John Ford

[JackFavell]

Beautiful pictures, MissGoddess!

I think maybe we underestimate what Ford would bring to the more serious O"Neill plays. It's very possible that like in TLVH, his touch would be light, making the story even more troubling in the end. TLVH starts out like The Katzenjammer Kids and ends like Heart of Darkness, and it works beautifully.

Can you imagine Vic and Ford making The Hairy Ape? My gosh, I only wish....

Moira's man William Bendix was in a version I believe and was very good, with Susan Hayward, also very good, although I think the picture itself is more on the realistic side, no real expressionism that I can remember.

I hate to say this, but much of O'Neill IS scary - very dark, very tragic, and his main characters are victims of their own foibles and faults, unable to stop themselves.

I love Ian Hunter in TLVH. It's my favorite of his roles. Ford keeps the camera on him while Thomas Mitchell is reading the letter from home and he's absolutely outstanding... the best role he ever had aside from Strange Cargo and he plays it magnificently.

I wonder if we didn't know who John Wayne was, would we be bothered by his accent? I never once think about it, he seems the perfect picture of a big tall handsome swede. Speaking of big tall and handsome, I also really have been noticing Joe Sawyer for the last month or two. He has some fine scenes in the movie. He plays drunk better than anyone else in the cast and that's saying a lot. His face in the letter scene is something akin to Marc Lawrence's at the end of The Ox Bow Incident.

The movie also has the double whammy of Thomas Mitchell and John Qualen, two of the best character actors of all time, so how can it go wrong? They're like the Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of character actors. Then there's Mildred Natwick who was heartbreaking.

[MissGoddess]

The Ford postage stamp gets released today, along with the three other directors' stamps. I hope I can find time to stop in and get a few.


I've heard of that movie version of The Hairy Ape with William Bendix, now you mention it. Susan Hayward, too? I really have to see it.

[JackFavell]

Ooh, I just asked at the PO here maybe a month ago if they had the stamps yet. They probably won't have them now either. Such a small town...

I forgot to write yesterday that I really appreciated your writing about the waterfront scenes in The Long Voyage Home. It's incredible, yes, that the men never really leave their milieu... the seedy alleyways don't seem like a real place at all, more like a fiction set up to cater only to sailors, to give them what they think they want. They really do never see daylight at all... no real life, no towns or open spaces to walk around in. And I guess here is the equivalent to the bar in Shadow of a Doubt - except this one seems too jolly or overly friendly, in order to lull the sailors into a false sense of security.

[RedRiver]

Another socks-blowing-off post by Wendy

Your feet are going to get cold, Miss Goddess! I've seen THE HAIRY APE. It's not a great movie, but Bendix is fine in it.

[CineMaven]

Maybe it won't be so horrible paying my bills for now, with this:

http://wearemoviegeeks.com/2012/05/u-s- ... mps-award/

[MissGoddess]

I can't wait to get mine!

[JackFavell]

I think Ford's is the most striking.

[MissGoddess]

Trailer for documentary Dreaming the Quiet Man (to be released in theaters in Ireland next month):

[youtube][/youtube]

[moira finnie]

Well! If those tender-hearted yet salty comments from Maureen O'Hara in this trailer are any indication of the lady's mental state, I'd say that the recent news about her current state of health might be poppycock. I love the fact that film critic Jay Cocks and others seen in this morsel from the documentary mention that Ford was creating a world 'he wished to be true' in The Quiet Man. Here's hoping that this documentary is released in the US soon (and winds up on TCM and as part of a deluxe restored DVD of the movie someday). Thanks for posting this, Miss G.

Btw, if anyone wishes to read the short story by Maurice Walsh that inspired the movie, you can see the very brief 2849 word tale here. The author, whose mastery of concise storytelling about Ireland, Scotland, and the vagaries of human nature in his many novels and stories was admired by Hemingway and Frank O'Connor among others, deserves to be better known. More about him and his career is found below :
http://www.apex.net.au/~mhumphry/QManSEP.html

[CineMaven]

The trailer looks great for the Ford documentary. Did O'Hara's brogue get more pronounced when she left Hollywood?!! Hmmm...how much would it cost me to go to Ireland for just the movie, if I brought my own candy??

I would love to see a film where actors talked about their FAVORITE directors:

O'Hara ...... Ford
Novak ....... Hitchcock
Davis ........ Wyler
Stanwyck... Capra
Kate .......... Stevens
Bogie ........ Huston

etc...

(Moira...I just saw your signature note about the George Brent gaze. )

[MissGoddess]

Isn't it a great story? I'm left breathless at the end, as if I'd seen the knock about right before my eyes! Now that's what I call writing. Thanks very much for posting the link, Moira, I've added it to my own site post. I do hope TCM does something, too.

[pvitari]

It's The Quiet Man wall to wall at the John Wayne Birthday Celebration in Winterset this weekend, including screenings of the new documentary as well as performances of a stage version.

WHY DIDN'T I GO? *slapping self upside head*

http://www.johnwaynebirthplace.org/birthday/

By the way, there are rumors that Olive Films will be releasing The Quiet Man on Blu-ray -- perhaps even this year. It is one of the Republic titles that Lionsgate licensed to Olive Films. UCLA did a restoration a few years ago so hopefully if Olive does do a Blu-ray, they use the restored version. The current DVD is TERRIBLE. This most beloved film is in dire need of a release worthy of its stature and its visual splendor.

[MissGoddess]

I agree, this is one movie that cries out for a restored, hi-def release. I hope Olive comes through and that TCM can do a big thing to promote it.

[knitwit45]

what a marvelous story. Thanks Moira, for sharing it, a great read on a rainy morning!!!!

[CineMaven]

You know what...it worked!!



I had to pay bills anyway, so I bought the stamps, took myself to a restaurant for breakfast, listened to my iPOD, and paid some bills. (Yeah, I use money orders! I’m a dinosaur!!) Using the directors made it all go down much easier. Silly me for not noticing the iconic film moments on those stamps until I saw them up close: Wilder has Marilyn in “Some Like It Hot”; Capra has Gable & Claudette in “It Happened One Night”; Huston has Bogie with “The Maltese Falcon” and of course, John Ford has John Wayne in “The Searchers.”

I’m no postal worker, but may I nominate: Alfred Hitchcock and William Wyler for the next group of Great Film Directors stamps? Hmm...I wonder if postal workers like classic films?