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John Ford Box Set [DVD]
 
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John Ford Box Set [DVD]

 Parental Guidance   DVD
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
Price: £7.69 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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John Ford Box Set [DVD] + John Ford Collection - The Informer/ Wagonmaster/ The Fugitive/ Mary of Scotland [DVD] + The Searchers [1956] [DVD]
Price For All Three: £22.37

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Product details

  • Format: Box set, PAL
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 3
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
  • DVD Release Date: 1 Oct 2007
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000RWDXB4
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 30,427 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

The Grapes of Wrath - John Ford's memorable screen version of John Steinbeck's epic novel of the Great Depression--often regarded as the director's best film--stars Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. After having served a brief prison sentence for manslaughter, Joad arrives at his family's Oklahoma farm only to find it abandoned. Muley (John Qualen), a neighbour now nearly mad with grief, tells Tom of the drought that has transformed the farmland of Oklahoma into a desert and of the preying land agents who have ploughed under the shacks of the sharecroppers. Joined by former hellfire preacher Casy (John Carradine), Tom finds his extended family packing their ramshackle truck to seek work in the fields of California. Among the talented cast, Fonda does perhaps the best work of his career, as does Qualen in the film's most haunting sequence. In a stirring film that stands as a microcosm of the depression experience of millions, Ford gives poverty a human face in a way that was rare then and even rarer in the decades to follow as Hollywood films with a sense of class consciousness dwindled like a species nearing extinction.

In John Ford's How Green Was My Valley, Huw Morgan, now a middle-aged man leaving the mining town of Cwm Rhondda, recalls the events that most impressed themselves upon his younger self (Roddy McDowall). Still too young to work in the local coal mine like his father, Gwilym (Donald Crisp), and his five older brothers, he senses the seriousness of an imminent strike by the rift it creates between his father and the other boys. Richard Llewellyn's nostalgic novel, with its Fordian themes of family and community, could hardly have found a better director. While the acting and writing are excellent, this is truly Ford's film, one in which his brilliantly chosen groupings and compositions are the most expressive elements. Possibly the most moving film of Ford's career, How Green Was My Valley received five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

The Horse Soldiers - This latter-day sort-of Western from John Ford--falling midway between The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--is a crisp re-telling of a true-life episode from the Civil War. In 1863 a Union colonel named Grierson (Marlowe in the film, and John Wayne by any name) led his cavalry several hundred miles behind Confederate lines to cut the railroad between Newton Station and soon-to-be-embattled Vicksburg. There's a certain amount of bombast in the running arguments about wartime ethics between Marlowe and the new regimental surgeon (William Holden), who don't take to each other at all. But Ford more than makes up for it with such tasty scenes as an encounter with a couple of redneck Rebel deserters (Denver Pyle and Strother Martin), an ethereal swamp crossing led by a cornpone deacon (Hank Worden), and above all the famous skirmish with a hillside full of grade-school cadets from a venerable military academy. The film ends rather abruptly because Ford abandoned a climactic battle scene--the veteran stunt man and bit player Fred Kennedy having been killed in a horse fall. --Richard T. Jameson

My Darling Clementine - In another of his classic Westerns, John Ford again reflects upon the advance of civilisation on the receding frontier, recounting the events leading up to and including the legendary gunfight at the O.K. Corral. As they drive their cattle toward California, Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his brothers, Morgan (Ward Bond), Virgil (Tim Holt), and young James (Don Garner), stop outside Tombstone, Arizona, where they refuse an offer for their stock made by Old Man Clanton (Walter Brennan) and his son, Ike (Grant Withers). The three older brothers ride into town, and, after Wyatt subdues a drunk, return to the wagons to find James dead and their cattle stolen. With little doubt about who the perpetrators are, Wyatt decides to accept the offer to be marshal of Tombstone that he had just recently refused. Although ostensibly focused on the famed gunfight, My Darling Clementine's more concerned like many of Ford's films with the creation of a community, the rule of law, and the civilising influence of women on the wild and woolly West. When the showdown finally comes, it's without blood lust, as the Earp brothers conduct themselves with the ritual solemnity of samurai warriors. Fonda gives a subtle, brilliantly understated performance in the lead role, establishing a naturalist motif that is picked up and furthered by Joseph MacDonald's magnificent, barely lit shots of Ford's beloved Monument Valley.


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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By Bob Salter TOP 50 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
This is a rather curious mix of films from the great John Ford. We have two films concerning social injustice, one made shortly after the other which make good companion pieces. We then have two Westerns sitting rather uncomfortably alongside. One is a very fine Western and the other rather average by Ford's high standards.

"The Grapes of Wrath"(40) is based on the Pulitzer prize winning novel of 1939 by John Steinbeck. The film covers the arduous and harrowing journey of the Joad family from their abandoned home in Oklahoma to California, and their attempts to try and find work in this new land. The first half of the film is faithful to the book. The second half less so. Henry Fonda gives one of his more powerful performances as Tom Joad, just released from prison who returns to a deserted home. He travels on to find his family. The film is very strong on family loyalty but is mostly about the ills of social injustice.
At the end of the film Tom goes off to join a movement committed to social justice and says the following famous words:-

"I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look, wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build, I'll be there, too."

"How Green Was My Valley"(41) is also based on a famous novel by Richard Llewellyn, who strangely enough was an Englishman. This film chronicles the lives of the Morgan family in the South Wales coalfield at a time of great social and economic upheaval. We follow their loves and hardships as fortunes fluctuate. Again we see the close family bonds. Walter Pidgeon and that Ford female stalwart Maureen O'Hara star, with the youngest family member played by Roddy McDowell who provides the narration. The film was made in Hollywood due to WW2, which does give it a rather false look. The Welsh accents are a very dodgy Hollywood Welsh, certainly not heard in the Valleys. It is also a little over sentimental. It is a good film but not a classic as was "The Grapes of Wrath".

"The Horse Soldiers"(59) is based on the novel by Harold Sinclair who based it on a true event from the American civil war when Union soldiers raided far behind Confederate lines to saboutage a railway line. In doing so they rode some 700 miles. In the film John Wayne plays Col John Marlowe and William Holden plays the surgeon Maj Henry Kendall. The two are constantly at odds. They are also forced to take along the pretty Constance Towers who complicates matters. They are constantly on the run and have several scrapes with Pursuing Confederate troops. The film is not as strong as Ford's earlier cavalry trilogy and shows a distinct lessening of his powers after the epic "The Searchers"(56). It fails to capture Ford's usual stylistic hallmarks. An interesting film but not one of his best.

"My Darling Clementine"(46) is another take on "The Gunfight at the OK Corral" between the Earp's and the Clanton's. The title is taken from an old folk song. It is 1882 and the Earp's are driving cattle to California. They have a run in with the Clanton's led by old Man Clanton played by Walter Brennan. The brothers later go into nearby Tombstone leaving younger brother James in charge. On their return the cattle are gone and James is found murdered. Wyatt Earp played by Fonda swears vengeance and takes on the job as Marshall for Tombstone to ensure justice is done. He is aided by the consumptive Doc Holliday played by Victor Mature who constantly coughs into the worlds largest and most used hanky. The film shows Ford on top form. It travels at a measured pace and is both moody and stylised. In short a fine film full of the typical Ford flourishes.

At the present time of writing this review the DVD is available at an absolute snip. You have two superb classics and two very watchable films at a bargain price. Look at the individual prices for these films and you will see what I mean. Although it is an odd mix, it contains great quality and is a good buy at the present price. Highly recommended.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By libbyy
delighted to get this john ford collection. thoroughly enjoyed as i had read the books of these films some years ago. highly recommended. many thanks.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Box set specs 28 Aug 2010
The Grapes Of Wrath:
Languages: English, Italian, Spanish, German, French.
Subs: English (HoH), Italian, Spanish, German, French, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish.

The Horse Soldiers:
Languages: English, Italian, Spanish, German, French.
Subs: English (HoH), German (HoH), French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese.

How Green Was My Valley:
Languages: English.
Subs: English (HoH), Czech, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Swedish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Polish.

My Darling Clementine:
Languages: English.
Subs: English (HoH).
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