I just received the best news and just when I needed some good news. This wonderful
documentary that Peter Bogdanovich made on John Ford is going to be released on DVD,
apparently in conjunction with TCM. It's being release in September, and if I understand
the article correctly, it will be included in a a repackaging of the previous John Wayne/John Ford box set.
For those of you who haven't seen it, it's an AMAZING documentary which Bogdanovich
made in the early 70s, but updated with more interview footage and movie clips a couple
of years ago. I've been waiting and hoping for this release because more people need
to see it. It blows that Nick Redman documentary from the Ford-at-Fox set out of the water.
TCM is also airing it on June 1st, as part of their month long salute to directors.
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education." -- Will Rogers
This was the only John Ford thread that I could find that seemed to fit the bill for tonight's John Ford fest! I'd bet my brother (but no one would want him) that there is another Ford thread that would work but I can't find it now.
So, here goes:
Thanks to the alert MissG (many, many thanks actually), I am off to the Academy tonight to see the 35mm restored version of "Stagecoach" on the big screen. I've only mainly seen bad 16mm dupes over the years because the negative was long ago melted down for its silver content during WWII and 16mm prints were mostly what were available at screenings.
But thanks to modern technology, a new print is available so I'm excited about that as it looked beautiful on TCM a few years back when they ran it.
Also adding to the fun is the fact that Dan Ford, Pappy's grandson, will be introducing the film and doing a brief Q&A before the film.
I'll be glad to report back here about the screening!
Lynn in Lake Balboa
"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."
"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese
Yes, PLEASE report every detail Lynn!! I'm BEYOND excited for you!!! If you can find out if he's coming to the New York screening, too, I'd be ever so grateful.
Enjoy!!
P.S. Here's a more general discussion thread on the director:
Well, I am back from the screening of Stagecoach and what a good night at the movies it was.
Both parking garages were filled and the line of Academy members and series holders (those who bought series passes for the entire 10 film Best Picture nominees of 1939) line was around the corner and down the block.
The line for ticket holders was not quite so long. But we had to wait for that line to be admitted first. No problems, the Academy theater is large, it wasn't quite sold out but it was filled with at least 3x times the number of people since my last visit.
The film was set to hit the screen at 7:30 pm but shortly after 7:00 the house lights dimmed (though not completely to accommodate those still arriving) and Chapter Two: Tragedy on Saturn" of a Buck Rogers serial hit the screen. Chapter One had screened the week before with Gone With the Wind. Because it is a twelve part serial they are doubling up on some screenings to get them all in. This is the Buster Crabbe serial and it is badly fragmented with lots of splices and even more bad scenery and props. The spaceships are barely bigger than models and are fueled by sparklers. The anti-gravity belts that Buster, Wilma and Buddy wear have to be seen to be believed.
And speaking of Buddy, why does he have to do the majority of the heavy lifting? Every other sentence in the dialog was "Buddy get this, Buddy do that." But, Buddy is the sidekick and did it willing just to be of aid to Buck and Wilma. What a trooper. I would have punched Buster at some point but he was kind of cute.
After two chapters of Buck, we got a great Looney Tunes directed by Bob Clampett, The Film Fan starring Porky Pig with a cameo by a very early Daffy.
That was followed by a Black and White trailer for Drums Along the Mohawk which was weird because the movie is in Technicolor and next week's 1939 screening Wuthering Heights.
The lights came up and the Director of Educational Programming, Randy Haberkamp, spoke for a few minutes before introducing Dan Ford, Pappy's grandson. For some reason, I was expecting a younger guy, not someone my age.
But Dan Ford proved to be quite the talker and fielded questions from Haberkamp very deftly. We learned that Pappy, despite having a reputation as a tough task master, was more of a pussycat away from the pressures of making films and was a killer card player.
And that he preferred making movies from short stories instead of novels despite his successes with How Green Was My Valley and Grapes of Wrath. Every year, the ladies of Valley would hold a reunion with the cast and crew, usually around St. Patrick's Day to "celebrate more than the making of the film."
His favorite films were his westerns and Dan Ford gave credence (despite the stories by Wayne, Harry Carey, sr and Ford himself) to the story of how he came to shoot in Monument Valley because Harry Goulding came and sat outside of Ford's office with a portfolio of photos of the Valley.
Dan Ford also said that Monument Valley back in the day was as a primitive as you could get. The only roads in were dirt, even into the late 1950s. There was no phone service in the those early years of shooting there. If you wanted to make a phone call you had to drive for a few hours into Moab.
To get there from Los Angeles, you took the train to Flagstaff and then either rented cars or the studio supplied cars and you drove all day to Gouldings. Shooting out there, Ford was guaranteed no meddling by producers. Which was just the way Pappy liked it.
Though it was announced that it a restored print,it was the print from John Wayne's private collection and the one that TCM ran a few years ago. I misspoke earlier about how beautiful it was. The final reel is the only one in good shape.
The print is from a dupe negative and most of the beautiful black and white is washed out and it suffers from negative scratches throughout except for the last reel which is quite good. The original film negative was either melted down for its silver content (the story I was always told by those who would know) or destroyed in a vault fire at RKO in the mid-1940s.
Either way, to get a good looking restoration of this film is going to take a lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of dollars. But hopefully, one of these days, that will happen because it deserves to look as beautiful as Valley and Grapes of Wrath.
According to the notes, the film was shot in 47 days. Besides Monument Valley, it was shot at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth and the Gardens of the Gods rock formations in Calabasas. The Iverson is long gone and the Gardens of the Gods has been turned into a master planned community with only a fraction of the beauty left. There is a shot of Beale's Cut in Newhall that has been a movie location since the silent days and is still there. The dry lake bed was shot near the far end of Muroc Dry Lake near Victorville.
The river crossing was shot on the Kern River.
It cost $531,374 to make with $80,000 going to the actors. Claire Trevor was the highest paid at $15,000 and Wayne only made $3,000, the same he made on his B-westerns for Republic. Even Tim Holt, who is seen briefly in the army sequences, made more than Wayne.
The cinematographer, Bert Clennon received an Oscar nomination for Cinematography. His son, James would go grow up to shoot the HBO series Deadwood among other westerns.
Yakima Canutt was hired at the suggestion of Wayne. When first approached by Pappy, Wayne thought he was looking for recommendations for the role and suggested Lloyd Nolan (!). He didn't realize that Pappy was angling for him to star in the film. Up till then, Wayne had been toiling in B-westerns for Republic and this truly was his breakthrough role.
Finding a producer for the movie was not easy. Ford initially approached Merien C. Cooper, who at the time was working at Selznick International. Selznick got involved and agreed to make the picture with Wayne and Claire Trevor and then changed his mind and wanted Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich. Ford and Cooper refused with Cooper ultimately leaving Selznick International.
Ford and Cooper approached Walter Wanger (before he shot Jennings Lang in the groin) and Wanger agreed to produce it but with a smaller budget and it was to be in black and white instead of Technicolor. Wanger wanted Joel McCrea for the Ringo Kid. Ford did a series of screen tests with other actors including Bruce Cabot (!) before Wanger agreed to hire Wayne.
Lastly, composer Louis Gruenberg was originally hired to do the score but Ford was dissatisfied with it and hired a series of composers to write a new score incorporating traditional American ballads. Gruenberg retained his credit in the film. When the film won best score, those accepting the award included Richard Hageman, Frank Harling, John Leipold and Leo Shuken, but not Louis Gruenberg.
The jaunty theme of Stagecoach can be briefly heard at the beginning of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
With any luck, up next, Gunga Din on the big screen with talk of the locations at Lone Pine (Woo-Hoo!), sound designer Ben Burtt and Oscsar winner Craig Barron talking about how Din influenced them.
Stay tuned.
Lynn in Lake Balboa
"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."
"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese
I was thinking of you (with only a scosh of envy in my wizened heart) while watching the doc Directed by John Ford on TCM last night. I know what you mean about expecting Dan Ford to be a youngster. I can remember seeing him interviewed on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson when he first published "Pappy" about his grandfather years ago, (Dan Ford worked for the program at the time) and back then, I wasn't even in high school. He was a youthful Vietnam War era veteran at that time, so it would be a shock to see him now! He sounds full of life in your terrific account, btw. Thanks for sharing your experience here.
Fantastic description, Lynn. Thanks for the complete rundown, for those of us who will never have these opportunities --- first picnicking with Mr. Pennell, and then Stagecoach on the big screen. I cannot believe there hasn't been a full restoration ....
As for the Wagon Master dvd, I am as excited as Jane Darwell when Ward Bond's pants rip open.....
I cannot believe there hasn't been a full restoration ....
I think it's because of the missing 35mm elements. It will take some time and more importantly, some major buckaroos $$$$ to restore the quality to where it needs to be.
The negative and print scratches are extensive on all the reels except the last one as well as the washed out black and white.
Lynn in Lake Balboa
"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."
"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese
It's confirmed that WHV did re-package it's John Wayne/John Ford Collection to include the Peter B.
documentary, "Directed by John Ford" (which will also be available separately).
In even more exciting news, CRITERION is apparently working on a release of STAGECOACH (!), possibly
by December!
I also read (digitalbits.com) that Warner's rights to The Long Voyage Home will lapse in November. Thank goodness
I got the dvd already, but I wonder what happens to the movie now? Does it float into P.D. limbo? Great
film.
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education." -- Will Rogers
Than ks for the info on Long Voyage Home.... Iguess I better get a copy now if there are any to be had... I had a copy on VHS.... but really need the dvd. This will spur me to spend the money and get a decent copy.
