Duel in the Sun (1946)

Editor's Note Dubbed "Lust in the Dust" by Hollywood wags and, at $5 million, the most expensive film made up to that time, DUEL IN THE SUN stars Jennifer Jones as Pearl Chavez, a stunning young half-breed. After her father's death, she's taken in by distant relative Laura Belle McCanles (Lillian Gish), whose husband, Senator (Lionel Barrymore), is a Texas cattle baron of immense wealth. She soons finds herself attracted to the two McCanles sons: the magnetic hell-raiser Lewt (Gregory Peck) and the educated, restrained Jesse (Joseph Cotten). Since Pearl is presumed to have inherited her mother's hot-blooded disposition, she's tagged as a bad girl by Lewt, who quickly makes a pass at her without success. But with Jesse away on business, she and Lewt eventually become lovers, although she still can't decide which of the two she loves. Meanwhile, Senator is embroiled in a dispute over the invasion of his property by railroad interests, becoming enraged when Jesse chooses the pen over the shotgun as a negotiating tool. Saturated in sexual innuendo, this fabulously overripe, overproduced melodrama, which constantly teeters on the edge of camp, is, more than anything else, the product of David O. Selznick's megalomaniacal desire to top his earlier epic, GONE WITH THE WIND. That said, the acting is very good, as is Dimitri Tiomkin's score, and the crowd scenes are superbly orchestrated.

	Butterfly McQueen
	Charles Bickford
	Gregory Peck
	Harry Carey
	Herbert Marshall
	Jennifer Jones
	Joseph Cotten
	Lillian Gish
	Lionel Barrymore
	Otto Kruger
	Scott McKay
	Sidney Blackmer
	Walter Huston
	David O. Selznick - Screenplay
	Dimitri Tiomkin - Musical Score
	Harold Rosson - Cinematographer
	King Vidor - Director
	Lee Garmes - Cinematographer
	Niven Busch - Based on Novel By
	Niven Busch - Screenplay
	Oliver H.P. Garrett - Screenplay
	Orson Welles - Voice Of
	Ray Rennahan - Cinematographer

In this classic Western, two brothers become bitter rivals after a beautiful half-Indian woman comes to live on their sprawling ranch and disturbs their dynasty. The Motion Picture Guide 7 of 10
...an enormous western...full of grand spectacle...superlative entertainment... marvelous performanc