High Noon (1952)
Directed by Fred Zinnemann this western stars Gary Cooper and has the first major role for Grace Kelly. Avoided and abandoned by his friends and ageing marshal waits for the past to arrive on the noon train.
Built around the idea of the story being portrayed in near real time the film uses this devise to build up the tension of the impending arrival of violence. The tension rises nicely as clocks are present in a lot of shots to keep the viewer informed of how time is running out. Over all this is a well made film even if some of the music does seem slightly dated to modern tastes.
What the film is really about is the red scare and persecution in Hollywood of suspected communists, indeed following the making of this film writer Carl Foreman was himself blacklisted. The way the community turns on the protagonist works really well as a metaphor for the treatment of those seen to be causing problems and how it would be best for everyone else if they just “went away”. At the time a number of people felt the film was un-American but the idea of the individual at odds with the community is one of the central themes of the genre.
5/5
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