Shane/The Man of the Lost Valleys embodies the quintessence of the western

The 1953 film, which inspired Clint Eastwood, George Lucas and David Carradine, returns this evening on Arte.

Shane. The Man of the Lost Valleys. For any self-respecting movie buff, this name evokes one of the greatest moments in cinema history. Sign George Stevens (Giantthe last James Dean), Shane is one of the 10 best Westerns ever made, a matrix film that captures the quintessence of the genre, and which will inspire many filmmakers, from George Lucas has Martin Scorsese passing through Clint Eastwoodwho never stopped unofficially remaking it and filming variations of it (with himself, of course, each time in the main role).

The formula of Shanesince repeated by thousands of films, seems classic today: a stranger arrives from nowhere, in a city prey to corruption, injustice and violence, settles there temporarily, and ends up despite his reluctance to restore order to the balance of chaos, after having shot down almost all the bad guys. Oh, he must still have been injured during. All this before going back where it came from (i.e. towards nothingness).

Shane/The Man of the Lost Valleys embodies the quintessence of the western and the mythological journey so dear to George Lucas, which is the basis of the success of Star Wars. The film was so successful that it spawned a TV series with a David Carradine (pre Kung-Fu and Kill Bill), still unprecedented in our regions. But also, and above all, Shane is the first western in Widescreen format in the history of cinema.

In 2016, the release of its Blu-ray edition by the English label Eureka!, in their Masters of Cinema series, marked the first time or Shane was presented in its original widescreen 1.66:1 cinema format, and the first time, therefore, where spectators can see it as it was shown to the public in 1953.

How to explain that this had never happened before? Shane was announced on Blu-ray in 2013 by Paramount in widescreen, but this announcement caused an outcry on the internet, led by the crazy blogger (there are no other words to describe him) Jeffrey Wells.

The controversy was such, and the posts on the forums so angry, that the reactions pushed Paramount to backtrack and release the film on Blu-ray in the USA, then in France, only in the 1.37:1 square format. A format revealing more image at the top and bottom of the frame, but which is therefore not the format of the film in which it was shown in theaters.

George Stevens Jr., the filmmaker's son, supervised two 4K restorations for the film, one in cinema format and one in square format. He explains: “Shane was filmed in 1951, in a 1.37:1 square format. But by the time it was released in 1953, the entire industry was moving towards widescreen, to compete with television. Shane therefore became, by force, Things, the first widescreen film, and was released theatrically in this format for the first time on April 23, 1953, at Radio City Music Hall. They built a new widescreen screen, and had. masked the top and bottom of the image, to show the film in this format. My father made this decision, because people finally wanted to see films on the big screen.

Pre-1953 films shot in square format were in fact shown on tiny screens, before theaters switched to wide format. The difference was as big for the public as between a postage stamp and a magazine. The result was so impressive that George Stevens made his next film, Giantwith James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor And Rock Hudsonin the same widescreen 1.66:1 format.

Hybrid film, one of the last shot for the square format therefore, (after the summer of 1953, all American studios generalized widescreen, and the widescreen madness will very quickly spread throughout the world), Shane will be used on television and video, and even on DVD for the next 60 years… in square format. We can understand that the cathode television of yesteryear which formatted all fiction by default, required to fill its entire screen, and that broadcasts suffered as a result. But we can less understand, while the DVD will establish, following the laserdisc, the systematic protection of the original cinema format, why the publishers, then the spectators bloggers and forum users, will decide that Shane must only exist in a modified format, which is not the one in which it was originally shown theatrically by its director.

We can read here and there on the forums dedicated to Shane that it is necessary “protect the original intention of the director”. By exactly the same people who scream, when George Lucas made changes to the Star Warswhile the filmmaker defends himself by saying that these represent his “original intentions”that he doesn't have any “not allowed!” !

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In truth, if George Stevens shot his film in square, he was completely responsible for showing it in wide screen before its release. He even modified his editing accordingly, replacing shots that he considered too tight with wider shots, in order to optimize cropping. Editing Shane on Blu-ray in a square format only, therefore only represents an approximation of what this possible initially sketched version would have been. This version is at most a bonus, a curiosity, a Proust madeleine, intended to satisfy a vocal but (very) limited audience, who grew up seeing the film sideways, and refuses to see it any other way. In no case can it claim to replace the historic one originally released in theaters.

The Blu-ray version Eureka!, with English subtitles, in a limited edition of 2000 copies which will soon be sold out, sets the record straight, and represents the true way in which Paramount should have released the film. Or almost. The square version “bonuses” of the film is included here as the main one on a first Blu-ray, (the fear of internet vindictiveness, no doubt?), while the second Blu-ray contains (finally) two versions of the film in its original cinema format, in widescreen 1.66:1. The first is unadjusted, representing the version shown in theaters in 1953. The second is the same, but optimized by George Stevens Jr., who adjusted a few shots where the central crop could be judged visually unsatisfactory. The only one that interests us in short, and the only way to see and review Shane The Man of the Lost Valleys from now ons. In the format in which the director of Giant wanted it when it came out in 1953.