Noon Wine – Liberation Hall (DVD)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1966
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Writer: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: Jason Robards, Olivia de Havilland, Theodore Bikel, Per Oscarsson, Robert Emhardt, Steve Sanders, Ben Johnson, Peter Robbins, L.Q. Jones, Jill Andre, Joan Tompkins

Release Date: May 30th, 2023
Approximate Running Times: 59 Minutes 1 Second (Version With Commercials), 50 Minutes 12 Seconds (Version Without Commercials)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio (Both Versions)
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono English (Both Versions)
Subtitles: N/A
Region Coding: Region 0 NTSC
Retail Price: $14.95

"Royal Earle Thompson owns a dairy farm in southern Texas during the late 1890s. His farm is fairly unproductive, due in part to Thompson's laziness and distaste for most of the required labor on a farm. Thompson lives with his wife, Ellie, and two small sons, and while Ellie is continually ill, she does her best to perform her domestic duties around the farm. One day, Olaf Helton presents himself at the farm and the taciturn Swede asks Farmer Thompson for a job and is hired on the spot. Helton proves to be an invaluable asset and after nine years pass, the dairy farm is thriving, thanks to Helton's incomparable work ethic One day, an offensive and irritating stranger named Homer T. Hatch shows up at the farm. saying he is there to "locate" Helton. Thompson takes an immediate dislike to Helton due to his grating banter and subtle insults. Hatch eventually reveals he is a bounty hunter, and Helton is an escaped mental patient. Thompson has a vision of Hatch driving a knife blade into Helton's stomach.and rushes to Helton's defense, striking Hatch with an axe blade and killing him. Nenwhile, Helton flees. After a perfunctory trial, Thompson is acquitted on the ground of self-defense/defense of another but Thompson continues to relive the killing, endlessly reviewing possible options, other paths he could have taken. Worse, though he is legally "not guilty," the community regards him as not innocent, and fears that he has become an outcast.. In a climactic scene at home, Thompson realizes that even his wife is afraid of him and that their now nearly grown sons no longer trust him. Dressed in his best, Thompson writes a note of explanation, how he never meant to kill Hatch. Poignantly, Thompson puts no blame on Helton, observing that had Hatch come hunting him instead of Helton, his friend would have done the same for him." – Synopsis provided by the Distributor

Video: 2.5/5

Here’s information about Noon Wine, “The show was recorded live, on kinescope and the original masters were thought to be lost.”

Noon Wine comes of a single layer DVD.

Disc Size: 4.1 GB

Considering the limitations of the source available for this release, this transfer can only look so good. There are tape defects (analog source?), colors fluctuate, black levels are at best adequate, and image clarity is generally crisp. Quality-wise, the two versions are comparable.

Audio: 2.5/5

Each version comes with one audio option, a Dolby Digital mono mix in English. Both audio tracks have background hisses that vary in degree throughout. That said, the dialog comes through clearly enough to follow, and everything sounds balanced. Also, considering the limitations of the source, these tracks sound good range-wise.

Summary:

Noon Wine was a television program that was part of the ABC Stage 67 anthology series. This series ran for one season, and there were 26 episodes.

Noon Wine was directed by Sam Peckinpah, a filmmaker best remembered for his revisionist westerns like The Wild Bunch, and Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. Noon Wine was adapted by Sam Peckinpah from author Katherine Anne Porter’s short novel of the same name.

At the heart of Noon Wine is a morality tale about self-interest versus doing the right thing. The narrative revolves around a dairy farmer trapped in a loveless marriage who hires a stranger to work on his farm. This decision proves to be very beneficial to the dairy farmer, and when faced with the possibility of losing his helper, the dairy farmer commits an act of violence that puts a heavy burden on his conscience.

Noon Wine has a solid cast that features many faces that will be recognizable to anyone familiar with the films of Sam Peckinpah. And though the cast is all very good, It is the three leads who shine the brightest: Jason Robards (The Ballad of Cable Hogue) in the role of a dairy farmer named Royal Earle Thompson, Olivia de Havilland (The Heiress) in the role of Ellie, the dairy farmer's wife, and Per Oscarsson (Hunger) in the role of Olaf Helton, the stranger looking for a job.

Though there is only so much that can be done when working on a product made for television, the result is something that far exceeds its meager resources. The premise is well executed, and the narrative does a great job building momentum towards a bleak finale, which serves as a perfect coda. Also, Sam Peckinpah’s direction does a superb job of letting the characters take center stage. Ultimately, Noon Wine is an extraordinary piece of filmmaking that is filled with cinematic flourishes that are synonymous with the films of Sam Peckinpah.

Liberation Hall rescued Noon Wine, a rarely seen work from Sam Peckinpah, out of obscurity. That said, don’t let the technical limitations of this release discourage you from checking out Noon Wine.

Written by Michael Den Boer