Eureka Blu-ray Film Review

High Noon (1952) • Limited Edition Blu-ray [Eureka! Masters of Cinema]

A town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townsfolk, must face a gang of killers alone at high noon when their leader arrives on the noon train.

Even those who haven’t seen High Noon will have some idea of what it’s about, and no doubt can hum its Academy Award-winning theme song “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’.” It’s a powerful parable about one man standing up for his principals and defending human decency in the face of encroaching evil, even as those around him turn their backs. As classic Westerns go, you can’t find one more renowned. It came at the tail-end of the Western’s Golden Age in Hollywood, marking the end of an era as the film industry, along with the nation itself, descended into political paranoia.

At the time, around a third of all movies being made in the United States, and a quarter of all television shows in production, were Westerns. The US seemed to be struggling to assert a new national identity…