For me, Ford's genius lay in his use of a lyrical visual style to convey his grand theme of the civilizing of the American West. But he also showed that civilization comes at a price. The narrative in "My Darling Clementine" is driven by the grim shootout at the O.K. Corral, and the movie has three sympathetic characters—two of Wyatt Earp’s brothers and Doc Holliday (Victor Mature)—being shot to death. All told, nine of the movie’s characters die due to gun violence.
I was never bored for a minute in "My Darling Clementine," but I have to admit it doesn’t have much of a plot. Most of the film consists of a series of things that take place while Wyatt is hanging around Tombstone, waiting for a break in the case of the murder of his youngest brother. But the movie fills the time with memorable incidents, evocative songs, and humor that illuminate character and enhance mood and atmosphere. One of my favorite scenes—and I believe one of the strangest in all of cinema—is where the evil Clanton family forces an itinerant vaudevillian to recite Shakespeare, and when he forgets the lines, Doc Holliday continues on.
I found the feature-length audio commentary on the 20th Century Fox Studio Classics DVD of "My Darling Clementine" to be very informative. It’s primarily by Scott Eyman, author of the book "Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford," and he does an excellent job of sorting out fact from fiction. For example, Eyman points out that the real Doc Holliday lived on for several years after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, while the movie has him being slain there. He also gives some information about the working relationship between Ford and studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck. For instance, Eyman claims Zanuck worried that Ford was too discursive a storyteller and needed reining in lest he have someone start to sing and then cut away to an extreme long shot of slanting shadows.
Occasionally on the audio commentary track we also hear the voice of Wyatt Earp III, a relative of the legendary frontier marshal. I couldn’t find out the precise relationship, but he's apparently something like a great-grandnephew. He does, however, make the noteworthy remark that "you don't come to this film looking for the facts—you come looking for the poetry."
The 20th Century Fox Studio Classics DVD of “My Darling Clementine” is a two-sided disc that has two versions of the movie. Side A has the final version of the film as it has been shown for decades, while Side B contains a slightly earlier version that turned up at UCLA. The UCLA version varies only slightly from the final version, but there is one difference I found striking: Wyatt kisses Clementine on the cheek in the final version, while this does not happen in the UCLA version.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 42-minute special feature on the DVD where Robert Gitt of the UCLA Film and Television Archive explains the major differences between the two versions. He provides a lot of insight into Zanuck’s contribution to the film as it was finally released.
Although Ford's great classic movie alone would make the DVD worth owning, the special features definitely enhanced my experience. Scott Eyman's scholarly commentary was unusually good and held my interest throughout. I found him to be extremely literate, insightful, and entertaining. After listening to him, I had a deeper understanding of both Ford and the movie itself. Eyman’s commentary was like getting a university-level lecture thrown in for the price of the DVD.
Listed below are the details of the "My Darling Clementine" DVD.
DVD Details:
Side A:
- Final Version of "My Darling Clementine"
- Full-Screen (1.33:1), Black-and-White
- Feature Run Time: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
- MPAA Rating: PG
- English Stereo
- English Mono
- Spanish Mono
- French Mono
- English Subtitles
- Spanish Subtitles
- Audio Commentary by Scott Eyman and Wyatt Earp III
- Theatrical Trailier
Side B:
- Pre-Release Version of "My Darling Clementine"
- Full-Screen (1.33:1), Black-and-White
- Feature Run Time: 1 Hour 43 Minutes
- MPAA Rating: Not Rated
- English Mono
- English Subtitles
- Spanish Subtitles
- Feature: Comparison of Pre-Release and Final Versions (42 Minutes)
- Still Gallery
