She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

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ken123
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She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by ken123 »

Would you make any casting changes ? Trooper Smith is played by " Rudy Bowman ", isnt that really Roman Bohnen aka Candy in " Of Mice & Men " ? :D
klondike

Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by klondike »

Ya know, it's funny, talk about how a really great film keeps on givin' you just a little something more, every time you see it; I can barely believe, after having seen SWAYR at least 8 times in the last 2 decades or so, that I've never before noticed how fine a singing voice Mildred Natwick has . . despite remembering her "wagon nurse" scene very clearly, time after time.
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ken123
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by ken123 »

klondike wrote:Ya know, it's funny, talk about how a really great film keeps on givin' you just a little something more, every time you see it; I can barely believe, after having seen SWAYR at least 8 times in the last 2 decades or so, that I've never before noticed how fine a singing voice Mildred Natwick has . . despite remembering her "wagon nurse" scene very clearly, time after time.
Klondike,
I agree about Ms Natwicks sing ability, but you have seen SWAYR only 8 times, in the last forty years Ive seen it at LEAST 100 times. I also have it on DVD and at one time on VHS. :oops:
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pvitari
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by pvitari »

Humming... "Around her neck, she wore a yellow ribbon..."

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That's Tom Tyler and Ben Johnson galloping hell for leather.
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"You have a breath on you like a hot mince pie!"
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John Agar and Harry Carey, Jr.
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Something about this one I really like... Brittles taking a moment to think things through.
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George O'Brien with John Wayne
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I just love seeing these four actors together in the same shot. "That's not my department, sir!"
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mrsl
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by mrsl »

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Beautiful, beautiful photos, or film things or whatever they are. I wish I could enlarge the one of just scenery to paint in oil to hang on my wall.
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Anne


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* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *

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pvitari
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by pvitari »

Dear Mrsl... screencaps as usual! ;) That first one actually is a reduction so it can fit here in a message. I'm pretty sure it's a painting -- not something they took a picture of with the movie camera.
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JackFavell
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by JackFavell »

That is too funny! I have the exact match to the one of Ben and Tom Tyler. It's actually one of my favorite caps, because Ben looks so happy barreling along at breakneck speed.

I tried to get the moment where the arrow whizzes past him. The horse sees it before Ben does.

Those two shots of Wayne are wonderful. I like the way he uses his hands.
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pvitari
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by pvitari »

JackFavell, as always, GMTA. ;) I'll have to make sure I got that one with the arrow whizzing past!

Meanwhile, a lot more of John Wayne. I would love everyone's thoughts on why John Ford shot the graveyard scene with such luridly artificial flame-red light. ;)

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This one is actually a mismatched cut! In the master shot with John Wayne and George O'Brien, Duke is holding his pipe with his hand in a different position. Cut to this medium close-up and his hand is holding the pipe differently. Of course, we're supposed to be looking at his face, not his hand but when you're sitting there scrutinizing individual frames, this kind of thing tends to stand out. :)
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One thing I find interesting about the graveyard scene -- Wayne's tone of voice is mostly upbeat, or maybe a more accurate description would be, resigned to the bad news he's giving his wife (as well as his talking about his imminent retirement), but his body language and facial expressions say something else.
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These two NEED each other. A day that didn't start off with them ribbing each other would just not be a good day. :)
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movieman1957
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by movieman1957 »

I never liked that shot of Dru as she comes to the grave site. I don't like her hair and she has a kind of huffy look about her. She's not but it is an odd pose to me.

As far as the light in that scene goes I think it is meant to be other worldly. He is talking to his wife who is not there. It may represent her. Just a guess.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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JackFavell
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by JackFavell »

Maybe he just wanted to capture a gorgeous western sunset, and felt it would be the perfect backdrop to that scene. I don't really think of it as lurid at all. I remember when I lived in Oklahoma, the sunsets were spectacular, and very brightly colored, just like that scene. I miss seeing those.
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pvitari
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by pvitari »

Movieman, it is an odd pose (the Dru close-up) but I think it's meant to be startling and unsettling. She first appears as a looming shadow on Mary Brittles' gravestone, and for a teensy tiny second, one -- I guess I mean I -- wonders if Mary's spirit has suddenly taken form so she can communicate with her beloved Nathan before his permanent departure from the fort. The unspoken thought is that with his retirement, he will be leaving his wife and daughters behind. With that quick cut to Olivia (Dru), you're jolted for a second until you realize it's Olivia, and then cut to the two-shot of Olivia and Nathan.

I've never lived out west but I have traveled out there and I've seen some dramatic sunsets but nothing quite as intense as that. I guess I need to get out there again. :) I was thinking how much Douglas Sirk would have admired the color scheme with that red light and the cobalt blue of Nathan's uniform. ;-)

Just to make clear, I love the lighting and everything about that scene. The red is simply spectacular. For me it's symbolic of the extremely strong emotions Nathan is experiencing, especially grief and the realization that things are about to change. It's sunset, and the end of an era -- the end of Nathan's life as an Army officer, the end of Custer and his troops, the end of the Native Americans as a free people. A sea change. It also makes me think of the blood that has been and will be shed. A pink and golden sunset would have been wonderfully elegaic, but there is something more going on here than a man talking to the grave of his wife. Something disturbing. Trouble's on the way.
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JackFavell
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by JackFavell »

Now, see? That was lovely, P. You knew all along what Ford was doing, making that intense sunset part of the scene. But he would have insisted that he wanted to film a sunset, that's all. The old scamp.
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pvitari
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by pvitari »

Well, I had my own thoughts but I really want to hear what other people think! Great artists like John Ford create work that is open to multiple interpretations... and all of them would be right. :) I looked through my Ford collection (which is too small, I need to get more books!) to see what biographers had to say about the graveyard scene but I couldn't find any commentary on it, although I did come upon this online:

http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2008 ... ibbon.html
"When actual scenery doesn't suffice, Ford resorts to the even more obvious artificiality of a constructed set, like the red-tinted light washing over the plaster graveyard where Brittles mourns for his dead wife and daughters. If there is one thing Ford is definitively not trying to capture, it is realism, perhaps because any realistic evocation of this milieu would spoil the poetry and beauty with a great deal more blood. The only red he is interested in here is the glow of the sunset. "

I would definitely agree that realism is NOT what's going on here -- poetry is what's going on -- though I find an undercurrent of tension that the writer above may not find.

This doesn't mention the graveyard scene specifically, but is still interesting reading.
http://girishshambu.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... rrent.html

Artists frequently say they didn't mean this or that when they create something. A lot of what they do, I'm convinced, is not consciously intended, while at the same time they're extremely careful about the smallest thing. I remember reading back in the late 80s a bunch of books by a sci-fi writer named Mike Resnick. Turned out he was on Compuserve. (Anyone remember Compuserve?) I asked him about this certain theme I found running through his books...and he hadn't even realized it was there, whereas to me it stood out like a big blinking sign. (Don't ask me what the theme was, I barely remember those books now.) ;) I'm also sure he put tons of things into those books that I never picked up on.
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mrsl
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by mrsl »

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I think the reddish glow was supposed to be real. As stated earlier, some western sunsets are spectacular, I know the ones around Las Vegas and Bull Head, AZ are, and the coloring can be from red to purple, depending on the weather I guess. But in this case, I think the color was setting the mood. Brittles has come to this spot every night for years to talk to his wife, and now he has to leave her there. He can no longer visit after this week. Blue or green would be underwater-like, and a purple or brown hue would seem ghoulish like a comic cemetery scene. I think the red sets the mood perfectly. To me it's not lurid but vaguely angry and distraught just as he feels because the army thinks he is getting too old to continue, yet he wants to go on as is demonstrated at the very end when Ben catches up with him to give him the offer of becoming a scout.

As for Joann Dru, you know my opinion of her in this, Red River, and Wagonmaster, so all I'll say is her character had some nerve to be out there when she knows very well this is his time every night with his family, and it just proves again how childish and self absorbed she is.
.
Anne


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* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *

]***********************************************************************
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pvitari
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Re: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Post by pvitari »

Mrsl, this one's for you. ;) Which is to say, here's Olivia (Joanne Dru) demonstrating her scorn for Lt. Cohill in a most sophisticated, mature fashion -- NOT! :)

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