The John Ford Film Collection

July 10, 2006

Rated: NR Runtime: 500 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

In critical circles (other than ours) John Ford is frequently considered the single greatest director in history; I of course beg to differ but fear not because I am going to explain myself… in great detail. I know this might come as a shock if you are a film student or classic film aficionado, but it’s true. Yes it’s true John Ford won 4 Academy Awards for Direction. Yes it’s true that John Ford is the only director to be nominated for 2 films in the same category, in the same year and win. And yes it’s true that he is partly responsible for the iconic presence that is, or was John Wayne. So why could I disagree with his greatness? Simple, he needs John Wayne and John Wayne doesn’t need him. The John Wayne featured Ford films are the most known and revered among men and the other films are pretty boring if you ask me.

There are 2 sets of John Ford movies available from Warner Home Video, this one, The John Ford Film Collection, and a John Wayne/John Ford Collection. In my opinion if you are a man you would be a complete schmuck to choose this collection over the Duke’s. John Ford could bring cinemascope to life better than anyone, his eye for sweeping majestic landscapes and attention to natural lighting are second to none (except for maybe Spielberg or Ridley Scott), Cheyenne Autumn will prove that by itself, but I don’t think the movies in this collection bring that to life (other than Cheyenne), and since that is his claim to fame this set left me flat.

Anyway, enough complaining let’s get to the positives in this set! This collection of DVD’s features 5 films from different periods in Fords movie making career, which featured a wide range of period specific stars and film making tricks used even today. The first in the collection and probably the best is the 1935 film, The Informer. A movie about a cast out IRA operative that betrays his blood and brothers in arms to the English in 1922; In an attempt to save his neck and rescue his wife from a life of homelessness and prostitution, he gives up his boys for a mere 20 pounds and has to live with his choices. The film has a lot of biblical overtones with the whole betrayal angle and the performance from Victor McLeglan landed him a best actor award to go with Ford’s directorial nod. It won 5 total but those are the two most important ones.

The set from here went downhill, but there were moments in the 1934 film, the Lost Patrol, that I would perk up between naps. Lost Patrol is about a squad of British soldiers caught behind enemy lines during WWI and their sergeant that leads them into an ambush. Pretty good but not great!

The last film in the collection that I watched all the way through was Cheyenne Autumn. John Ford’s final western which in a real switch is told from the indians point of view… Sadly Kevin Costner told a similar story a few years later and it was better. Maybe it had something to do with Costner using real indians and John Ford using Mr Rourke! Bad casting ruined this one for me, the story was good, the scenery amazing but the casting was not good, not good at all.

If you love John Ford’s films by all means add it to your collection, but if you just remember the westerns like I did, buy the John Wayne collection and rent the couple of standouts I listed above. You can’t lose with The Searchers and Fort Apache but you will want to stick your head in a waffle iron during the Hepburn snoozer, Mary of Scotland.

One final note, Admitting that you watch Katherine Hepburn movies that don’t star John Wayne is worse than watching any movie with Meryl Streep and that’s saying something.

Posted by J.C. Edwards | Filed Under 3 Stars, Action, Boris Karloff, DVD, Drama, Katherine Hepburn, NR, Ricardo Montalban, Sal Mineo, Victor McLaglen, Western