Jubal Jubal Sony 1956 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic 16:9 / 100 min. / Street Date April 5, 2005 / 14.94 Starring Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Rod Steiger, Valerie French, Felicia Farr, Charles Bronson Cinematography Charles Lawton Jr. Art Direction Carl Anderson Film Editor Al Clark Original Music David Raksin Written by Russell S. Hughes, Delmer Daves from a book by Paul I. Wellman Produced by William Fadiman Directed by Delmer Daves
	Reviewed by Glenn Erickson Practically a child of the Warner Bros. lot, Delmer Daves began as a writer (The Petrified Forest) and graduated to directing in WW2, always with reasonably popular mid-range pictures, and a couple of predictable successes, like Dark Passage with Humphrey Bogart. Daves' first picture at Fox was a western, Broken Arrow, that became a breakthrough hit, and he went on to average one western a year for the next nine years. At least two of them are bona fide classics (3:10 to Yuma and The Hanging Tree) and the rest are at least interesting. Jubal is a good but not terrific story that would seem to be out to prove that a western can be a completely legitimate drama that doesn't rely on guns, horses and other genre trappings. In that respect Daves succeeded - with only superficial changes the story of Jubal could easily take place in any setting. Synopsis: Nice guy rancher Shep Horgan (Ernest Borgnine) is kind to his men but blind to the disaffection of his wife Mae (Valerie French). She's been flirting with top cowhand Pinky (Rod Steiger), a bitter malcontent. Then Shep picks up Jubal Troop (Glenn Ford) from the trail and put him to work; Pinky becomes furious when Jubal becomes the favorite of both Shep and his unfaithful wife. Jubal holds off Mae's advances while dreaming about Naomi (Felicia Farr), the daughter of some passing fundamentalist settlers. But the malicious Pinky is waiting for his chance to use jealousy to turn Shep against Jubal. Jubal has just about everything one could ask for in a 50s western, production-wise: Glorious scenery in Technicolor and CinemaScope, top actors (Borgnine was fresh from his Oscar success in Marty and eager for meaty roles) and a script that isn't about maintaining the status quo through law 'n order. It even has a classy soundtrack score courtesy of the great David Raksin of Laura. The daily life at the Horgan ranch is broken up by a hateful romantic triangle that reads like a reworking of Othello. In this case, the hero is desired by a treacherous wife and her good-hearted but clueless husband. The rotten apple in the bunch is Rod Steiger's Pinky, who behaves like a more credible extension of the Jud Fry character he played in Oklahoma! just the year before. Jubal is an 'unusual' western and was not an outstanding success; the advertising put too much stressed on the theme of rape. The poster had an image of Valerie French cowering in a barn while a menacing silhoutte of a cowboy advances on her threateningly. The film itself is an almost easy-going drama that shows good-guy Glenn Ford slowly being drawn into a trap; there doesn't seem to be any way to tell ranch boss Borgnine that he's being made a fool of. Unlike the setup in Of Mice and Men, Borgnine's a friendly guy, but he's too unsophisticated to understand when Pinky gives him the idea that Ford and French are cheating on him. Unavoidable disaster strikes soon thereafter. And maybe that's the problem with Jubal -- just about everything that happens is painfully predictable. The audience understands the setup way in advance of the characters and we have to do a lot of waiting while they catch up. What happens is more or less what we expect. Felicia Farr (who also did western duty with Delmer Daves in The Last Wagon and 3:10 to Yuma) is waiting on the sidelines to receive Ford with open arms, should he survive his ordeal. Welcome cast addition Charles Bronson (as marauding Indian Captain Jack, he was the best thing about Daves' Modoc uprising movie Drum Beat) is around but doesn't become particularly active in the storyline. (spoilers) Even more frustrating, few of the characters are changed by the story. Ford's Jubal talks about a traumatic childhood incident (a near-drowning similar to Leave Her to Heaven) but doesn't learn how to effectively bond with anyone except Felicia Farr. Borgnine never gets the opportunity to be anything but a fool. Rod Steiger remains a stubborn villain; we never see him question his poor judgment. Valerie French alone may learn something from her reckless ways. She pays the price of 50s moralism -- as the dark haired foreign woman (well, Canadian) with a sexual drive, she's just asking for the worst. Daves doesn't even sympathize with her enough to let her die on-screen. Jubal is splendidly acted and nicely worked out as a story and remains an entertaining change-of-pace western, if not a particularly memorable one. Delmer Daves would hit a home run with the next year's 3:10 to Yuma (from a book by Elmore Leonard) and make his masterpiece in 1959's The Hanging Tree with Gary Cooper in one of his last, best performances opposite the wonderful Maria Schell. Also doing support duty in Jubal are John Dierkes, Jack Elam and Noah Beery Jr., who affects to lean on a horse rail the same way he does at the end of Howard Hawks' Red River. Sony's DVD of Jubal is frequently shown on cable television's The Western Channel but this DVD is its first appearance in full CinemaScope width since 1956. The image looks good but unfortunately not terrific, as digital color timing was clearly needed to enhance a faded negative. The picture is satisfying but sometimes overly grainy, and with intermittent unstable colors. Curiously, no attempt was made to darken or cool off obvious day-for night material, but the preponderance of scenes filmed in glorious outdoor settings offsets any minor picture problems. David Raksin's sensitive score is well served by the clear audio track. It's worth noting the way outdoor filming has changed since 1956. Glenn Ford stops to talk to Felicia Farr down by a pretty lake. He approaches her and begins to speak somewhere up in the Grand Tetons or wherever, and their dialogue is probably post-dubbed. The single angle on Farr is made back in the studio against a fairly well-matched interior stage set that allows for more flattering lighting and better audio recording. Glenn Ford's reverse angle is against a rear-projection screen of the lake, clearly shot on a different stage at a different time. All that technical effort for a simple little scene. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Jubal rates: Movie: Very Good Video: Good Sound: Excellent Supplements: none Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: July 24, 2005 [Savant Main Page] [Savant Links] [Article Index] [Review Index] [Savant 5 Year Report] DVD Savant Text © Copyright 2007 Glenn Erickson Advertise With Us Review Staff | About DVD Talk | Newsletter Subscribe | Join DVD Talk Forum Copyright © DVDTalk.com All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use