Disc Details
Special Features:	Full frame format Chapter selection Commentary by Maria Cooper-Janis, Jonathan Foreman, Tim Zinneman and John Ritter Theatrical trailers Original restored audio and enhanced original restored audio Featurette: "The Making of High Noon" Featurette: "Behind High Noon" Radio broadcast with Tex Ritter
Video Format:	Full Frame (1.33:1) [SS-DL]
Languages:	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)mono English (Dolby Digital 2.0)mono (enhanced)
Subtitles:	English for hearing impaired.
Captions:	Yes
Casing:	1-Disc Keep Case

Marshall Will Kane(Gary Cooper) is to be married today. His young Quaker bride, Amy (Grace Kelly) looks forward to a peaceful life with the retiring lawman. As the couple exchanges vows, three outlaws wait on the noon train. Ben Miller(Sheb Wooley), Jack Colby (Lee Van Cleef) and James Pierce (Robert Wilke) await the train bringing Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) back to Hadleyville, New Mexico. The Miller gang intends to kill the Marshall who put Frank in prison.

Will and Amy leave town after hearing that Frank Miller is coming to town. On the way out of town, Will Kane realizes he is running from his duty. He returns to Hadleyville. Once back in town, Will finds that no one in the town wants to help Kane defend the town. Alone, Kane ends up defending his own values despite the lack of help or appreciation from the folks that he is defending.

"High Noon" garnered Gary Cooper his second Oscar as Best Actor. The low-key actor defined what it meant to be a Western hero in Zinneman's "High Noon." The film sports outstanding cast of supporting players. Lon Chaney Jr., Lloyd Bridges, Harry Morgan, Thomas Mitchell, Katy Jurado and Otto Kruger populate the town of Hadleyville. One by one, these scions of Hadleyville society fall away from their duty to protect their town. Kane realizes that he is defending a town of cowards. Kane stays anyway. Kane is defending his own values.

John Wayne hated "High Noon." To Wayne, the film was blasphemous to all that was American. His film "Rio Bravo" was made in direct response "High Noon." Screenwriter Carl Forman and cinematographer Fred Crosby (father of singer David Crosby) were blacklisted. Gary Cooper stood by the men. Such was his power at that time in Hollywood. Cooper was beyond reproach. He was an American who hated communism but believed in free speech. Cooper's brave stand against the blacklist remains a beacon of light from a dark time in Hollywood history.

"High Noon" was nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. The movie won four. In addition to Gary Cooper's Oscar, "High Noon" won for Best Score, Best Song and Best Editing. As for editing, "High Noon" was unusual in that the events depicted on screen took place in real time. The movie and events both take place during 85 minutes.

Picture Quality: 10/10
Excellent restoration. Oscar winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby's photography is outstanding. Excellent deep focus photography in some scenes. No delineation problems. Nice distribution of shades through the gray scales. No pixilation or artifacts. The movie was made on a low budget on studio sets. There are none of the John Fordesque landscape shots. This is one of the things that made "High Noon" an unusual Western. The limited settings add tension to the film. Kane's sense of isolation is enhanced by the film's claustrophobic setting.

Sound Quality: 10/10
The DVD has two 2.0 soundtracks. The enhanced original version is fuller and richer than the regular 2.0 track. Both are still good. The movie is dialogue intensive. Dimitri Tiomkin's wonderful score benefits greatly from the restoration.

Menu: 8/10
Nice design. The menu seems to be a cross between the opening credits of both "The Wild Bunch" and the TV series "The Wild, Wild West." Easy to navigate.

Extra Features: 10/10
This 50th Anniversary Edition includes some great extras. It is wonderful to see older films being released with numerous historical extras. Hopefully, film fans will respond to this and we will see other older films receive this treatment.

"The Making of High Noon" is a 10 minute featurette hosted by Leonard Maltin. The featurette features on-screen interviews with Lloyd Bridges, producer Stanley Kramer, director Fred Zinneman, John Ritter, son of singer Tex Ritter, and David Crosby, son of cinematographer Floyd Crosby among others.

"Behind High Noon" is hosted ny Maria Cooper-Janis, daughter of Gary Cooper. This featurette is a 10 minute look at the movie by the children of many of the principle players. The children share their memories, and their parent's memories of working on this classic.

The audio commentary track is very unique. Like the "Behind High Noon" featurette, the commentary track was made by the children of actor Gary Cooper, writer Carl Forman, director Fred Zinneman and singer Tex Ritter.

There are trailers for this movie and two others being given the royal treatment by Artisan: "The Quiet Man" and "Rio Grande."

The Final Word:
Artisan's "High Noon: Collector's Edition" is a must have DVD. This classic of American cinema should be seen by all American's. Its message is as powerful and pertinent today as it was 50 years ago.

Rusty White