Three Violent
People
Picture: B-
Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: C+
Three
Violent People (1956) marks one of the last films Charlton Heston would
star in where he had minimal control of the proceedings. After this film (actually The Ten Commandments) his name would
become recognized all over, which would enable him to pick just about any
project with any one he wanted. So,
perhaps if this film were a bit later and beyond his contract with Paramount it
would have never been made, or at least not with Heston. The real shame then would have been that
Heston is quite possibly the only reason to see this film anyway. Well, enough of the “what ifs” because the
film was made and over the years has fallen to the wayside as another typical
dramatic Western that is as formulaic as they come.
To make a long story short the plot is quite thin and
really only requires a few sentences, so here they are. Heston plays a man back from the Civil War
and owns a lot of land, which ends up being part of his dilemma because a few
people have their eyes on his property.
Enter into the equation is his new bride (Anne Baxter) who is keeping
her wild days far behind her, but is their love strong enough to overcome the
obstacles before them? Let’s face it
this is the part where everyone except real die-hards zone out.
Despite the film being average, Paramount has certainly
done justice in terms of bringing the film to DVD, at least in the quality
department. First we have another of
their beautiful VistaVision films reproduced here with awesome levels of detail
and depth. Shot in color with a 1.85 X
1 aspect ratio and anamorphically enhanced for this DVD release, the film has a
very liquid appearance with colors that are vibrantly recreated, which in some
ways set the film apart from a lot of Westerns that have a more drab or dirty
feel and look. Sound is a very basic
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono that works fine with some minor hiss and crackling,
which could distract some viewers.
No extras to be found, but it is doubtful that this will
upset anyone. Given that it looks quite
good this could be one reason to seek out the film, but don’t expect this
sucker to make it to the top of your all time list anytime soon.
- Nate Goss
