DUEL IN THE SUN (1946)

   Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, King Vidor (director), David O. Selznick (producer)

   As with The Outlaw (1943), Duel in the Sun was intended to be as sexually provocative as the times would allow. David O. Selznick wanted to make a Western epic on the scale of the Civil War–epic Gone with the Wind (1939). He cast his own future wife, Jennifer Jones, as the sensual half-Hispanic temptress of two brothers—one (Joseph Cotten), a good man, refined of manners and gentle of disposition, and the other (a very young Gregory Peck), a savage brute who takes after their father (Lionel Barrymore), a cruel yet wealthy land baron and senator. Lillian Gish, nominated for her only Academy Award for this role, played a mother who desperately tries to mediate between the sons and between her husband and their sons. Duel in the Sun was one of the largest-budget Westerns of its time, and although it earned its way in the box office, the film has generally been seen as a critical failure. Selznick’s ambitions were never acknowledged.