Duel in the Sun (1946)

Synopsis: 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.... 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. [More]

Starring: Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Lionel Barrymore

Starring: Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Walter Huston, Charles Bickford, Herbert Marshall, Joan Tetzel, Harry Carey, Otto Kruger, Sidney Blackmer, Tilly Losch

Director: King Vidor, B. Reeves Eason, Otto Brower

Director: King Vidor
Producer: David O. Selznick
Screenwriter: Oliver H. P. Garrett
Story: Niven Busch
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
Screenwriter: David O. Selznick
Director: B. Reeves Eason, Otto Brower

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