews	....	technical advisor: guns and gunplay (uncredited)
Adele Cannon	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Charles Ellison	....	technical advisor: barbeque scene (uncredited)
Joel Freeman	....	production clerk (uncredited)
Ann Harris	....	researcher (uncredited)
J.T. Harris	....	technical advisor: ranch life details (uncredited)
Walter Haven	....	technical advisor: railroad construction (uncredited)
Philip Kieffer	....	technical advisor: cavalry charge (uncredited)
Paul MacNamara	....	publicity director (uncredited)
Ralph McCutcheon	....	horse trainer (uncredited)
Ralph McCutcheon	....	technical advisor: ranch life details (uncredited)
Donna M. Norridge	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Agnes Pottage	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Carl Preed	....	technical advisor: barroom scenes (uncredited)
Lloyd Shaw	....	technical advisor: 19th-century dances (uncredited)
Dan White	....	technical advisor: Texas dialect (uncredited)

Production Companies

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

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 | West Germany:138 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (1986) (1992) (1996) (2008) | UK:A (original rating) | Australia:PG | Iceland:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #11649) | West Germany:16 (nf) | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Selznick Studio, The

Trivia:

Film debut of Joan Tetzel.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Camera shadow on Dice's head when Lewt invited Pearl to go swimming after dinner.

Quotes:

Lewt McCanles:I'm riding back to that hitching post and then turning and starting to shoot.
Jesse McCanles:It's more than you did for Sam Pierce! Why all the consideration?
Lewt McCanles:I just don't want them fancy friends of yours to say you had a brother who shot you down in cold blood.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Interactive Film Quiz (2006) (VG)

Soundtrack:

The Bonnie Blue Flag

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.