Shakespeare in Tombstone? Assigned by 20th Century-Fox to turn out a new version of the well-trod story of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, John Ford delivered an unhurried, episodic Western that ambles from one yarn to another against the majestic expanse of Monument Valley. Each incident, from a church dance in resplendent sunshine to a barbershop appointment interrupted by gunfire to, yes, an oddly effective tag-team recitation of a soliloquy from Hamlet, plays like a tall tale recounted from the tranquil side of the saloon. (Variety huffed that “[a]t several points, the pic comes to a dead stop to let Ford go gunning for some arty effect.”) The barest summary suggests a more action-oriented story than My Darling Clementine cared to sustain: Wyatt (Henry Fonda) has a reputation from his time in Dodge City but no desire to bring his marshalling to Tombstone — until his brother is murdered by the cattle-rustling Clanton clan (headed by Walter Brennan, cast against type as a whip-wielding sadist). The Earp vs. Clanton conflict mostly hums along in the background, while the film focuses on Wyatt’s tentative courtship of schoolmarm Clementine (Cathy Downs) and his ever-evolving friendship with Doc (Victor Mature), an affection that remains mysterious to both men. Mature, who found stardom playing a caveman in One Million B.C. and remained typecast as a shirtless lunkhead, summons an extraordinary performance as Doc, a twitchy, tubercular secret cosmopolitan hiding out among gamblers and ladies of leisure in an undiscovered country all his own.

Preceded by: “Shakespearian Spinach” (Fleischer Studios, 1940)  –  6 min  –  16mm