A couple of John Ford films:

Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), directed by John Ford. Ford made three films in 1939, a banner year all-round for Hollywood. Two of those films have become film-study favourites: Stagecoach and Young Mr. Lincoln.  The third is Drums Along the Mohawk, Ford’s first colour film. And the colour, courtesy of cinematographers Bert Glennon and Ray Rennahan, is stunning. This Ford picture is lovely to look at. The plot involves settlers in upstate New York in the years 1776 to 1778 who find themselves harassed by Iroquois and their Tory inciter, played by John Carradine. The principal characters are Gil Martin (Henry Fonda) and his young bride (Claudette Colbert). The action scenes are impressive, perhaps none more than the chase scene in which Fonda runs from the besieged fort to find help and he is pursued across fields, through streams and forests by three Native men intent on stopping him. Also impressive is the soldiers' return from battle near the end of the film, ragged, wounded, exhausted, and the Fonda character traumatized so badly that he does not recognize his wife. Although Ford lauds the bravery and patriotism of these people, he also presents war as ugly, brutal, and wasteful. Of course, the film has familiar Ford touches such as his attraction to ritual: weddings, funerals, dancing, for example. His presentation of Native people is not easy to accept. He tries to give us a likeable Native person in the character of Blue Back, played by Chief John Big Tree, and certainly Blue Buck is likeable. He is also stolidly stereotypical. The other Native people are faceless enemies haunting the woods and burning settlers’ houses. A feature of this film that does resonate positively is its cast of strong women, especially the Widow McKlennar, played with robust energy by Edna May Oliver. It is worth seeing the film for her performance.

 

Donovan's Reef (1963), directed by John Ford. This is the final film Ford made with John Wayne. He made only two (or 3 if you count Young Cassidy for which he is not credited) more films. In other words, this is something of a closing out for Ford and he includes most of the things we expect from Ford films, ritual, boisterous male action, some sexism, sentimentality, and race relations. The story takes place on a fictional South Sea Island, Haleakaloha, where people from all over the place meet. We have the original people of the island , along with Irish, American, Australian, European, Chinese, and Japanese people. The island is a small world. Ford once again approaches the issue of miscegenation, but he does so in lightsome mood. This is a comedy and a broad one at that. The relationship between Wayne's ''Guns" Donovan and Lee Marvin's "Boats" Gilhooley serves to set the tone. They engage in an annual brawl on the day they celebrate both their birthdays. Oh, and I ought to say that this is a seasonal film; the action takes place over Christmas. Christmas, time for festivities, family, forgiveness, and the simple virtues, provides the background for the story. Life on this tropical island eschews the corporate world that Amelia Dedham (Elizabeth Allen) has left behind in snowy Boston. In short, Ford creates a paradisal world devoutly to be wished for. He even has his personal boat, the Araner, in the script. A few of the Ford regulars turn up: Dick Foran, Mike Mazurki, John Qualen, Chuck Roberson, Aissa Wayne, Patrick Wayne, and of course Lee Marvin, and Duke. This is a family affair. Even Mae Marsh shows up; she had appeared in at least four of Ford's previous films, and she was also prominent in films by D. W. Griffith. The relationship between Wayne and Allen echoes the relationship between Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in films such as Ford's The Quiet Man and the more recent McClintock. Everyone seems to be having fun in this film.