As I have posted before, for Christmas, I received the 24 movie DVD set of "Ford at Fox." The set starts out with some of the silent movies he directed in the 1920's . As a student of John Ford I felt I needed to watch his silent movies but did not expect to enjoy them as much as I have. Last night I watched the 1920 movie "Just Pals" and the 1924 "The Iron Horse" about the building of the Trans Continental Railroad. What a pleasant surprise. For an 83 year old movie they have done a good job of restoration.This is an epic movie with a cast of thousands filmed on location. The movie starts with Abraham Lincoln and ends with Lincoln. Ford was a great admirer of Lincoln and worked him into several of his movies. The movie was made 55 years after the completion of the transcontinental railroad. It has been 83 years since this movie was made. One nice feature of the movie is Fox has recorded a musical soundtrack that was composed in 2007 in place of the typical organ music that would have been played when the movie was shown in your neighborhood theater in 1924. John Ford was only in his 30's when he directed this movie but through out the movie you see his touches that showed up in his later movies. There is one scene where just before a fight in the saloon the bartenders take down the mirror behind the bar. There is the Irish humor and the reverence for the veterans of the Civil War. Ford loved America and American history and it showed. For more on the movie click on the title for a link to the imdb.com page on the movie.
