Ox-Bow Incident
Picture: B Sound: B- Extras: B+ Film: A
Ironically a picture such
as The Ox-Bow Incident was released right at the height of the U.S. involvement and movement into WWII. The reason that it is ironic is that the film
is about or rather against senseless acts of lynching after those who are
‘believed’ to have committed a certain crime.
Our story takes place in a town where not much occurs, but when
something does happen, everyone has to be involved. So when news comes in that a certain rancher
has been killed, the town becomes mad.
Not thinking clearly, the entire town is set on revenge, especially
since the hard to come by cattle of this rancher were also missing.
Just before this news came
in, two men wandered into town: Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Donald Martin
(Dana Andrews). There are a few men of
the town that seem more rational about bringing justice, but others are thirsty
for blood. The sheriff is out for a few
days, so his unwise deputy decides to round up the men and form a posse to go
after the men responsible for the death of the rancher. They do find three men, but they seem quite
innocent, in fact they know nothing about the death of the rancher, but
evidence supports their guilt. The three
men just came from the ranchers place and do have some of his cattle. Not only that, but one of the men has a gun
that belonged to the rancher. Well, with
the only witness being a dead man, it seems like hanging these men is the only
way, or is it?
The Ox-Bow Incident is a classic film from the Fox vaults, and like
many of Fox’s greater films they are slowly making their way to DVD land. Directed by William A. Wellman the film is
strong and daring. Wellman was one of
the few directors that survived the transition from silent to talkies. His 1937 A Star is Born is another
testament to his legacy as a director.
While he might not have made many films there were as memorable as
either of these films, he certainly made some memorable ones. Since the release
of these classic films are coming so slow to the format, we the consumer are
placing high expectations on the final result, which Fox has been able to
answer back with some amazing results.
Their ‘classic’ collection of films have been restored and also dosed up
with some supplements making ownership of these titles all the more
exciting.
Presented in its original
full frame 1.33 X 1 ratio, The Ox-Bow Incident looks quite good. There are some limitations to the overall
look, but this is certainly the best the film has looked. Some slight amount of grain, dust, and
scratches remain, but very few and far between.
The grayscale is a problem from time to time, especially on the right
side of each frame; it seems more flat with little contrast. Other areas of the film look remarkable,
which is obviously due to a long restoration process, even beyond that from the
1993 restoration, which can be seen during the supplements section, which
includes a restoration demonstration. There
is also some shifting here and there with certain frames, but nothing too
major.
For the audio we are given
two options. First we have the
originally designed monophonic sound, which can still be experienced, or there
is an upgraded stereo mix, which boosts the sound into a more coherent left and
right configuration. Dialogue seems more
naturalistic in the mono option, but is more effective in the stereo
setup. Other effects come across much
smoother in stereo as well, which seems the likely choice, but the mono option
is there for purists.
And now for the extras,
which Fox has graciously been putting on many of their studio classics as they
arrive to the format, Ox-Bow includes a commentary track, which includes
Western Scholar Dick Eulain and William Wellman Jr. The track is decent, and informative, which
some people are partial to, but others find it boring. Henry Fonda: Hollywood’s Quiet Hero segment is very good, which can only be attributed to the hard work
that A&E does for their biography series.
At the time of the release of Ox-Bow, Fonda had already a few
memorable roles under his belt including one of my personal favorites, The
Lady Eve from 1940 directed by Preston Sturges. Fonda’s portrayal in this film is quite
unique as I thought about it more. For
one, he is the main character, yet tries to step out of the limelight as much
as possible. He is almost like the
character that doesn’t want to be in the film, which is perfectly fitting for
this film. The focus of the action
circles around Fonda’s character, but he seems pulled into the events. The only other extras here are a gallery of
stills and the restoration demonstration mentioned above.
Now as I mentioned it was
ironic for a film like this to come about in a year when the U.S. was going after the dictator forces of the world,
but we ended up sacrificing many innocent lives in order to bring those
criminals to justice. The Ox-Bow
Incident holds up superbly well even after 60 years. Sometimes we cannot help the situations that
we get ourselves in, but we can make a difference once we are in them. Certainly worth a look at some point in time,
this DVD makes that experience all the more enjoyable.
- Nate Goss
