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April 18, 2018

Ruby Gentry

ruby gentry pasion.jpg

King Vidor - 1952
KL Studio Classics BD Region A

Considering that Duel in the Sun was retitled "Lust in the Dust", and that there are some obvious similarities to that film, I'm surprised that Ruby Gentry wasn't renamed "Romp in the Swamp". Familiarity, plus a modest budget and under ninety-minute running time helped make this reunion of Vidor and Jennifer Jones a more profitable venture than the 1946 epic. This time, Jones was tussling in the dirt with Charlton Heston, a character as thoughtless as the one played by Gregory Peck, but without Peck's wicked charm.

As Ruby, Jones is first seen in the distance, standing somewhat provocatively in a doorway, wearing a body hugging shirt and jeans. The town's new, youngish doctor, taking a gander at the fabled woman, is told, "Don't let it shake you, Doc. It's only anatomy." Jennifer Jones wearing a bullet bra is almost enough to distract from her now looking about a decade too old for her role. Much of Jones' career has been based on playing characters younger than her real age, and she even appears as the 16 year old Ruby in a flashback. Those kind of concerns disappear the moment Jones scratches Heston's face rather than shrug off an unwanted pat on the rear.

Even if the story of class division in a small Southern town, and a woman "from the wrong side of the tracks" may strike contemporary viewers as archaic, Ruby Gentry might well be reevaluated, at least in part, for the depiction of one woman's agency. Ruby is the only major female character. She has a love/hate relationship with Boake, a would-be entrepreneur who sees Ruby only in discrete liaisons before trading love for money. The other two female characters, the wife of businessman Jim Gentry, and the socialite, Tracy, are valued for the social standing within the community. Ruby, living with her backwoods family, is valued only for her beauty, but is otherwise considered as someone who needs to remember her place. Ruby is subjected to various cruelties by the town following her marriage to the newly widowed Jim Gentry, and the aftermath of Jim's accidental death. When Ruby gets her revenge, it's beyond the comprehension of Boake. Within the context of when the film was made, Ruby has to be punished, and you have to wonder why, after realizing the extent of her wealth, she even wants to stay in a town where she is openly disliked. But there is brief pleasure for Ruby and the audience when the town's movers and shakers get their comeuppance.

Among the best visual moments are the reunion of Ruby and Boake, with Charlton Heston's face illuminated by a flashlight, following the voice of Jennifer Jones. Later, the two drive along the beach, sitting on the car seats, Heston singing along to the radio, while the car loses control and careens into the water. Later, something of a visual end note to the scene of Heston's face seen by flashlight, Heston enters the bedroom of Jones, his face in close-up, lit by an overhead light that is turned off. That the film was shot in black and white is especially an advantage in the climax, taking place in a studio set swamp made more otherworldly with its shroud of fog.

Posted by Peter Nellhaus at April 18, 2018 10:19 AM