Tonight's Movie: Pursued (1947) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

PURSUED (1947), a "noirish Western" directed by Raoul Walsh, is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

This is an upgrade from an older 2012 Blu-ray released by the now-defunct Olive Films, which I also own. Kino Lorber's disc was actually released around last summer, but dipped lower in the review stack as I watched "last in, first out." That said, my slight delay in watching is certainly no reflection on the movie, which is a longtime favorite of mine going back to my teen years.

I first reviewed PURSUED here back in 2011 when I saw it at UCLA as part of a series of Robert Mitchum Westerns. (I'll pause here to recommend the book THE WESTERN FILMS OF ROBERT MITCHUM by Gene Freese, which I described briefly at Classic Movie Hub.) I've very much looked forward to revisiting PURSUED, which is a terrific film which should appeal to fans of Westerns, film noir, Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright, or all of the above.

The movie was written by Wright's then-husband, Niven Busch, and its unusual framing demands the viewer's attention from the opening moments. Jeb Rand (Mitchum) and his wife Thor (Wright) are anticipating a posse to arrive at their hideout, and their story is told in flashback as they try to understand how their lives have come to this point.

As a newly orphaned child Jeb Rand (Scotty Hugenberg, later Ernest Severn) is adopted by Ma Callum (Judith Anderson) one fateful night. After finding Jeb and bringing him home, Ma loads up her other children Adam (Mickey Little, later Charles Bates) and Thorley (Kathy Jeanne Johnson, later Peggy Miller) and flees the area.

As young adults, played by Mitchum, Wright, and John Rodney, the unrelated Jeb and Thor discover they aren't meant to be siblings, as they were brought up, but lovers.

Jeb and Adam, meanwhile, are constantly at odds with one another, ultimately leading to tragedy. And Grant Callum (Dean Jagger), having tracked down Ma and her children at long last, is always lurking about, ready to cause trouble.

The performances and staging of this 101-minute film are top-notch, holding up to numerous revisits over the years. Somehow I also always manage to forget exactly why Grant has it "in" for Jeb, which keeps the movie somewhat fresh for me.

One of the moments which stays with me is the nightmarish sequence where Ma brings Jeb home. He climbs into a bed with Adam and Thor; beautiful little Thor turns over and regards Jeb with wide eyes, then starts to go back to sleep. Even then Jeb and Thor's relationship is delineated: There are tempestuous moments -- and one day, a major conflict between the two -- but also instinctive trust.

Given the film's flashback structure, I was also musing on this watch about the fact that just the year before Mitchum had appeared in a film famous for its extremely elaborate flashbacks, THE LOCKET (1946). THE LOCKET and PURSUED are also both examples of mid-'40s Hollywood's fascination with psychology, which I've written about here on multiple occasions.

The cast, including Anderson, couldn't be better. PURSUED was released right as Mitchum was approaching peak stardom; his other films in 1947 included OUT OF THE PAST (1947) and CROSSFIRE (1947). He's extremely handsome in this movie, and his performance is typical Mitchum: Low-key yet compelling, while also exuding sensuality.

Wright starts out in one of her typical sweet "girl next door" roles before she takes a detour into Thor being a much more conflicted, calculating character, only to ultimately swing back again. Her emotional character works as well as it does partly because she's playing against Mitchum's perpetual stoicism.

The movie also features Harry Carey Jr., Alan Hale Sr., and Ian Wolfe, who has a terrific scene heading up a jury.

The movie was filmed in black and white, on New Mexico locations, by James Wong Howe, with a score by Max Steiner.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray print is described as a 2022 Paramount Pictures HD master of a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative, dupe negative, and comp print. It's an excellent print; it's always been a rather visually dark film, but the Blu-ray picture quality is such I felt it's the easiest it's ever been to watch.

PURSUED is presented as a Special Edition with a cardboard slipcase. It contains a vintage introduction Martin Scorsese plus a new commentary by the always-excellent Imogen Sara Smith. A gallery of a dozen trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber is also included.

I wrote a little more on this film in a 2019 Western RoundUp column on "Noir-Tinged Westerns" for Classic Movie Hub.

PURSUED and this Kino Lorber Blu-ray are both highly recommended.  Be sure to grab the Blu-ray while it's available!

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

Tweet