A few John Ford films.

Bucking Broadway (1917), directed by John Ford. This early Ford western has Harry Carey playing Cheyenne Harry in a comedic vein. The film has many touches we associate with Ford, male camaraderie and enjoyment of song, a close relationship between an older man and a younger man, and exquisite compositional detail. It also has one unfortunate scene in which Harry buys new clothes only to see a Black man wearing a similar outfit, prompting Harry to return the clothes in disgust. Back to composition. At one point, we have a shot that anticipates the famous doorway scene(s) in The Searchers. The plot has Harry proposing marriage to his boss’s daughter, Helen Clayton (Molly Malone), only to have her run off to New York with the oily horse trader, Eugene Thornton (Vester Pegg), who sports a villain’s large moustache. Anyway, Harry has given Helen a small heart that he has carved and told her to send it to him if she is ever in trouble. She sends this to him, and Harry makes his way to New York. Soon after the other cowboys from the ranch also arrive with a load of horses. What follows is a raucous melee, not in a saloon, but in the posh hotel where Helen and Eugene are have their engagement party. The film is played for laughs. As early films go, this one is worth it for the cinematography and for an early glimpse at Ford’s interests as a film maker.

 

Hangman's House (1928), directed by John Ford. The film is perhaps noteworthy as the first film in which a young John Wayne appears, uncredited. He is a member of the audience watching a horse race, and in his enthusiasm he breaks down a small fence. The horse race, by the way, is a forerunner of the race in Ford's much later The Quiet Man. The story is less noteworthy than either the race or the appearance of young Marion Morrison. It tells the story of a young woman forced into a marriage with a man she does not love, a man who is a cad. Of course she loves another young man. Throw into the mix another man who is exiled in the Foreign Legion and who returns to take revenge on the cad who had married the young woman. This cad, by the way, is an informer. Oh, did I say the story is set in Ireland? This is something of a dry-run for Ford's later The Informer, complete with touches of German Expressionism. I found the film rather tepid, but it looks fine. The camera moves fluidly on occasion, and the compositions are worthy of the director.

 

Upstream (1927), directed by John Ford. This one concerns the theatre and its players who occupy a boarding house during the season. Some are successful, some are not. Some are serious actors, others are performers such as a song and dance act Callaham and Callaham or the sister act who are actually mother and daughter. Our main focus is on young actor from a famous family, Eric Brashingham (Earle Foxe), his girlfriend Gertie Ryan (Nancy Nash), and knife thrower Juan Rodriguez, aka Jack La Velle (Grant Withers). Nancy loves Eric, Juan loves Nancy, and Eric loves himself. Anyway, Eric surprisingly makes good with the help of the older actor Campbell Mandare (Emile Chautard), and lands the part of Hamlet in a London production. He triumps in the part and leaves his former friends behind. They struggle on, and Nancy and Juan plan to marry. They do marry and during their wedding ceremony, Eric returns for a visit just for the publicity. His return offers Ford the opportunity for one of his visual flourishes and Eric appears in the cloud of smoke created by the camera that takes the wedding photos. The whole thing is fluff, except this is Ford, early Ford yes, but Ford nonetheless. His visual flare is evident not only in the scene of Eric’s less than triumphant return to the boarding house, but also in other scenes such as the one in which Eric imagines himself playing Hamlet as he looks in a mirror. Ford gives us an intimate view of life as performance. 

 

Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), directed by John Ford. Ford’s first colour film is lush and lovely to look at, but its rah rah patriotism strikes the wrong cord for me. The story has to do with the American Revolution and the goings on in an upper New York community just before the Battle of Saratoga. The Tories, led here by eye-patched John Carradine as Caldwell, are a vicious lot and employ the savage Natives to do much of their dastardly work. The Natives are hard-drinkers who like to set things on fire. If the Native happens to be a Christian, our hero’s friend Blue Back (Chief Big Tree) for example, then this Native is just fine. Our hero is Gilbert Martin (Henry Fonda) who has come to this out of the way valley to build a home; he brings with him a young bride, the rich girl Lana (Claudette Colbert), who at first finds country living intolerable. As the film goes along, Lana becomes a faithful, hard working pioneer woman, perhaps helped by the example of the widow McKlennar (Edna May Oliver), a no nonsense, independent and stubborn woman who orders everyone about, even the Natives who, while holding whiskey jugs, try to burn her house down. The film has familiar Ford touches, community solidarity, the importance of church, humour, eccentric characters, and a cast sprinkled with Ford favourites: Ward Bond, Jack Pennick, Arthur Shields, Francis Ford, Russell Simpson, Tom Tyler, along with those I have already mentioned – Fonda, Carradine, and Big Tree. The final shot where the flag of the new fresh country is placed atop the church has something of a chilling feel now when the separation of church and state seems on the verge of breaking down. Visually and thematically, this is clearly a Ford film; it is, however, a lesser Ford film. It appears in the same year as Stagecoach and Young Mr. Lincoln, and a year before The Grapes of Wrath. These three films are all a cut above Drums Along the Mohawk.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), directed by John Ford. This film showcases Ford and John Wayne at their best. We have seen it multiple times and no doubt will see it again. The cinematography by Winton C. Hoch is justly famous. The Frederick Remington-influenced look of the film is gorgeous. Wayne’s portrayal of a 43-year veteran of the cavalry, Captain Nathan Brittles, is terrific; he even manages to shed tears when C-Troop gives him a retirement present, a silver watch and chain with a sentiment on the back. The familiar Ford actors are here: Victor McLaglen, Harry Carey, Jr., Ben Johnson, Mildred Natwick, Arthur Shields, and in small uncredited roles, Paul Fix, Harry Woods, Jack Pennick, and Francis Ford. We have the usual Ford interest in male camaraderie, ritual, and tradition. We have a mixture of comedy, romance, sentimentality, and western action. The action here is interesting in that the main action of the film occurs when Brittles sets out to stop a war rather than indulge in one. “Old men must stop wars,” he says to his old friend Pony that Walks (Chief John Big Tree, another Ford stalwart). Ben Johnson as Sergeant Tyree has never been better, and his riding here is extremely impressive. Tom Tyler turns up as Corporal Mike Quayne, a wounded soldier who insists on giving the report on what happened to his patrol despite his injury. Old soldiers, eh Mis Dandridge. Olivia Dandridge, by the way, is played by Joanne Dru, another actor who appears in other Ford films, notably Wagon Master (1950). The film has many memorable moments: 
“Watch them grammar!” Lieutenant Pennell accepts Brittles’s offer of chewing tobacco as they watch from a hiding place the murder of Karl Rynders, the sutler, and the gun runners, “It’s been known to turn a man’s stomach.” Then we have the death of Trooper Smith, aka Rome Clay (Rudy Bowman), who commends “Captain” Tyree before dying. Of course, there is Sergeant Quincannon (McLaglen) in civvy clothes and brawling with those who come to take him to the guardhouse. The film has much to delight, not least its anti-war sentiment. Most impressive, however, is the landscape of Monument Valley that gives the film an epic look.