John Ford

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Joseph McBride

Wilmington, Michael, Author.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (348 p.) ill

Place of Publication:

University Press of Kentucky 2023

Summary:

Orson Welles was once asked which directors he most admired. He replied: "The old masters. By which I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford." A legend in his own time, John Ford (1894-1973) won a record four Academy Awards for best director. He directed 136 films, including such classics as Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, The Quiet Man, and The Searchers, in a career that lasted from the early silent era until 1970. Ford is celebrated throughout the world as the cinema's foremost chronicler of American history, the leading poet of the Western genre, and a wide-ranging filmmaker of profound emotional impact and influence on other filmmakers. In this groundbreaking critical study, Joseph McBride and Michael Wilmington provide an overview of Ford's career and in-depth analyses of key Ford films. Analyzing recurring Fordian themes and relating each film to his entire body of work, the authors insightfully explore the richness of Ford's tragicomic vision. This new and revised version includes a study of the twenty-seven Ford silent films now known to survive in whole or in part (more than double the number available when the original edition was published); essays on three controversial aspects of Ford: his tragicomic sensibility, his views of race, and the influence of his Irish heritage; and an expanded version of McBrides interview with Ford on the last day of his career.

ISBN:

0-8131-9838-0