John Ford's Untouched Pre-Release Version Tops Zanuck's Final Version~

This is probably not known by many fans of 1946’s My Darling Clementine, but the final version is not the version that John Ford directed. Executive Producer Darryl F. Zanuck caved in to the wishes of two thousand people who attended the preview and expressed their disappointment; this caused him to edit about a half hour off the time and reshoot a couple of scenes. In the 2003 DVD by 20th Century Fox the pre-release version that was untouched by Zanuck is offered along with a DVD feature documentary called “What Is The Pre-Release Version?“ by a UCLA film historian. On the other side of that disc is the final version and an audio commentary by Ford biographer Sam Eyman and Wyatt Earp III. Besides this cornucopia of treats is another disc that holds 1939’s Frontier Marshal with Randolph Scott and Cesar Romero on it, which I saw first in consternation because I hadn’t read the case to know that it was included and thought the library screwed up. I, with no difficulty at all, watched and absorbed all of this over the last few days.

Zanuck had, of course, worked often with Ford and was an experienced writer and editor. It’s not like he was butting in on things he knew nothing about just because he could. I am pretty sure that Ford wouldn’t have appreciated the corrections to his masterpiece, arguably his best western, and Eyman confirms this, but Zanuck wanted to please his audience. After seeing both versions and noting the changes that significantly included the soundtrack, I find Ford’s more pleasing and authentic to his vision. Zanuck added a few annoying Hollywood touches that broadcast dramatic scenes and remove the naturalness of it.

My Darling Clementine is a Western morality tale where good fights evil and a cool-headed marshal brings order to an uncivilized pioneer’s town. When the stranger who would become marshal rides into Tombstone, Arizona in the booming year of 1882 for a shave, he and his two brothers are rudely interrupted at the Bon Ton Tonsorial Parlor as a drunken “Indian” at the saloon across the dirt street wildly shoots his pistol. The cowardly marshal hands in his tin star before refusing to try to stop the drunk, but the irate stranger with lathered cheeks knows just what to do and he‘s offered the job of marshal, which he refuses. We then discover his name, Wyatt Earp, which stuns the mayor. When he and his brothers gallop back to camp in pouring rain, they find their herd of cattle have been rustled and their teenaged brother shot dead.

Earp takes the job now. Other heroes would’ve just took their revenge by killing the bad guys outright, but this guy represents a new marshal with one foot in the Old West and the other in civilization. Later we’ll watch in amusement as he cuts a gnarly rug with a pretty lady who will become the first schoolmarm (and it’s a dance at a church service, not a camp meeting, mind you) as well as carve a chicken at a dinner party. He stands up to the drunk gambler who has been running the town, Doc Holliday, and their relationship is wary, distant, respectful and most intriguing.

John Ford films are works of art by a poet, able to breathe and come alive through his love of long, encompassing shots. Instead of keyhole vision he offers panoramic vision that allows our eyes to contemplate the beauty of Monument Valley where this was filmed and also the shading of interior scenes. While he knew his history and had nothing against our native Americans, he did not make a documentary, but a movie loosely inspired by history. Specifically he was inspired by a story by Sam Hellman. If it bothers you that Ford takes these liberties, maybe you need to watch something more to your taste. The infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral is not the focus of My Darling Clementine and comes at the end, lasting as briefly as it did in reality. The focus, rather, turns on the fact that the West was growing up and it didn’t matter whether some varmints didn’t like it. That drunk “Indian” got the boot and advice to never return to Tombstone.

Many Western fans probably won’t find My Darling Clementine to be what they expected. They may find it too concerned with relationships, illness or deaths, poker and life in a frontier town. I too didn’t expect this, but I loved it. I don’t need to watch a typical shoot ‘em up film with a typical hero who stands alone to take his revenge. Much more preferable is this Ford film where revenge is the law’s and a family affair. Even the bad guys are a family, making it family against family with the inclusion of Doc Holliday who lost his girl because of the bad guys.

I also greatly enjoyed the shy romance between the marshal and the future schoolmarm who is part of Doc’s past that he’d like to forget. Henry Fonda (born and raised in Nebraska!) plays the marshal with understated theatricality as Eyman calls it. I understand this as Fonda showing effortless eloquence with every movement and line. Ford loves lingering shots that tell so much about his characters. Cathy Downs as Fonda’s love interest, Victor Mature as the ailing, brooding Doc Holliday, Walter Brennan as the head killer and rustler, sulty Linda Darnell as Doc's girl, Alan Mowbray as a visiting, whoring, Shakespearean actor and the rest of the characters are just as wonderful as Fonda. It’s only ninety-seven minutes in the final version. I didn’t notice the time with the pre-release version, but I do prefer it a little more.

Finally, a word about the dialogue. It’s perfect. There’s no unnecessary chatter and it often amused me. I could give you lots of examples, but will limit it to one. There’s a running joke with getting prettied up at the barber’s and once Wyatt gets sprayed with perfume without asking for it and when people comment that they can smell the honeysuckles in the air, he admits, “That’s me. Barber.”

This DVD is the one to get to best appreciate the film. I don’t know of another where a film historian has spliced in a scene from another part of the film to give it better continuity than what the director and executive producer managed. Enjoy it tonight!