172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

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JakeStewart
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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#26 Post by JakeStewart » Thu Feb 06, 2020 11:47 pm

I’ve been wanting The Long Gray Line on blu-Ray for a long, long time. It’s probably my favorite John Ford film, and I think it’s one of the most neglected films of any major filmmaker. I wish it was getting a stand-alone release, though.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#27 Post by Rayon Vert » Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:14 am

My thoughts exactly. I'll be getting this for that film alone.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#28 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:53 am

That’s the one I recall liking too, but my memory is foggy enough on the rest to be skeptical about their lack of memorable qualities - save for the infamous final lines of The Last Hurrah, which always make me grin despite not remembering liking the film all that much

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#29 Post by Lowry_Sam » Fri Feb 07, 2020 3:06 am

Im not a John Ford fan, but I'd love to get The Last Hurrah, maybe someone can buy the box & unload individual titles on ebay. I might have a tough time waiting for this to go out of print for titles to get individually released, seems like I've been waiting forever for Strait-Jacket to be unboxed. However if it means not having to triple dip for a Criterion (w/ better extras & 4k), maybe I can hold out.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#30 Post by domino harvey » Fri Feb 07, 2020 3:07 am

Twilight Time already released it

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#31 Post by Lowry_Sam » Fri Feb 07, 2020 4:36 am

domino harvey wrote:
Fri Feb 07, 2020 3:07 am
Twilight Time already released it
...and I have it (which is why a Criterion would be the third time purchasing), but would love a better edition. But now Im thinking I might be confusing it with the other political comedy on a TT blu-ray that I love & wished there was a better edition of, Born Yesterday. Can't remember now which one I thought could have been significantly improved.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#32 Post by swo17 » Fri Feb 07, 2020 11:15 am

Born Yesterday is available from Arrow Academy

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tenia
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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#33 Post by tenia » Fri Feb 07, 2020 11:32 am

And it looks like it was sourced from a recent 2K OCN-based restoration.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#34 Post by M Sanderson » Sun Feb 09, 2020 6:06 am

I basically want this for Last Hurrah & Long Gray Line.

Recall being disappointed back in 2014 when Sony was releasing these films, with Two Rode Together, on DVD only.

Now I’ve got a great edition of 2RT and will definitely grab the Inficator for the others.

Beautiful cover & as good a time as any to revisit Ford with Eureka’s new presentation of Rio Grande scheduled.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#35 Post by Lowry_Sam » Sun Feb 09, 2020 11:27 pm

tenia wrote:
Fri Feb 07, 2020 11:32 am
And it looks like it was sourced from a recent 2K OCN-based restoration.
So it's an improvement over the TT? I've been waiting for a comparison before double dipping.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#36 Post by Finch » Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:40 pm


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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#37 Post by Calvin » Wed Apr 22, 2020 4:10 pm

I received the set yesterday and have already watched half of it, thank you lockdown.

With The Whole Town's Talking, Ford seems to be fairly anonymous behind the camera but Edward G. Robinson is excellent in the lead, dual roles - including one against type. The Swerling/Riskin script is a delight, and Jean Arthur steals every scene that she's in. It's 'minor' Ford in pretty much every sense, but I thought it was enjoyable enough.

I enjoyed The Long Gray Line a whole lot more.
The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.

This does not mean that you are warmongers. On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."

The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished — tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen then, but with thirsty ear, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield. But in the evening of my memory always I come back to West Point.
That's an extract from Gen. MacArthur's speech to the Corps of Cadets at West Point in May 1962. The speech was delivered seven years after the release of John Ford's The Long Gray Line, which has West Point as its setting, but I feel that the tone of MacArthur's words are not dissimilar to what Ford sets out in his masterpiece.

Yes, I say masterpiece. Opinion on The Long Gray Line seems to be split between those like myself, who think it ranks alongside Ford's very very best work, and those who regard it with little more than a shrug.

It follows Marty Maher (Tyrone Power), an Irish immigrant who finds himself working at West Point, the United States military academy, and still finds himself there half a century later. It shares the scaling of time with other films in Ford's oeuvre, notably How Green Was My Valley, a film with which it shares a cast member in Donald Crisp who plays the father/patriarchal figure in both films, and The Wings of Eagles, which is also a military biopic albeit a less successful one.

The first near-hour of The Long Gray Line is an entertaining, slapstick immigrant tale as we see Maher try his hand as waiter and swimming coach (he can't swim) as well as courting Mary O'Donnell (Maureen O'Hara) - another recent arrival from his homeland. There's then a tonal shift, and the film transcends.

Time passes. The Long Gray Line, like How Green Was My Valley, becomes poetry and elegy. Maher and his wife see cadets come and go, some as close as sons and brothers with Ford building a sense of family and community at West Point in the same manner as his more famous Westerns. As they come and go, some live and some die - duty, honor, country. Then with time their sons follow in their footsteps, and Maher suffers joy and pain again as such is the way of life.

"What a ruin it'll make!" Maher exclaims when he first sets eyes on West Point. The institution survives the film untouched. Maher defends its inertia, citing the success of its notable alumni including Patton and Eisenhower. It's to President Eisenhower, who he knew as a cadet, that Maher is recounting his life story in an attempt to stay on at West Point beyond retirement age. Beyond death? One could imagine Maher's ghost haunting the halls, as much a part of the institution as the building and the uniform.

One could dedicate an entire chapter of a book to The Thin Gray Line, if not a whole one. Ford is often charged with jingoism, but one could only find it in this film on a very superficial level. Rather, it finds him being skeptical of patriotism and the principles of 'duty, honor, country' that MacArthur would effuse and were the pillars of West Point's traditions. The American flag is miniaturised, framed by dead branches soon after a graveside discussion, in the only shot in the film where Maher looks at it. "What a ruin it'll make" - but as said, the building looks the same. It is Maher who will ruin, weary with the cyclical nature of life and death.

“It’s been a great day for Marty”

“It’s been a great life for Marty”


I doubt that it will ever be widely considered as one of his best works, indeed one of the best works of American cinema, but hopefully this Indicator release will go some way to raising its profile. The 4K restoration is glorious, and entirely necessary for Ford's first Cinemascope production. I have yet to listen to the commentary but the Tag Gallagher video essay is typically essential.

The Red, White, and Blue Line is a 10-minute promo/propaganda film filmed on the set, including footage not in the main film. "Not only is buying United States Savings Bonds good business, it's good Americanism". Duty, honor, country - behind and in front of the camera. Anthony Nield finds the points of interest in the booklet included; it's not entirely clear whether or not Ford directed the short. It's unrestored, but Indicator have done the lord's work including it.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#38 Post by MichaelB » Wed Apr 22, 2020 4:13 pm

The Long Gray Line commentary is terrific - all three participants really know their stuff (in Diana Drumm's case, actually being a personal friend of Maureen O'Hara), and they have a wonderfully relaxed rapport with each other. And it's a film that's very well suited to a context-setting commentary, especially for non-Americans who won't already be aware of the historical significance of the November 1913 West Point v Notre Dame football game.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#39 Post by hearthesilence » Wed Apr 22, 2020 4:54 pm

I was going to skip this set, but I may buy it after all given how well it's been put together. The Long Gray Line is one I always wanted to get, and The Last Hurrah does at least have Spencer Tracy in a fine performance. The other two I know little about, but I found Dave Kehr's review of the DVD set this was more or less based on (minus one film), and he does make a case for the other two films.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#40 Post by tenia » Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:02 pm

I quite liked The Last Hurrah and, in a lesser way, The Whole Town's Talking. The Long Gray Line sadly left me quite cold once it shifted in a more serious tone. Gideon's Day felt kind of in the middle. It just felt like a run-of-the-mill British-type police movie and while solid, it didn't feel particularly exceptionnal.

All 4 restorations are gorgeous, though the oldest movie is (logically) a tad softer. The Long Gray Line is absolutely stunning.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#41 Post by cdnchris » Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:04 pm

Calvin wrote:
Wed Apr 22, 2020 4:10 pm
With The Whole Town's Talking, Ford seems to be fairly anonymous behind the camera but Edward G. Robinson is excellent in the lead, dual roles - including one against type. The Swerling/Riskin script is a delight, and Jean Arthur steals every scene that she's in. It's 'minor' Ford in pretty much every sense, but I thought it was enjoyable enough.
I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this one, despite an opening that was hammy as hell. It's definitely "minor" and honestly if I was shown this one with no idea who made it I would have never pegged Ford to be behind it, but I think it's Robinson that ultimately makes this one so fun. He might overplay each character a bit, but it makes it unmistakable who he is at any given time, and it's fun seeing him send up the gangster character while also playing someone so passive at the same time. I was also impressed with the twin effects. There's some obvious rear-projection, but the split screen moments look seamless and there's an impressive shot (which Maltin points out as well in the interview on the disc) where the Gangster Robinson is smoking a cigar and the smoke actually passes over into the other Robinson's space. It's a pretty harmless little film, pretty fluffy, but the last third gets a bit darker, taking a turn I didn't entirely expect, and I thought Robinson played it well.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#42 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Thu Apr 23, 2020 8:59 am

tenia wrote:
Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:02 pm
Gideon's Day felt kind of in the middle. It just felt like a run-of-the-mill British-type police movie and while solid, it didn't feel particularly exceptionnal.
I think it's perhaps too easy to write this one off. It appears at first swipe like a quick knock off for Ford to hang out in London for a while. I felt somewhat similarly at first but then the more you dig, thanks greatly to the copious supplements, the more it takes shape as an extraordinary synthesis of the normal Fordian concerns -the family as centre of gravity, the farcical humour with the running gag of broken meals when the trumpet call of the telephone summons with a portrait of British life and society courtesy in large part to a screenplay by T.E.B Clarke an Ealing stalwart. The balance of mood and emotion throughout from domestic shenanigans through to domestic tragedy is impeccable and well worth a second viewing once the supplements have been investigated. It's also interesting to note that Ford called Hawkins the finest dramatic actor he had worked with which must say something.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#43 Post by MichaelB » Thu Apr 23, 2020 9:05 am

I also think it was underrated by Ford scholars for a great many years because it was only viewable in a totally butchered version. I dread to think what was left after losing a full third of its running time, but I'm sure it didn't do a complex narrative many favours.

As a native Londoner, I'm obviously going to find a film like this intrinsically fascinating (there aren't that many other beautifully-shot Technicolor films of this age or older featuring so many clearly recognisable locations), but I agree that it's much richer than initially meets the eye. Charles Barr's commentary is well worth a listen.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#44 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Apr 23, 2020 11:14 am

MichaelB wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 9:05 am
I also think it was underrated by Ford scholars for a great many years because it was only viewable in a totally butchered version. I dread to think what was left after losing a full third of its running time, but I'm sure it didn't do a complex narrative many favours.

As a native Londoner, I'm obviously going to find a film like this intrinsically fascinating (there aren't that many other beautifully-shot Technicolor films of this age or older featuring so many clearly recognisable locations), but I agree that it's much richer than initially meets the eye. Charles Barr's commentary is well worth a listen.
I can only go by Kehr's comments, but for Ford devotees it may be worth watching it after The Long Gray Line as well. From the link I posted above (which may load very slowly for some, so I'm pasting it below):
SpoilerShow
Twenty years would pass until Ford would return to Columbia, and then only because Columbia had inherited a property Ford very much wanted to film — the life story of Marty Maher, an Irish immigrant who arrived at West Point as a civilian kitchen worker and remained for 50 years as a beloved noncommissioned officer and swimming instructor (even though, at least according to Ford’s film, he didn’t know how to swim).

“The Long Gray Line” belongs to a cluster of films about marriage — a subject that rarely engaged Ford before — that pops up in his filmography of the 1950s. Contrasting the intimate union of a man and a woman with the social and emotional cohesiveness of the closed military communities that had long fascinated Ford, these movies conjugate marriage through many different forms — as dying and dysfunctional (“Rio Grande,” 1950), as a battle of equally strong-willed partners (“The Quiet Man,” 1952), as an artificial imposition of monogamy on a natural world of spontaneous desire (“Mogambo,” 1953), as a relationship narrowed by dependence and enforced domesticity (“The Wings of Eagles,” 1957).

In “The Long Gray Line,” the protagonist’s loyalties seem equally divided between the institution he serves (West Point) and the woman he loves (another Irish immigrant, played with uncharacteristic girlishness by the Amazonian Maureen O’Hara). The film ends by imagining a perfect union of these two apparently conflicting desires (as if Marty and his wife had become as permanent a part of West Point as the obsolete but immovable cannons that protect its perimeter) — the personal blending with the institutional.

In this context, the underrated “Gideon’s Day” — seen here in color, although Columbia had so little faith in it in 1958 that the studio released the film in black-and-white prints as “Gideon of Scotland Yard” — takes on a new significance. As Inspector Gideon (Hawkins, to whom Ford has lent his own trademark pipe) makes his way through a typically demanding day, he deals with cases that pointedly concern differently allied couples — including a Cockney petty criminal (Cyril Cusack) and his protective wife (Maureen Potter), and a corrupt member of his own staff (Derek Bond) who has betrayed his wife (Grizelda Hervey) as well as his colleagues.

Throughout, Ford cuts back and forth between Gideon’s office and his home, where his loyal wife (the wistful Ford regular Anna Lee) and marriageable daughter (Anna Massey, in her first movie role), proudly and patiently accept the responsibilities that come with a life of public service (Scotland Yard having become a branch of the United States Cavalry).

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#45 Post by Calvin » Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:18 pm

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 8:59 am
tenia wrote:
Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:02 pm
Gideon's Day felt kind of in the middle. It just felt like a run-of-the-mill British-type police movie and while solid, it didn't feel particularly exceptionnal.
I think it's perhaps too easy to write this one off. It appears at first swipe like a quick knock off for Ford to hang out in London for a while. I felt somewhat similarly at first but then the more you dig, thanks greatly to the copious supplements, the more it takes shape as an extraordinary synthesis of the normal Fordian concerns -the family as centre of gravity, the farcical humour with the running gag of broken meals when the trumpet call of the telephone summons with a portrait of British life and society courtesy in large part to a screenplay by T.E.B Clarke an Ealing stalwart. The balance of mood and emotion throughout from domestic shenanigans through to domestic tragedy is impeccable and well worth a second viewing once the supplements have been investigated. It's also interesting to note that Ford called Hawkins the finest dramatic actor he had worked with which must say something.
I fully agree with this assessment. I can't imagine what was cut out for its American release, as its pacing and structure as is seem so crucial to the enjoyment of the film. And that's without considering the damage done by draining Freddie Young's photography of its colour.

Unsurprisingly, considering Indicator's track record with British films, the extras that they've put together for Gideon's Day standout even in comparison to the other discs in this set. If Adrian Wootton's passionate appreciation doesn't convince you of the film's charms then I doubt anything will, and the interview with Elaine Schreyeck is just a gem - has a continuity supervisor ever been interviewed for a disc before? On this evidence, it should be more frequent occurrence. Her anecdotes are wonderful.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#46 Post by MichaelB » Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:28 pm

Elaine Schreyeck herself has previously appeared on A Dandy in Aspic, The Odessa File and Suddenly Last Summer, while Renée Glynne is on Fanatic and The Camp on Blood Island.

Continuity supervisors are often particularly good value as they attended the entire shoot while being paid to be observant.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#47 Post by MichaelB » Sun May 17, 2020 7:24 am

A typically massive review from CineOutsider.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#48 Post by Drucker » Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:14 pm

Count me in as another person who loved The Whole Town's Talking. I'm making my way through this set now and the first film was really entertaining. I certainly don't think it's as non-Ford like as some espouse (both Leonard Maltin and Sheldon Hall open their extras with remarking how it's considered a minor Ford) and I really enjoyed the experimentation. A few years later as Ford worked with Toland there would be the experimentation that is well known, but here we have a really interesting use of rear projection in some of the scenes where Robinson talks to himself, as well as one or two montages that are quick but interesting. And Tag Gallagher's video essay calls out Ford's use of foreground objects, another thing that would be front and center with the Toland collaborations (especially Long Voyage Home).

The film is also just really fun! Was Robinson trying to show he could play something besides a gangster? Jean Arthur is really excellent and is my favorite part of the film.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#49 Post by Drucker » Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:53 pm

Lots to love about the rest of this set, and I wasn't expecting it to deliver a series of films that each kind of are a sampling of the style of Ford's style. The Long Grey Line is quite beautiful, and reminiscent of Ford's love letters to Ireland, and especially reminds me of The Quiet Man (especially the closing, where several characters wave goodbye). While I found the film a bit slower than Quiet Man, I enjoyed it a lot, especially O'Hara's character. The film has a lot of funny moments, as does Gideon's Day, which was enjoyable enough. But my favorite film of the set was The Last Hurrah which I really didn't expect.

The cover art seems to depict a star-studded cast of Hollywood favorites, so I wasn't expecting a mediation on aging and the passage of time but that's what Hurrah is.
SpoilerShow
At the outset, Skeffington (Tracey) decides this will be his last race. He confides in his nephew that he knows technology, especially TV, will change the ways campaigns are run in the future. All he wants is one more chance to run an old school campaign and win. His opponent litters sidewalks and buildings with signage. He appears on TV with his family and a rented dog. Tracey in turn relies of marches in the street and old school networking. But come election night, Skeffington loses. It was already too late to run his one last campaign. Nobody thought highly of his opponent, even some of his high profile supporters. The Cardinal, in particular, laments that 'this is the best we're churning out' of this generation. Skeffington loses the race, and soon his life.

Beyond being a lament about the passage of time, and the new world taking over the old world, the film is a brilliant political film. The film's political opponents often have true animus for each other, even if they begrudgingly respect each other. There's a pessimism but sense of realness to it: these aren't warring factions out for the common good, but opponents who know that victory for one is loss for another. And while the heart attack leads to some of his legacy opponents paying their respects, Skeffington's final words are a rebuttal to his opponent, who hopes he regrets some of his behavior from years earlier. Not a chance, Skeffington notes. He wouldn't change a thing.
The Last Hurrah is really the surprise of the set for me. Tracy is superb. And John Carradine is as mean as ever.

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Re: 172-175 John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958

#50 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jun 08, 2020 9:15 pm

I found Tracy’s opponent so cartoonish in the film that I felt insulted by Ford. The film’s not too bad apart from that, but it’s enough to wreck it for me

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