Wednesday night I watch a Netflix DVD of the Peter Bogdanovich Documentary,"Directed by John Ford", on movie director John Ford and it brought tears to my eyes. This documentary narrated by Orson Welles was originally released in 1973 and I first saw it in the late 1970's/ early 1980's when I recorded it on VHS off a PBS broadcast. It was updated by Bodganovich in 2006 and has just been released on DVD.It is by far the best documentary ever made on John Ford. I own almost every book written about the Director and have almost all of his movies released on DVD. The original 1973 version had John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda each separately telling funny stories about the man. I have heard these stories many times but re watching these segments of the documentary were special because they were recorded near the end of all three actors lives. The new 2006 version of the documentary has added extended comments by Maureen O'Hara, Harry Carey Jr, Walter Hill, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood. The famous directors talk about how John Ford influenced them and about their first experiences watching his movies such as "The Searchers." There are two new sections to the documentary that were very special. First, an aging but still beautiful, Maureen O'Hara is showed reading something she wrote about John Ford recently and at the end she breaks down crying.The second, is Bogdanovich exploring John Ford's love relationship with Katheryn Hepburn. In 1936 Ford and Hepburn worked together when she stared in "Mary Queen of Scots" directed by Ford.They fell in love. As a Catholic, Ford would not leave his wife and the affair ended.For the rest of his life Ford and his movies were influenced by this real story of "love lost." This was before her affair with another Irishman, Spencer Tracey. Bagdanovich plays a 1973 tape recording made by Ford's grandson and biographer, Dan Ford, when Hepburn visited John Ford as he was dieing of cancer at his home near Palm Springs. At one point Dan "accidentally" leaves the tape recorder on an goes out to his car to get something. John Ford and Katheryn Hepburn thinking they are alone express love for each other and more.(see You Tube video of Bagdanovich's introduction (Part 1) and recorded conversation (Part II) Too bad the tape runs out because I wanted more. Watch and hear it yourself below.
In John Ford's most personal movie "The Quiet Man" (1952) John Wayne's character is named "Sean" which was John Ford's real first name. In the movie Wayne fell in love with Maureen O'Hara, whose character's name is "Mary Kate." Mary was the first name of John Ford's wife and "Kate" was Katherine Hepburn's nick name.
In the end the best part of the documentary is the clips from John Ford's movies which will be watched long after we are gone.Some of my favorites:
Stagecoach 1939
Young Mr Lincoln 1939
Drums along the Mohawk 1939
The Grapes of Wrath 1940
How Green Was My Valley 1941
The Battle of Midway 1942
They Were Expendable 1945
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Fort Apache (1958)
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949
Rio Grande (1950)
The Quiet Man (1952)
The Searchers (1956)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
The documentary explores the themes that run through many of John Ford movies. Themes such as the family and the break up of the family by modern society; that death is not the end; and, the importance of rituals to society. Orson Welles points out that history is important in John Ford movies. "The personal story is always shown in perspective with the flow of history behind.... one man's vision of the world and the past."
"Victory in defeat. John Ford's history is filled with defeats, failure, last stands... their tragedy also their peculiar glory.... his hero's have most often been a man alone silhouetted against the moving backdrop of history"
Orson Welles
