Pursued [DVD] [1947] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Western noir, and it's pretty good. Angular, shadowy black and white photography (by James Wong Howe), the story told in flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks with the resigned narration of Robert Mitchum, a relentless villian, a hidden family mystery that might contain hints of incest...plus gunfights and New Mexico scenery.

Mitchum and Theresa Wright are very good as the possibly doomed couple. Wright seems to me to always have had a "nice girl next door" air about her that, I think, obscured what an excellent actress she was. Not just in Best Years of Our Lives, but look at her in The Little Foxes (where in her first movie she holds up very well with Bette Davis), The Men and Shadow of a Doubt. She knew how to deliver a line. Dean Jagger was almost as ubiquitous a character actor in the late Forties and Fifties as Thomas Mitchell had been in the Thirties and Forties. Jagger usually, it seemed to me, mostly played decent good guys or well intentioned weakings, and with deliberate speech. It was good to see him play so effectively a decisive-spoken out-and-out bad guy.

The DVD transfer is very good, but no extras

Film Noir was a phrase first coined by French critics in the forties, to describe the then current wave of dark downbeat crime and detective films that contained dark themes and had a very black look. I have watched some pretty dark films in my time, but this has to be the blackest western that I have ever seen. This is of the 95 per cent cocoa variety! I have never been a great fan of the work of the director Raoul Walsh, so it has taken me a long time to catch up with this stunning piece of work. It is quite a groundbreaking film for its time, and with its dark themes and tone fits the film noir genre as easily as it does the western. It could also be seen as the precursor of the psychological westerns of the fifties, exemplified in the films of the director Anthony Mann and his star James Stewart.

"Pursued" is based on a screenplay by the novelist and writer Niven Busch, who also wrote that oddity "Duel In the Sun". Busch seems to have been influenced strongly by Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights", which the film strongly resembles. Set in turn of the century New Mexico, the story concerns Bob Mitchum as Jeb Rand, a boy who is adopted by Judith Anderson following the mysterious murder of his family. He is then raised with his new family, but the black deeds of the past continue to haunt his dreams and he is never able to escape them. Gradually the past begins to catch up. A deadly rivalry flares up between Jeb and his adopted brother. The dangerous flames of love are fanned into life between Jeb and his adopted sister. Things become fatally confused. There is murder in the air! The scene is set for a rousing finale when the truth is finally revealed.

Perhaps the most stunning feature of this film is its look. The black and white photography by James Wong Howe is simply stunning, and strongly resembles the work of the great Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, best illustrated in John Ford's "The Fugitive". The film is a fine example of how strongly photography can influence the tone and themes of a film. Credit should also be given to a memorable screen score by the composer Max Steiner. His score is a virtuoso one that fits in seamlessly with the wildly fluctuating scenes in the film. The score could almost be seen as a rehearsal for his wonderful work in John Ford's "The Searchers", which it strongly resembles. But the biggest surprise here is the direction by Raoul Walsh. I admire his work in films like "The Roaring Twenties" and especially "High Sierra", but aside from this have always considered him nothing other than workmanlike. His career resembles that of William "Wild Bill" Wellman who directed two very fine films in "The Ox Bow Incident" and "Yellow Sky", but little else of real note. But perhaps I need a rethink. This film is a very fine work indeed. The acting is of the highest standard. Mitchum is a suitably brooding Heathcliff type character, and Dean Jagger is deliciously evil. Teresa Wright is also surprisingly effective. They are all given strong support by the likes of Alan Hale and Harry Carey jnr. This is a very accomplished film, and I still find it hard to believe that I cannot recall ever having watched it before! But discovering a film like this is one of the joys of watching cinema. It is like seeing an old beautiful piece of art for the first time. It is a joy that is hard to replicate. A comfortable five stars.

Pursued is an interesting movie which incorporates several motifs from 1940s crime movies into a Western. The central premise is implausible but this does not prevent the film from holding the audience's attention throughout.

The hero is haunted by a traumatic experience during his early boyhood which no-one will explain to him. He is also dogged by a malevolent enemy who seems to hate him for no reason. Although the storyline of Pursued is open to severe criticism, the way the film was made is admirable. Robert Mitchum was the ideal actor for the leading role and Dean Jagger in a most untypical part is perfect as the glinting villain. James Wong Howe's high contrast cinematography is superb and adds considerably to the moody atmosphere.

This particular DVD - beware: there are other DVDs of this movie including several bootlegs - has excellent picture quality which holds up well even onto a large screen via a projector.