Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film

convincingly from mocking but affectionate laughter and
humor to anger and indignation. A movie in which most
of the characters except the hero and heroine become
unsympathetic, High Noon creates a number of types
familiar from westerns, and then works against their
usual meanings. Costuming and makeup have a great
deal to do with the performances. The saloon-keeper
(Lucien Prival, 1900–1994), for instance, is typed as a
dude, with slicked-back hair, a moustache, white shirt
and bowtie, and a corset pulled over his bicep. This
complements the character, who is written as a smooth,
complacent loudmouth.
Authoritative actors like Kruger and Mitchell, as
the judge and the mayor, respectively, play their accustomed
roles, only in a place where authority is being
abandoned, replaced by expediency and complacency.
Mitchell, who frequently played bloviating orators and
other long-winded types, is in the background through
Character Actors
Character actors Thomas Mitchell (right), along with John Carradine (left) and the appositely named Donald Meek (center)
in Stageocach (John Ford, 1939). EVERETT COLLECTION. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.
most of the film, but emerges at the climax of the long
church scene to give a lengthy, prevaricating speech.
The mayor’s address starts out seemingly in support
of the marshal but ends up naming Kane as the cause
of the impending trouble. He urges Kane to flee in the
hopes that if the killers do not find their target, they will
quietly leave town. Mitchell speaks in a steady, practiced
and confident rhythm and cadence that belies the
mayor’s cowardly, head-in-the-sand attitude. Moreover,
Mitchell’s speech enhances Gary Cooper’s performance
and increases the audience’s identification with the
character Cooper plays. Kane is waiting for his friend
the mayor to begin urging the men to join him in
confronting the threat to their town; reaction shots to
Cooper emphasize his dismay at the failure of people he
trusts to do what he, Kane, sees as obviously right.
When Mitchell gets to the payoff of his speech, he
intones the lines, ‘‘You better get out of town, Will,
SCHIRMER ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM 247