MovieChat Forums > My Darling Clementine (1946) Discussion > Allegorical interpretation of 'My darlin...

Allegorical interpretation of 'My darling Clementine'

posted 10 years ago by Aticusfinch
2 replies | jump to latest

I read this interpretation in Tag Gallagher's "John Ford, the man and his movies", which is probably the best book on John Ford out there. I'm not sure whether it applies to Ford's thinking, but it's sure interesting; according to it Wyatt Earp is the USA. Once he marshalled Dodge City (World War I) and retreated (isolationism). Then his cattle is robbed and his brother murdered (Pearl Harbor) so he returns to marshalling, this time Tombstone (World War II), to combat the evil Clantons (Japan and Germany). To do so he makes a questionnable alliance with Doc Holliday (the Sowjet Union), ends up victorious and restores order and peace, but can't really win Clementine's love (the acceptance by the rest of the world).

[–] oldblackandwhite 10 years ago

Like seeing animal shapes in the clouds.

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He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45

[–] wearyourlove 9 years ago

Far too literal a reading, but the basic idea is correct. The film did, after all, come out in 1946, so its themes and overall mood of melancholy, uncertainty, and yearning are undoubtedly informed by the after effects of the war.