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Rating: Zinnemann is one of the many European directors swept up by the whirlpool of Hollywood during the years of the explosion of the first major film studios and the "star system." Zinnemann followed the path of Billy Wilder and Fritz Lang. All Austrians, all fleeing the European pandemonium and Nazism with the destination of the Pacific coast of the States. The same journey, even if the weight of their names differs in the great book of cinema history. Wilder and Lang helped shape cinema, renew and innovate cinematic codes, create trends, styles, and archetypes. Zinnemann, on the other hand, is one of the many (great) names of classic American cinema, whose work remains indelibly etched thanks largely to the public and critical success of his most famous film, that "High Noon" which is not only one of the most successful American films of the period but also one of the greatest examples of the western genre, which French critic André Bazin called "the founding American genre."
From a classic western title, the plot revolves entirely around maintaining the existing order. Sheriff Kane and the beautiful Amy (Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly) have just married, and Kane resigns as sheriff of the small community. All idyllic if it were not for the fact that the bandit Frank Miller, whom Kane had arrested a few years earlier, has been pardoned and is returning to town with three of his loyal men. The noon train is the detonator of it all. Kane abandons every plan of leaving with Amy and assumes the role of the moral symbol of a man willing to sacrifice himself for the safeguarding of the common good.
Watching Zinnemann's film more than sixty years after its release, what remains indelibly marked is the extraordinary modernity of the staging. From Crosby's black and white (future trusted man of Roger Corman) to the rhythm capable of condensing the search for volunteers to challenge Miller and the screentime of each sequence. The film is extremely considered but can be compelling because Carl Foreman's screenplay (who had already worked with Zinnemann) maintains a high level of suspense with its ability to "work" on two levels: on one side, Kane finds himself confronting the refusal of his loyal men (including deputy Harvey), and on the other side, the viewer anticipates the inevitability of the looming confrontation. Zinnemann's direction creates this intense atmosphere with the alternation of close-ups and long shots typical of the western.
The formal acuity alone would suffice to describe the greatness of "High Noon," its rightful place in the annals of the history of the seventh art. Emblematic of its time, Zinnemann's feature film is also and especially a film that narrates the story of the American moment. It is not about the frontier or the great westward expansion. In "High Noon," it is the town, the community life, the Sunday service that is in danger. The film is anti-communist, as "On the Waterfront" by Elia Kazan would be two years later. Gary Cooper is the American hero who, as a savior figure, the good, confronts the evil that comes from outside, the classic American "external enemy." The "unknown" Soviet enemy identifiable with the incoming gang, also hidden outside of time and space. Men who exist but are only shown in the final act. Yet, Zinnemann is wary of his time, and his gaze is more circumspect and prudent than Elia Kazan's anti-union invective: the clock shown as a mantra, the specter of atomic fallout from the Cold War. It is no coincidence the symbolic choice to coincide a precise moment with the start of the final shootout. Act as soon as possible, Zinnemann's gaze is that of one who is pessimistic about the world he lives in: if it is true that the Vienna filmmaker follows the canons of classic Hollywood (big kiss and happy ending), it is worth highlighting the scene that most encompasses Zinnemann's poetics, when the villagers, initially reluctant to risk their lives, flock around Kane, now an absolute hero who can finally leave his post as sheriff. Those who backed down in the face of death now eagerly seek to appear. For Kane, it is time to leave those people behind, in search of the tranquility demanded by Grace Kelly, one of the most beautiful creatures ever to set foot on this planet.
Sometimes classic greats deserve to be dusted off, especially in this era where cinema is giving way to music video ugliness, stuffed with botox and computers, all for the modest sum of 170 million dollars. That's why the writer sometimes feels the need to revisit the titles that truly contributed to shaping the history of Cinema. With all due respect to all contemporary cinephiles drooling over "Suicide Squad," flying bats, and various vigilantes.
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