Editing King Vidor (section)

===A sound era magnum opus: ''Duel in the Sun'' (1946)===

At the end of 1944 Vidor considered a number of projects, including a remake of his silent era [[Wild Oranges]] (1924), this time with producer [[David O. Selznick]].<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 235</ref>

When Selznick purchased the rights to [[Niven Busch]]'s novel ''Duel in the Sun'' in 1944, Vidor agreed to rewrite [[Oliver H. P. Garrett]]'s screenplay and direct a miniature Western, "small" but "intense".  Selznick's increasingly grandiose plans for the production involved his wish to promote the career of actress-mistress [[Jennifer Jones]] and to create a movie rivaling his successful 1939 ''Gone with the Wind''. Selzick's personal and artistic ambitions for ''Duel in the Sun'' led to conflicts with Vidor over development of the themes which emphasized "sex, violence and spectacle".<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 239</ref> Vidor walked off the set just before primary filming was completed, unhappy with Selznick's intrusive management. The producer would enlist eight additional directors to complete the picture. Though the final cut was made without Vidor's participation, the production reflects the participation of these talented filmmakers, among them [[William Dieterle]] and [[Josef von Sternberg]]. Vidor was awarded sole screen credit after [[Directors Guild of America|Directors Guild]] arbitration.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: pp. 238–239: Selznick "planning a modest Western which expanded as he went along, until he proclaimed his ambition to&nbsp;... 'top' Gone with the Wind." And Vidor considered Garrett's script "dull" and wished to limit the film to a "small" but "intense Western situation." And Selznick's repeated "script revisions" delivered in person on the set led Vidor to withdraw amid "mutual recriminations"<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 235: On Selznick and Vidor And p. 239: Screen Guild arbitration. And p. 239-240: On the beneficial influence of "many hands" in a "concerto, not a solo" effort.<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 68: "The hand of Selznick lies heavily but not without a sureness of touch" on the film. And p. 69: ""Selznick&nbsp;... tried to recapture the scope and vivacity of Gone with the Wind. And: "The interference [by Selznick] of which Vidor complained added significantly to the film's success&nbsp;... Vidor found the constant presence of Selznick on the set galling and he walked off when the film was not quite completed." <br />Callahan, 2007: "The movie is more Selznick than Vidor, who finally walked off the set in frustration at the impresario's compulsive suggestions."<br />Silver, 1982: "We will probably never know for sure just how much of the film was directed by Vidor, Sternberg, William Dieterle, Otto Brower, or David O. Selznick.</ref> 
<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 243: Duel in the Sun "marks a shift...to ''film noir'' [that incorporated] neurotic violence and in vindicating a 'notorious'  woman."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p.243: "...probably the second ''film noir'' in Technicolor after [[Leave Her to Heaven]]."</ref>

''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'' is a [[melodrama]]tic treatment of a Western theme concerning a conflict between two generations of the McCanles family. The elderly and crippled McCanles [[Lionel Barrymore]] presides with an iron fist over his a vast cattle estate with his invalid wife Laura Belle Candles [[Lillian Gish]]. Their two sons, Lewt and Jess, are polar opposites: the educated Jess "the good son" [[Joseph Cotten]] takes after his refined mother, while Lewt "the bad son" [[Gregory Peck]] emulates his domineering cattle baron father. The adoption of the young orphan girl Pearl Chavez, the "half-breed" offspring of a European gentleman and a native-American mother, whom Pearl's father has murdered and been executed for his crime, introduces a fatal element into the McCanles family. The ''film noir'' ending includes an attempted fratricide and a suicide-like love pact, destroying the McCanles family.<ref>Silver, 1982: "Duel in the Sun is 'the tale of a sun blistered romance involving a half-breed Indian girl and two dagger-eyed Texas brothers, one of them very good and the other very bad' ([[Bosley Crowther]], N.Y. Times)."<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p.243: ''Duel in the Sun'' marked a new, cautious liberalization of Hollywood's attitudes to America's assorted race prejudices..." And p.243: ''Duel in the Sun'' "is racist in the interesting sense of especially admiring a ''different'' ethnicity. Pearl Chavez's "half-breed" blood is rich blood, not bad blood, and whatever strain of passion she has too much of, the McCanles have too little of." (italics in original)</ref>
{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|align=right|fontsize=90%|salign=right|quote= The iconic film director [[D. W. Griffith]], famous for his silent classics ''[[Broken Blossoms]]'' (1919) and ''[[Way Down East]]'' (1920) both starring Lillian Gish, visited the ''Duel in the Sun'' set unannounced during filming. Abashed, Gish and co-star Barrymore became tongue-tied. Vidor was compelled to insist that Griffith withdraw, and the chastened Griffith complied graciously.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p.70</ref><ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p.251: a brief remark on the Griffith-Gish-Barrymore incident by Durgnat.</ref>}}

The "unbridled sexuality"  portrayed by Vidor between Pearl and Lewt created a furor that drew criticism from the US Congressmen and film censors, which led to the studio cutting several minutes before its final release.<ref>Miller, TMC: ''Duel in the Sun'' elicited "complaints in Congress about the picture's unbridled sexuality."<br />Simmons, 2004: "...the film's delirious pitch is recognizably in Vidor's best postwar mode. In an attempt to quell the censorship furor, Duel was cut by nine minutes before wide release." And "Lust in the Dust" quote, "...a lurid tale..."</ref>

Selznick launched ''Duel in the Sun'' in hundreds of theaters, backed by a multiple-million dollar promotional campaign. Despite the film's poor critical reception (termed "Lust in the Dust" by its detractors) the picture's box office returns rivaled the highest-grossing film of the year, ''[[The Best Years of Our Lives]]'' (1946).<ref>Miller, TMC: Selznick, "opening the film in hundreds of theaters around the country rather than starting slowly in a few first-run houses...[Duel in the Sun] proved a box-office bonanza as audiences, prodded by a $2 million publicity campaign, raced to see the film wherever it played. Despite pretty awful reviews, the picture grossed $10 million, making it the second-highest-grossing film of the year (behind [[The Best Years of Our Lives]]). And "Lust in the Dust" quote</ref>

Film archivist Charles Silver offered this appraisal of the Vidor-Selznick collaboration:

{{blockquote|"[W]hen Pearl Chavez (Jennifer Jones) rides out to kill Lewt (Gregory Peck), she is uncannily transformed into a phantasm of a young resolute Mrs. McCanles (Lillian Gish), thus killing the son she despises via the daughter she never had. This is perhaps the most outrageous conceit of an entirely outrageous movie, and it is brilliant. As [[Andrew Sarris]] has said: 'In cinema, as in all art, only those who risk the ridiculous have a real shot at the sublime.' In Duel in the Sun, an older, less hopeful, but still enterprising King Vidor came damn close to the bullseye."<ref>Silver, 1982</ref><ref>Thomson, 2007: "The film still has scenes – like the sado-masochistic conclusion where Jones and Gregory Peck kill each other in a harsh rocky landscape – that are a novel injection of disturbed psychology in the Western genre. It is the model of Hollywood going over the top – yet it would not be as vivid without Vidor.</ref>}}

====''On Our Merry Way'' (''A Miracle Can Happen''), Universal Studios 1948====

In the aftermath of his critical failures in ''An American Romance'' (1944) and ''Duel in the Sun'' (1946), Vidor disengaged from Hollywood film production to purchase his Willow Creek Ranch in [[Paso Robles, California]].<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 236: Both films "production disasters."</ref>

''A Miracle Can Happen'' (1948) is a film sketch that Vidor participated in with co-director [[Leslie Fenton]] during this period of relative inactivity. A "low-budget" [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] release of the early [[baby boom]] era, this "omnibus"  presents vignettes filmed or performed by an array of actors and directors (some of them returning from service in the armed forces) among them [[Burgess Meredith]], [[Paulette Goddard]], [[Dorothy Lamour]], [[James Stewart]], [[John Huston]] and [[George Stevens]]. (An episode with British actor [[Charles Laughton]] was cut from the final release, a disappointment to Vidor.) The picture's title was changed shortly after opening to ''[[On Our Merry Way]]'' to promote its comedic virtues. Vidor dismissed the film from his oeuvre in later years.<ref>Baxter, 1976 p. 70: Vidor "omitted the picture from his filmography" and "Little of the film bears serious consideration." See also for actors involved..<br />Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 355-356: see analysis and details in short Filmography overview</ref>

In 1948 Vidor was diverted from making a series of 16mm Westerns for [[History of television|television]] and produced on his ranch when [[Warner Brothers]] studios approached him to direct an adaption of author [[Ayn Rand]]'s controversial novel ''[[The Fountainhead]]''. Vidor immediately accepted the offer.<ref>Durgnat and Simmons, 1988: p. 236: "A 26-episode serial of Westerns for television." And Warner's' offer to direct ''The Fountainhead''. "Vidor was immediately keen on it."<br />Baxter, 1976 p. 71: "controversial novel…"</ref>