HIGH NOON - main title sung by TEX RITTER ( "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling") - in colour

This date in 1952 saw the release of HIGH NOON, the 1952 American Western film produced by Stanley Kramer and starring Gary Cooper (July 24th 1952)

NOTE: I've colourised scenes from the film accompanied by the full version of the main title 'High Noon' sung by TEX RITTER (also known by its opening lyric, "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling"). The song became a major hit on the Country-Western charts for Tex Ritter, and later, a pop hit for Frankie Laine as well. Its popularity set a precedent for theme songs that were featured in many subsequent Western films. Composer Dimitri Tiomkin's score and song, with lyrics by Ned Washington, became popular for years afterwards and Tiomkin became in demand for future westerns in the 1950s like Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Last Train From Gun Hill.

Widely considered a classic of the “adult” western genre, High Noon is noted for its complex exploration of morality, integrity, and duty. As the reluctant hero, Gary Cooper earned an Academy Award.

Marshal Will Kane (played by Cooper) has just married and is about to retire and leave the western town of Hadleyville to start a new life with his Quaker wife, Amy (Grace Kelly). However, news arrives that revenge-seeking Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), whom Kane arrested years earlier, is en route with a band of outlaws.

Kane initially leaves but quickly returns out of a sense of duty. When he finds the townsmen too cowardly to back him and defend their community, he decides to face the gang alone. His pacifist wife eventually backs his decision but is taken hostage by Miller, forcing a showdown with her husband.

After Amy distracts Miller, Kane fatally shoots the outlaw. When the townsfolk come out of hiding, Kane throws down his badge in disgust and then leaves with Amy.

High Noon was produced at the height of the Cold War, when the anticommunist Red Scare hysteria fanned by Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy was particularly strong.

Some saw the film as an allegory about Hollywood’s failure to stand up to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and as a questioning of civic responsibility. (Ironically, screenwriter Carl Foreman was later blacklisted for refusing to cooperate with HUAC.)

Others believed that the movie was a testament to law and order. Among those who were critical of it was Cooper’s good friend John Wayne, who called the film un-American. He and director Howard Hawks went on to make Rio Bravo (1959) as a response to High Noon.

The part of Will Kane was originally offered to Gregory Peck, who turned it down because he thought it was too similar to his role in The Gunfighter (1950).

Cooper instead was cast as the weary, disillusioned lawman, and he turned in arguably the finest performance of his career. High Noon was Kelly’s second feature film, and it elevated her to stardom.

The movie is presented in nearly real time, with close-ups of the clock adding suspense as it ticks toward the noon showdown.