My Darling Clementine (DVD)
Special Edition
APPROX. 97 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1946 - MPA RATING: NR
" ...a relatively laid-back, almost poetic vision of the Old West, its characters and characterizations outshining its well-worn plot.
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Fans of the movie "Tombstone," and they are legion, may find "My Darling Clementine" a pleasant change of pace, just as fans of "My Darling Clementine" may find the newer film a more traditional action yarn. In other words, the two films complement one another nicely. Now, if only we could have had Henry Fonda's Wyatt and Val Kilmer's Doc in the same picture. Wouldn't that have been a kick?
Video:
The major extra on the disc is having a complete second version of the film, a prerelease edition, which was copied from a 1946 nitrate preview print. The preview copy was preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive in cooperation with 20th Century Fox and the Museum of Modern Art Department of Film.
Neither version, however, shows up particularly well compared to the best black-and-white films of the day, but when they're good, they're very, very good. I watched both versions and noticed little difference between them visually. The regular-release edition appears to be a very good archival print with virtually no age marks, transferred very cleanly to disc; and the prerelease edition comes out looking about the same. The picture quality of both versions, though, is quite dark, often making the characters look like they're in silhouette even in broad daylight shots. I'm not sure if this was intentional with Ford or not, since the only other times I've watched the film have been on broadcast TV where the image was always more than a little faded and fuzzy. Anyway, object delineation is average, inner detail is obscured by darker areas of the screen, blacks are vividly black, and grain is notably absent.
Audio:
On the regular edition the viewer has the choice of the film's original monaural soundtrack in Dolby Digital 2.0 or a new stereo remix, also in DD 2.0. In stereo the sonic image is spread out further between the two front speakers, and the frequency spectrum has been clarified slightly, producing a clear but bright and somewhat edgy sound. In mono, the image is confined to the center channel as long as you're sitting directly in front of the television or as long as you play it back in Dolby Pro Logic, which collapses the two channels into the center. In any case, the mono is softer, more recessed, and smoother than the stereo remix. In both instances you'll find a small degree of background noise. On the prerelease edition the viewer gets an altered soundtrack but only in 2.0 mono playback.
Extras:
As usual with one of Fox's "Studio Classics," the extra materials are intelligently selected. As I've already mentioned, the main bonus item is the alternative, preview edition of the film, which at 103 minutes is about six minutes longer than the regular-release edition, and which contains differences in the soundtrack, mainly the addition of background music to certain scenes in the final cut. It seems that neither studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck nor the film's preview audience completely liked Ford's initial treatment of the story, and Zanuck insisted on a number of changes. The two versions of the film are found on flip sides of a single DVD.
The extras also include a forty-one minute, behind-the-scenes featurette about the preview edition called "What Is the Pre-Release Version?" It is narrated by Robert Gitt, a preservation officer at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, who supervised the DVD transfer of the preview edition and compares the two versions in detail. Then on the regular edition of the film there is an audio commentary by Wyatt Earp III, and on both editions there are a very generous thirty-two scene selections. Concluding the extras are a still gallery; a theatrical trailer; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; and English and Spanish subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
Unlike the action-packed "Tombstone" with its fast pace and charismatic heroes, "My Darling Clementine" is a relatively laid-back, almost poetic vision of the Old West, its characters and characterizations outshining its well-worn plot. John Ford created a genuine Western classic in this motion picture, which even he was hard pressed to top. Besides, "Clementine" was Col. Potter's favorite film in "M.A.S.H," so what more could you ask for?
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