Review of Stagecoach (1939) by Adam S — 30 May 2010

A disparate group of travelers, each one representing a different rank in the societal hierarchy, enjoy a bumpy ride on the stagecoach to Lordsburg, as Geronimo and his band of warriors cast an ever-present shadow over the difficult journey. Director John Fordâ??s first western in over a decade, and usually noted as being the first western to truly cross over to mass audience and critical appeal alike, the film is notable for introducing two of Fordâ??s great longtime collaborations; the stunning backdrop of Monument Valley, with beautiful cloud dappled skies that open up the claustrophobic interiors, and John Wayne, whose loving close-up 20 minutes into the film introduces an instant superstar, after years of toil on Poverty Row. Dudley Nicholsâ?? script highlights the hypocrisy and tension amongst the nine stagecoach passengers (including Thomas Mitchell as the drunken doctor, and the lovely Claire Trevor as the outcast, kindhearted prostitute who catches Duke's eye), Yakima Canuttâ??s mesmerizing stunt work brings thrills to the much copied Indian attack, and Bert Glennonâ??s masterful cinematography brings out the best in Fordâ??s carefully lit interiors, whose unusually low ceilings were an influence on Orson Welles in â??Citizen Kaneâ??. Welles was said to have watched â??Stagecoachâ?? some 40 times while making his opus, believing John Ford to be Hollywood's best director; he was right, and what inspired the best film of the â??40â??s is arguably the best studio film of the â??30â??s, and to that point, John Fordâ??s unquestioned masterpiece. Criterion's new Blu-ray is appropriately stuffed with new, highly intelligent and information packed, bonus features, and the transfer is beautiful.

Bucking Broadway: Also part of Criterion's list of extras is "Bucking Broadway", an early Ford silent miraculously pulled out of the endangered species list earlier last decade, restored to a shimmering 54 minutes of yellowy amber entertainment. Made for Universal in the early days when westerns were churned out in weeks (sometimes days), and when former apprentice Ford teamed with star Harry Carey for a series of entertaining (though now mostly lost) three to five reelers with lots of horses, well framed landscapes, fist fights, romance, and comedy, many touchstones that would mark his later sound films. Here Carey is a simple Wyoming ranch hand who falls in love with the boss' daughter, she agrees to marry him but in a moment of naive rashness, she sweeps away with an Eastern horse trader, and crushed, Carey vows to take the high road and light out for the west. But that isn't romantic, and in the end we get a big, funny fight between Carey and his ranchers and some drunken revelers at a high brow New York garden party, where the girl is worried, unhappy, and willing to be swept off her feet by her former cowboy fiance.