MoFo Directors Cup: John Ford

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Mubi

I vote for How Green Was My Valley. I feel bad voting for the most well known (probably) but I really need to watch it, it's set in Wales and that's where I live too

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Can I participate in this? I forgot to post in the original thread.

Out of these I'd vote for Wagon master. It seems it's quite well-received among various Ford fans I know.

Yeah, no problem, I'll add the few rules we have for this into the original post so people know it's easy to join

I'm definitely in Bluedeed. I need to see most of these, with the exception of How Green Was My Valley and The Quiet Man.

That's why I'm voting Wagon Master.

I voted for The Iron Horse, only reason being that I just want to see more silent films.

I voted for The Long Voyage Home because I think it would be very interesting as it's difficult to look at in an auteur context. We have at least 5 major auteurs working for and against one another. John Ford is of course directing and he's a very unique director, but the film is adapted from a play by Eugene O'Neill by Dudley Nichols and (I'm told, haven't seen the film yet) that has a significant impact on the way the characters feel. In addition to them, the cinematography is by Gregg Toland, most famous for doing the cinematography for Citizen Kane a year later, and appears very characteristically sharp and intricately designed. On top of that we have the ever distinct John Wayne (and Thomas Mitchell) as another personality providing another interpretation of the source material. It's a complex pool of authorship that seems ripe for discussion.

I voted for How Green Was My Valley for the same reasons as Daniel minus the being from Wales. Looking forward to it.

Can I join?

Also I voted for Wagon Master .

Yup, I'll add you in a moment

I'm going to watch a Ford one of these next couple of days.

The poll for the fifth film is now closed and I've edited the first post appropriately. The fifth film will be Wagon Master, one of Ford's best films about groups of outsiders coming together. It also features very few stars, the biggest names being Ward Bond and Ben Johnson, who was famous for his horse riding ability which makes him fit in very well in Ford's universe. Happy watching, everyone!

Nice one, I'll probably get to most of these after my exam period (ending 26th May).

3 Bad Men

When I first watched this film I figured it was one of Fords first films that he directed. But there were about 20-25 before it. For as old as this movie is, it is extremely impressive and I can see how Ford set the tone for American cinema and for the Western genre. His story making is brilliant and although I am much a rookie in the silent genre he proves that it can have just as impressive of a story without using any dialogue. Two things really impressed me with the film. The first was the score, as it was used in a way to tell us the story. The second would be the cinematography, which has shone so brightly in every Ford film that I have seen to date. And while I do prefer most of the other Ford films I've seen to date, I can't bypass the significance and the importance that this film seems to play on his future films. Surely I will have to watch more of Fords earlier works.

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I plan on rewatching The Quiet Man next. Should be able to get to it by Thursday.

Try 50 or 60! Most of Ford's silents are lost, but he made a great deal of them.

I didn't realize it was that many Bluedeed! Even more exciting. Ford is already a top ten director for me and I've only seen like 8 of his films.

The Quiet Man:

I really enjoyed watching The Quiet Man. It is beautiful to look at with beautiful landscapes. I wish there had been no sound stage especially considering the scenes where it was used seemed like they could have easily been done on location. Those scenes were pretty sparse though so certainly easy to overlook. The story itself is quite simple but enjoyable. I especially enjoyed O'Hara as Mary Kate. This is the type of movie you can just let wash over you. There is nothing to put you on edge or offend. Not a perfect experience but a very nice one, and the first time I have enjoyed John Wayne that I can remember. A very solid start to my Ford viewing.

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Letterboxd

I saw it about 2 months ago Sean and really liked it. I'm even going to rewatch it this week.

I've had mixed feelings about Ford's films - although I'd only seen three before this. I thought The Grapes of Wrath was very good, The Searchers was good but very flawed and I didn't really enjoy The Man Who Shot Libert Valance. Something that perhaps concerns me about Ford was a major issue in TMWSLV - having a 54 year old playing a guy effectively just out of college. I'm not sure I can suspend that much disbelief and it bothered me that Ford went with that casting choice.

So, this week I watched Wagon Master & 7 Women and again my feelings were mixed. I haven't got too much to say about Wagon Master except that it was good. Nothing earth shatteringly brilliant but a good story with good characters and overall I enjoyed it. 7 Women I should have loved ... but I didn't. It was nice to see a movie with a focus on female characters but most of them were really underdeveloped and the acting of most of the cast was not great. It also concerned me that Ford went with another really odd casting choice - a big Austrian dude playing the Mongolian leader. I know this was made during a different time but regardless of that, bad casting is bad casting and the buck stops with the director.

Having said all that Anne Bancroft was great and it looked good. One question though - why was it called 7 Women?