Ray does have a theme, and a very important one; namely, that every relationship establishes its own moral code and that there is no such thing as abstract morality.
--Andrew Sarris
Nicholas Ray's beautiful The Savage Innocents is another of Ray's poetic films about outsiders to traditional Western culture and mores, including women (Johnny Guitar, 1954), gypsies (Hot Blood, 1956), rebellious youth (Rebel Without a Cause, 1952), outlaws (The True Story of Jesse James, 1957) and others. The DVD of The Savage Innocents does not begin to compare with the exquisite Technirama 35 mm print that I saw twenty-five years ago at MoMA but it does capture some of the beauty of the Arctic environment shot by Italian cinematographer Aldo Tonti and the geographical and behavioral differences between the West and the Inuit, with Ray obviously influenced by Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1922).
There is an effective documentary quality to Ray's film, with seal-hunting, igloo-building and an aging mother left on the ice to be devoured by a polar bear. The film is mostly cool blues and whites as well as earth tones, with Ray's signature garish red only showing up when Inuk (played by Anthony Quinn) makes his way to a distant trading post to trade furs and clashes with Western traders and priests Ray does not claim that the Inuit are "noble savages" in any sense, rather that they have a unique culture that is gradually being eroded.
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