John Ford: The Grapes of Wrath

The USPS has issued a set of four stamps honoring great film directors and the films for which they are most remembered. The four selected are: John Ford (The Searchers), John Huston (The Maltese Falcon), Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life), and Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot). We will be exploring the lives and work of these directors over the next several weeks. In this post LR Simon reviews The Grapes of Wrath.

John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath, based on John Steinbeck’s novel, is a study in deliberate use of camera. Ford has a reputation for not moving the camera, to the point that any camera movement is quickly forgotten. Orson Welles has been quoted as saying that “Ford never moved the camera”—clearly an exaggeration. In The Grapes of Wrath, camera movement is minimal, but present. A few examples include: the second unit pans to follow Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) as he walks to a general store, and again as the truck in which he rides drives away; Ford mounted the camera to the front of the Joad family truck as they drove into a camp in California, efficiently showing the size of the camp and the extent of the squalor.

Throughout The Grapes of Wrath, Ford uses 2-shots to depict the relationships of the characters, while using close-ups only to emphasize the importance of what a character says. These techniques are on display in all of Ford’s films, of course, but their use seems particularly seamless here.

Ford also uses light deliberately. When Tom Joad and Casey (John Carradine) arrive at the old Joad home, candlelight creates tension and a sense of mystery and uncertainty. Later, when Tom and Casey are reunited in California, Casey moves in and out of shadow as he tells Tom what he’s learned about the way businesses treat their workers. Casey’s fidgeting and his moving in and out of light create another kind of tension—not just of uncertainty, but of danger.

In 1958, John Steinbeck wrote to Henry Fonda of his fondness of Ford’s adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath. “It’s a wonderful picture, just as good as it ever was,” he wrote. “It doesn’t look dated, and very few people have ever made a better one…” (p.603). While it might look dated now, compared to modern cinema’s apparent requirement of quick cuts and extensive camera movement, it still tells a difficult story clearly and well.

Watch the trailer here.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ford

Steinbeck, John. 1975. A Life in Letters, Penguin Books, New York, NY.

http://stage.dga.org/news/v25_3/news_malaga.php3

John Ford: My Darling Clementine

The USPS has issued a set of four stamps honoring great film directors and the films for which they are most remembered. The four selected are: John Ford (The Searchers), John Huston (The Maltese Falcon), Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life), and Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot). We will be exploring the lives and work of these directors over the next several weeks. In this post LR Simon reviews My Darling Clementine (preview version).

The preview version of My Darling Clementine demonstrates the reason for John Ford’s mistrust of the studios. The final version of the film, which was the result of test audience comments and studio influence over production and post-production, was a success at the box office, but the preview gives the viewer a better idea of what Ford had in mind. The film tells a highly fictionalized version of the events leading Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) to become sheriff of Tombstone and the gunfight at the OK Corral.

In addition to this “in-progress” version of the film, the DVD with the preview features a documentary showing both the preview and final versions, with a narrator explaining who made which changes, and in some cases also why the changes were made. The viewer can compare the original scene introducing the fictional character “Chihuahua” (Linda Darnell) with the much-edited version from the final film. Another scene is shown with and without music. The final scene from the preview version is contrasted with the same scene from the final film and its added kiss.

Producer Darryl F. Zanuck made most of the changes to My Darling Clementine. No stranger to filmmaking, Zanuck understood Hollywood and the film business as well as anyone. Zanuck had produced several of Ford’s films for 20th Century Fox, including How Green Was My Valley, which Ford considered his favorite of his own films. Ford had already learned to edit in camera as much as possible by the time he made My Darling Clementine, so when the test audiences insisted on a kiss in the final scene, Zanuck had to call Fonda and Jane Darwell (Clementine) to shoot additional footage.

The contrast between the preview and final versions of My Darling Clementine provide film students an opportunity to see what can happen with a film once it leaves the director’s hands.

Watch the film's trailer here.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ford
Commentary track, How Green Was My Valley

Ernest Borgnine, 1917-2012

Ernest Borgnine (Ermes Effron Borgnino, 1917-2012) was the son of Italian immigrants who grew up to become one of America’s most unconventional film and television stars. Early in his life, he showed no interest in acting, instead joining the US Navy in 1935. He was discharged in 1941, but after Pearl Harbor, he re-enlisted and served until 1945. It wasn’t until after WWII that he started to act, at his mother’s suggestion and to his father's chagrin.

He began his acting career on the stage in Virginia, eventually making his Broadway debut in 1949 in the role of a nurse in the play Harvey. Two years later, he moved to California, and in 1953 he got his break in From Here to Eternity, playing Sergeant “Fatso” Judson. He was typecast as a villain after that until 1955, when he played the romantic lead (and title role) in the film Marty, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor (the other nominees were Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Spencer Tracy, and James Cagney).

At the same time that he was making movies, Borgnine made several television appearances, eventually leading to his playing the lead role in McHale’s Navy in 1963. The show lasted four seasons, until declining ratings and rehashed storylines resulted in the show’s cancellation. In 1983, he had a co-starring role in the television show, Airwolf. This show also lasted only a few seasons, going off the air in 1986.  He continued to make guest appearances on television shows, earning an Emmy nomination for his appearances in the final two episodes of ER.

Borgnine received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6324 Hollywood Blvd. In 1996, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City inducted him into the Western Performers Hall of Fame. On January 30, 2011, he received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

References

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000308/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_borgnine

John Ford: Young Mr. Lincoln

The USPS has issued a set of four stamps honoring great film directors and the films for which they are most remembered. The four selected are: John Ford (The Searchers), John Huston (The Maltese Falcon), Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life), and Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot). We will be exploring the lives and work of these directors over the next several weeks. In this post LR Simon reviews Young Mr. Lincoln (Criterion Collection).

Young Mr. Lincoln was the first collaboration between John Ford and Henry Fonda. The fictionalized story follows Lincoln as he establishes himself as a country lawyer and local politician. The main part of the story centers on a murder case, with Lincoln representing the defendants.

Ford had a special fascination with the forces that shaped America and its people, so it’s only fitting that he would explore the life of Lincoln, in a story that explores the themes of justice and compassion. We are introduced to Lincoln as he sets out on his political career. Few directors surpass Ford’s facility with the introduction of the hero, and his introduction of Lincoln is no exception—the camera emphasizes Lincoln’s height, then gives way to the young future President’s quiet eloquence.

After a political setback, Lincoln practices law in a small firm, eventually representing two men unjustly accused of murder. The film becomes a courtroom drama at this point, showing Lincoln’s dedication to truth and justice, using an Almanac to show that the conditions at the scene of the crime were not as described by the main witness for the prosecution. Throughout the trial, there are moments of real humor and wit, as well as challenges that don’t seem easy to overcome.

The only problem with the portrayal of Lincoln is that he seems to have no flaws (inability to dance well is not a character flaw)—any humanity he has is a direct result of Fonda’s performance. Most of the heroes in Ford’s films are unambiguously the “good guys,” but they’re rarely perfect. Ford probably had some hero worship of his own underpinning the portrayal of the young Lincoln, if the closing montage is any indication, but when a character begins in a state of perfection and remains there, it is left to the other characters to provide the film with an arc.

Young Mr. Lincoln is a beautifully shot film (a Ford hallmark), and a few scenes do provoke serious thought. While it is far from Ford’s best work, it is still a worthy effort.

References

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032155/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ford

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Mr._Lincoln

John Ford: The Searchers

The USPS has issued a set of four stamps honoring great film directors and the films for which they are most remembered. The four selected are: John Ford (The Searchers), John Huston (The Maltese Falcon), Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life), and Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot). We will be exploring the lives and work of these directors over the next several weeks. In this post LR Simon reviews The Searchers.

In The Searchers, John Wayne plays Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards, whose years-long search for his niece, Debbie, who has been kidnapped by Comanche, forms the structure of the film. Ford’s “less is more” ethic of silent films informs much of the style of the film, from the economic dialogue to leaving some of the most violent scenes to the audience’s imagination.

In the most superficial terms, The Searchers is a quest film. Ethan wants to find his niece, and is prepared to spend several years until he accomplishes his task. But the film is also about family and race, and the way 19^th Century society treated women. Once it becomes apparent that Debbie has become a bride to her captor, Scar, both Ethan and Laurie (Vera Miles) take the attitude that the girl should die. Family feelings end up taking precedence over race, and Ethan has a change of heart where his despoiled niece is concerned.

John Wayne gave one of his best performances in The Searchers, and also one of his bravest. His audience is so accustomed to thinking of him in perfectly heroic terms that playing a racist character like Ethan Edwards had to be one of the biggest risks he ever took.

In telling the story visually, Ford echoes early scenes late in the film. For example, when Ethan returns to his family early in the film, he lifts his niece, Debbie (Lana Wood) in a loving and playful manner. Near the end, after he leads a raid on the Comanche who had kidnapped her, Ethan lifts her (now played by Natalie Wood) in a similar way, showing that he’s come to value as family to the point where his earlier racism is almost forgotten.

Bookending the film are two sequences with doors that almost exactly mirror each other. The film opens with Martha going out of the house, exposing the wide vista, and soon after, Ethan coming home. At the end of the film, Ethan returns Debbie to her family, but doesn’t enter the house. Instead, he turns and leaves as the camera moves into the house, with the door closing on Ethan and his story.

Hint: Because Ford filmed The Searchers in VistaVision, it is advisable to watch this movie on the largest screen available. VistaVision was a widescreen format with deep focus; smaller screens cannot show the level of detail Ford had in mind for this film.

Director Stamps: John Ford

The USPS has issued a set of four stamps honoring great film directors. The four selected are: John Ford, John Huston, Frank Capra, and Billy Wilder. We will be exploring the lives and work of these directors over the next several weeks. First, we will look at the career of John Ford.

Over his 50-year career, John Ford made 140 films, garnering a record four Academy Awards for Best Director (The Informer [1935], The Grapes of Wrath [1940], How Green Was My Valley [1941], and The Quiet Man [1952]). The film he has probably become best known for is The Searchers (1956), which was successful at the box office, but it was not nominated for any Oscars.

Because Ford’s career spanned the transition from silent films to sound, he can rightly be considered one of the authors of the language of film. His silent Westerns helped establish the genre, which has had a love-hate relationship with film studios. The studios had shown a lack of interest in the genre until Ford’s Stagecoach revived it in 1939. The Searchers (1956) was the only Western Ford directed in the 1950s, and was named by the American Film Institute as the Greatest Western of all time in 2007.

One of the ways Ford’s experience directing silent films influenced his sound pictures is in the economy of dialogue. He preferred his characters to speak only when they had something to say.

Ford was an early innovator in location shooting. His films are characterized by long shots framing subjects against a sprawling landscape. The opening shot of The Searchers is often copied, especially in other Westerns (e.g., Lawrence Kasdan’s Silverado). One of his favorite locations was Monument Valley in Utah, which stood in for Texas in The Searchers, southern Arizona in My Darling Clementine, and other settings throughout the American West.

Ford moved the camera so seldom that some people claim that he never moved it, but that claim is erroneous. In several of the films to be reviewed in upcoming posts, Ford moved the camera to track the motion of his subjects. To modern audiences, the relative lack of camera movement and cutting can make Ford’s films seem to have a slow pace, but he thought that too much cutting and too much camera movement would make the audience too aware of the camera. He thought that if the camera moved, then the camera became a character.

He also rarely used close-ups; in the years before television, long and medium shots seemed sufficient to tell the story on a large screen. Filmmakers of his era did not have to consider how the film would play on television, let alone iPads and smartphones.

Ford also had a reputation for editing in camera, rarely shooting more than a few takes of a scene. He said, “I don’t shoot anything I don’t want in the picture.” This practice prevented the studios from changing takes or cutting or editing the picture in ways of which Ford would have disapproved. He did not use storyboards, so he had to know what he wanted when he started filming, and in some cases, filming commenced before the script was finished.

References:

http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/ford/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ford

See also special features on The Searchers, My Darling Clementine, Young Mr. Franklin, and Mister Roberts.

This post was written by LR Simon.