WORLD PREMIERE RESTORATION

The Western took a more adult turn in the 1950s with films like High Noon and the James Stewart-Anthony Mann collaborations. The characters gained more texture and nuance, and the films asked us to consider the nature of violence. George Stevens treated those issues on an epic scale with his tale of a reformed gunslinger (Alan Ladd) caught up in the battle between ranchers and farmers in Wyoming. With actors like Van Heflin and Jean Arthur (in her final film) as the couple who hire Ladd as a farmhand, and Ladd (who hated guns in real life) as the man forced to strap his six-shooters back on, the film created three-dimensional, conflicted figures. It scored one of the biggest hits of Stevens’ career while leaving audiences with the indelible image of child actor Brandon deWilde as the boy who comes to worship Shane against the background of the Grand Tetons. Audiences can marvel at the world premiere restoration of SHANE at this year’s festival.

Restored in 2025 from the 3-strip Technicolor 35mm original negative, which was scanned at 4K. The restoration was approved by George Stevens Jr.