New Criterion DVD: “The Furies”

Criterion today released on DVD one of the great noir westerns, The Furies (1950) directed by Anthony Mann.

From the LA Times review by Dennis Lim:

In truth, “The Furies,” frontier setting notwithstanding, barely counts as a western. There are elements of film noir in both the plot and the look; many key scenes unfold under cover of darkness (Victor Milner earned an Oscar nomination for his moody cinematography). Above all, though, it plays like a Freudian melodrama, dissecting the hysterical and ultra-competitive love-hate relationship between widowed patriarch T.C. Jeffords ( Walter Huston) and his headstrong daughter, Vance ( Barbara Stanwyck).

From the NY Times review by Dave Kehr:

Mann gives the action a metaphysical dimension that overwhelms easy psychoanalytic readings. As in his films noirs (Raw Deal, Desperate), he systematically composes his shots to create a sense of instability, using lines of perspective or boldly massed foregrounds to pull the images off balance. The titanic struggle between father and daughter has knocked the world off its axis.

Links:
LA Times Review by Robert Lim
NY Times Review by Dave Kehr
Criterion: The Furies
The New Yorker Review by Richard Brody
The House Next Door Review by Dan Callaghan