John Wayne: The John Ford Collection

Description

A collection of six classic films directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. Between them the films garnered five Oscars and a further 16 nominations. The seminal Western 'Stagecoach' (1939) is the film that first propelled John Wayne to stardom. Native American Geronimo is on the warpath in the untamed Wild West, but a stagecoach-load of travellers decide to take their chances and make their way across Utah's Monument Valley. The passenger list comprises an alcoholic doctor (Thomas Mitchell), a shamed prostitute (Claire Trevor), the pregnant wife of a cavalry officer (Louise Platt), a shady bank manager (Berton Churchill), a timid whiskey salesman (Donald Meek) and an on-the-run gambler (John Carradine). En route, they pick up outlaw the Ringo Kid (Wayne) and, as the journey continues, each of the troupe are given a chance to show their true colours. 'The Long Voyage Home' (1940) is an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's four one-act plays about crew members aboard a merchant steamer. Following the outbreak of World War Two, the SS Glencairn stops off for one last night of liberty in the Caribbean before heading off on a mission to deliver explosives to England. The ship's crew includes good-natured Swede Ole Olsen (Wayne), who is trying to earn enough money to settle down on a farm with his family, and the quiet Smitty (Ian Hunter), whose refusal to join his shipmates in drunken revels arouses their suspicion and resentment. 'Fort Apache' (1948) is the first in Ford's 'cavalry' trilogy, based on a story by James Warner Bellah. Colonel Thursday (Henry Fonda) is bitter at having been sent to battle 'digger' Indians, and his textbook methods of warfare appear barbaric and suicidal to his men. Captain York (Wayne), an officer experienced in Apache warfare, tries to advise Thursday, but his best efforts are in vain. In the second in the post-Civil War trilogy, 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' (1949), dutiful cavalry officer Nathan Brittles (John Wayne) is reluctant to retire in the face of an imminent Native American uprising. His last official task is to escort the commander's wife and her niece to the Sudrow's Wells stagecoach stop, but it proves to be a journey fraught with danger. In 'Rio Grande' (1951), the third and final part of the trilogy, Lieutenant Kirby Yorke (Wayne) is stationed at a remote cavalry post, at which his son, Jeff, enlists in order to prove himself to his father. Yorke's ex-wife (Maureen O'Hara) arrives to fetch her son back, but her love for Kirby is rekindled amidst much family tension. Finally, in the Ireland-based romantic drama 'The Quiet Man' (1952), Sean Thornton (Wayne) is an Irish-American boxer who refuses to fight again after a traumatic bout. But when love intervenes he is forced to return to the ring to win the heart and hand of local girl Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara), whose brother, squire Red Will Danaher (Victor McLaglan), objects to the match.