104-619: John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford , was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood , and was one of the first American directors to be recognized as an auteur . In a career of more than 50 years, he directed over 130 films between 1917 and 1970 (although most of his silent films are now lost ), and received six Academy Awards including
208-412: A Klansman in D. W. Griffith 's 1915 The Birth of a Nation . He married Mary McBride Smith on July 3, 1920, and they had two children. His daughter Barbara was married to singer and actor Ken Curtis from 1952 to 1964. The marriage between Ford and Smith lasted for life despite various issues, one being that Ford was Catholic while she was a non-Catholic divorcée. What difficulty was caused by this
312-767: A 1964 interview that the US Government was "afraid to show so many American casualties on the screen", adding that all of the D-Day film "still exists in color in storage in Anacostia near Washington, D.C." Thirty years later, historian Stephen E. Ambrose reported that the Eisenhower Center had been unable to find the film. A film partially matching Ford's description was unearthed by the U.S. National Archives in 2014. Other researchers assert that Ford did not personally land on Omaha Beach on D-Day (arriving rather
416-740: A career as a grizzled character actor and bit player. He is often uncredited, as in his appearance in James Whale 's 1931 Frankenstein . Among his most memorable roles was that of the demented old man in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), for which he also was uncredited. Ford's younger brother, John M. Feeney, nicknamed "Bull," was a successful fullback and defensive tackle on a Portland High state championship football team. In 1914, "Bull" followed Francis to Hollywood, changed his name to John Ford and eventually surpassed his elder brother's considerable reputation. Ford's son, Philip Ford ,
520-532: A company that made radio-controlled target aircraft during World War II). It was one of Ford's first big hits of the sound era—it was rated by both the National Board of Review and The New York Times as one of the Top 10 films of that year and won an Oscar nomination for its stirring Max Steiner score. It was followed later that year by The World Moves On with Madeleine Carroll and Franchot Tone , and
624-529: A consummate visual stylist and master storyteller." Ford was born John Martin "Jack" Feeney (though he later often gave his given names as Seán Aloysius, sometimes with surname O'Feeny or Ó Fearna; an Irish language equivalent of Feeney) in Cape Elizabeth, Maine , to John Augustine Feeney and Barbara "Abbey" Curran, on February 1, 1894, (though he occasionally said 1895 and that date is erroneously inscribed on his tombstone). His father, John Augustine,
728-477: A critical and commercial hit, grossing over US$ 1 million in its first year (against a budget of just under $ 400,000), and its success (along with the 1939 Westerns Destry Rides Again with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich , Cecil B. DeMille's Union Pacific with Joel McCrea , and Michael Curtiz's Dodge City with Erroll Flynn), revitalized the moribund genre, showing that Westerns could be "intelligent, artful, great entertainment—and profitable". It
832-495: A day or two later) and that John Ford's D-Day footage is by and large a "tall tale." Ford eventually rose to become a top adviser to OSS head William Joseph Donovan . According to records released in 2008, Ford was cited by his superiors for bravery, taking a position to film one mission that was "an obvious and clear target". He survived "continuous attack and was wounded" while he continued filming, one commendation in his file states. In 1945, Ford executed affidavits testifying to
936-496: A decade for films to adapt to sound and return to the level of artistic quality of the silents, which they did in the late 1930s when the Greatest Generation came of age. Many great works of cinema that emerged from this period were of highly regimented filmmaking. One reason this was possible is that, as so many films were made, not every one had to be a big hit. A studio could gamble on a medium-budget feature with
1040-731: A false front to pose as grocery store. John opened four others in following years. Francis Feeney served in the United States Army in the Spanish–American War but was sent home for being underage. Leaving Portland, he drifted into the film business in New York City, working for David Horsley and Al Christie . Moving to Texas, he was part of the Star Film Company 's San Antonio operation under Gaston Méliès . Feeney adopted his stage name "Ford" from
1144-492: A footnote in film history". —Film historian Richard Koszarski , 1976 Ford's brother Eddie was a crew member and they fought constantly; on one occasion Eddie reportedly "went after the old man with a pick handle". There was only a short synopsis written when filming began and Ford wrote and shot the film day by day. Production fell behind schedule, delayed by constant bad weather and the intense cold, and Fox executives repeatedly demanded results, but Ford would either tear up
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#17327725241791248-401: A good script and relatively unknown actors. This was the case with Citizen Kane (1941), directed by Orson Welles and regarded as one of the greatest films of all time . Other strong-willed directors, like Howard Hawks , Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra , battled the studios in order to achieve their artistic visions. The apogee of the studio system may have been the year 1939, which saw
1352-402: A letter recounting the experience of the film's production, quoted Ford saying of Wayne's future in film: "He'll be the biggest star ever because he is the perfect 'everyman.'" Stagecoach marked the beginning of the most consistently successful phase of Ford's career—in just two years between 1939 and 1941 he created a string of classics films that won numerous Academy Awards. Ford's next film,
1456-471: A newly commissioned score by Michael Mortilla. Throughout his career, Ford was one of the busiest directors in Hollywood, but he was extraordinarily productive in his first few years as a director—he made ten films in 1917, eight in 1918 and fifteen in 1919—and he directed a total of 62 shorts and features between 1917 and 1928, although he was not given a screen credit in most of his earliest films. There
1560-562: A part where he was shot in the leg. For the rest of the picture, he was able to use a crutch on the final march. Ford repeatedly declared that he disliked the film and had never watched it, complaining that he had been forced to make it, although it was strongly championed by filmmaker Lindsay Anderson . Released several months after the end of the war, it was among the year's top 20 box-office draws, although Tag Gallagher notes that many critics have incorrectly claimed that it lost money. Golden Age of Hollywood Classical Hollywood cinema
1664-509: A period of several decades, including Ben Johnson , Chill Wills , Andy Devine , Ward Bond , Grant Withers , Mae Marsh , Anna Lee , Harry Carey Jr. , Ken Curtis , Frank Baker, Dolores del Río , Pedro Armendáriz , Hank Worden , John Qualen , Barry Fitzgerald , Arthur Shields , John Carradine , O. Z. Whitehead and Carleton Young . Core members of this extended 'troupe', including Ward Bond, John Carradine, Harry Carey Jr., Mae Marsh, Frank Baker, and Ben Johnson, were informally known as
1768-438: A photographed play in that the events seem to exist objectively and that cameras only give us the best view of the whole play. This treatment of space consists of four main aspects: centering, balancing, frontality, and depth. Persons or objects of significance are mostly in the center part of the picture frame and never out of focus. Balancing refers to the visual composition, i. e., characters are evenly distributed throughout
1872-582: A physician who was caught up in the Abraham Lincoln assassination conspiracy and consigned to an offshore prison for treating the injured John Wilkes Booth . Other films of this period include the South Seas melodrama The Hurricane (1937) and the lighthearted Shirley Temple vehicle Wee Willie Winkie (1937), each of which had a first-year US gross of more than $ 1 million. During filming of Wee Willie Winkie , Ford had elaborate sets built on
1976-448: A powerful effect on Ford. Murnau's influence can be seen in many of Ford's films of the late 1920s and early 1930s— Four Sons (1928), was filmed on some of the lavish sets left over from Murnau's production. In November that year, Ford directed Fox's first all-talking dramatic featurette Napoleon's Barber (1928), a 3-reeler which is now considered a lost film. Napoleon's Barber was followed by his final two silent features Riley
2080-590: A prominent Hollywood actor-writer-director with his own production company (101 Bison) at Universal . Ford started out in his brother's films as an assistant, handyman, stuntman and occasional actor, frequently doubling for his brother, whom he closely resembled. Francis gave his younger brother his first acting role in The Mysterious Rose (November 1914). Despite an often combative relationship, within three years Jack had progressed to become Francis' chief assistant and often worked as his cameraman. By
2184-573: A record four wins for Best Director for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952). Ford is renowned for his Westerns , such as Stagecoach (1939), My Darling Clementine (1946), Fort Apache (1948), The Searchers (1956), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962); though he worked in many other genres, including comedies , period dramas , and documentaries . He made frequent use of location shooting and wide shots , in which his characters were framed against
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#17327725241792288-687: A strong influence over the movie and made several key decisions, including the idea of having the character of Huw narrate the film in voice-over (then a novel concept), and the decision that Huw's character should not age ( Tyrone Power was originally slated to play the adult Huw). How Green Was My Valley became one of the biggest films of 1941. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actress ( Sara Allgood ), Best Editing, Best Script, Best Music and Best Sound and it won five Oscars—Best Director, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor ( Donald Crisp ), Best B&W Cinematography ( Arthur C. Miller ) and Best Art Direction/Interior Decoration. It
2392-740: A trove of 75 Hollywood silent films was rediscovered in the New Zealand Film Archive , among which was the only surviving print of Ford's 1927 silent comedy Upstream . The print was restored in New Zealand by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences before being returned to America, where it was given a "Re-Premiere" at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills on August 31, 2010, featuring
2496-406: A vast, harsh, and rugged natural terrain. He is credited with launching the careers of some of Hollywood's biggest stars during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, including John Wayne , Henry Fonda , Maureen O'Hara and James Stewart . Ford's work was held in high regard by his contemporaries, with Akira Kurosawa , Orson Welles , Frank Capra , Andrei Tarkovsky , and Ingmar Bergman naming him one of
2600-537: A wide range of films in this period, and he became well known for his Western and "frontier" pictures, but the genre rapidly lost its appeal for major studios in the late 1920s. Ford's last silent Western was 3 Bad Men (1926), set during the Dakota land rush and filmed at Jackson Hole , Wyoming and in the Mojave Desert . It would be thirteen years before he made his next Western, Stagecoach , in 1939. During
2704-472: Is a chain of cause and effect with causal agents – in classical style, events do not occur randomly. Time in classical Hollywood is continuous, linear, and uniform, since non-linearity calls attention to the illusory workings of the medium. The only permissible manipulation of time in this format is the flashback . It is mostly used to introduce a memory sequence of a character, e.g. , Casablanca . The greatest rule of classical continuity regarding space
2808-414: Is a term used in film criticism to describe both a narrative and visual style of filmmaking that first developed in the 1910s to 1920s during the later years of the silent film era . It then became characteristic of American cinema during the Golden Age of Hollywood from about 1927, the advent of sound film , until the 1960s (perhaps till 1972, when Dolby Stereo was introduced). It eventually became
2912-426: Is also his earliest complete surviving film as director, and one of only two survivors from his twenty-five film collaboration with Harry Carey. In making the film Ford and Carey ignored studio orders and turned in five reels instead of two, and it was only through the intervention of Carl Laemmle that the film escaped being cut for its first release, although it was subsequently edited down to two reels for re-release in
3016-618: Is also notable for early screen appearances by future stars Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews . Although not highly regarded by some critics—Tag Gallagher devotes only one short paragraph to it in his book on Ford—it was fairly successful at the box office, grossing $ 900,000 in its first year. The film was banned in Australia. Ford's last feature before America entered World War II was his screen adaptation of How Green Was My Valley (1941), starring Walter Pidgeon , Maureen O'Hara and Roddy McDowall in his career-making role as Huw. The script
3120-561: Is ambiguously defined. To some, it began with The Jazz Singer , which was released in 1927, when the Interbellum Generation came of age and increased box-office profits for films as sound was introduced to feature films. To others, the era began in 1929, when the silent age had definitively ended. Most Hollywood pictures from the late 1920s to 1960s adhered closely to a genre — Western, slapstick comedy, musical, animated cartoon, and biopic (biographical picture) — and
3224-482: Is object permanence: the viewer must believe that the scene exists outside the shot of the cinematic frame to maintain the picture's realism. The treatment of space in classical Hollywood strives to overcome or conceal the two-dimensionality of film ("invisible style") and is strongly centered upon the human body. The majority of shots in a classical film focus on gestures or facial expressions (medium-long and medium shots ). André Bazin once compared classical film to
John Ford - Misplaced Pages Continue
3328-457: Is particularly noted for her influence on on-screen performance techniques. Griffith's 1915 epic The Birth of a Nation , also starring Gish, was ground-breaking for film as a means of storytelling – a masterpiece of literary narrative with numerous innovative visual techniques. The film initiated so many advances in American cinema that it was rendered obsolete within a few years. Though 1913
3432-574: Is probable they would have continued working together, but their collaboration was cut short by Rogers' untimely death in a plane crash in May 1935, which devastated Ford. Ford confirmed his position in the top rank of American directors with the Murnau -influenced Irish Republican Army drama The Informer (1935), starring Victor McLaglen. It earned great critical praise, was nominated for Best Picture, won Ford his first Academy Award for Best Director, and
3536-531: Is some uncertainty about the identity of Ford's first film as director—film writer Ephraim Katz notes that Ford might have directed the four-part film Lucille the Waitress as early as 1914—but most sources cite his directorial début as the silent two-reeler The Tornado , released in March 1917. According to Ford's own story, he was given the job by Universal boss Carl Laemmle who supposedly said, "Give Jack Ford
3640-671: Is unclear as the level of Ford's commitment to the Catholic faith is disputed. Another strain was Ford's many extramarital relationships. Ford began his career in film after moving to California in July 1914. He followed in the footsteps of his multi-talented older brother Francis Ford, twelve years his senior, who had left home years earlier and had worked in vaudeville before becoming a movie actor. Francis played in hundreds of silent pictures for filmmakers such as Thomas Edison , Georges Méliès and Thomas Ince , eventually progressing to become
3744-527: The American Film Institute's list ranking the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history. As of 2024, Sophia Loren ( 90) is the only living star. Other surviving figures who were nominated for the list include Ann Blyth (96), Claire Bloom (93), Rita Moreno (92) and Margaret O'Brien (87). Francis Ford (actor) Francis Ford (born Francis Joseph Feeney ; August 14, 1881 – September 5, 1953)
3848-533: The Edison Trust to make films independent of the manufacturing monopoly. Films worldwide began to noticeably adopt visual and narrative elements which would be found in classical Hollywood cinema. 1913 was a particularly fruitful year for the medium, as pioneering directors from several countries produced films such as The Mothering Heart (D. W. Griffith), Ingeborg Holm ( Victor Sjöström ), and L'enfant de Paris ( Léonce Perret ) that set new standards for
3952-591: The English Channel on the USS ; Plunkett (DD-431) , which anchored off Omaha Beach at 0600. He observed the first wave land on the beach from the ship, landing on the beach himself later with a team of Coast Guard cameramen who filmed the battle from behind the beach obstacles, with Ford directing operations. The film was edited in London, but very little was released to the public. Ford explained in
4056-789: The Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif. , a heavily filmed location ranch most closely associated with serials and B-Westerns, which would become, along with Monument Valley , one of the director's preferred filming locations, and a site to which Ford would return in the next few years for Stagecoach and The Grapes of Wrath . The longer revised version of Directed by John Ford shown on Turner Classic Movies in November 2006 features directors Steven Spielberg , Clint Eastwood , and Martin Scorsese , who suggest that
4160-651: The Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif. , to film a number of key shots, including the pivotal image depicting the migrant family's first full view of the fertile farmland of California , which was represented by the San Fernando Valley as seen from the Iverson Ranch. The Grapes of Wrath was followed by two less successful and lesser-known films. The Long Voyage Home (1940) was, like Stagecoach , made with Walter Wanger through United Artists. Adapted from four plays by Eugene O'Neill , it
4264-753: The John Ford Stock Company . Likewise, Ford enjoyed extended working relationships with his production team, and many of his crew worked with him for decades. He made numerous films with the same major collaborators, including producer and business partner Merian C. Cooper , scriptwriters Nunnally Johnson , Dudley Nichols and Frank S. Nugent , and cinematographers Ben F. Reynolds, John W. Brown and George Schneiderman (who between them shot most of Ford's silent films), Joseph H. August , Gregg Toland , Winton Hoch , Charles Lawton Jr., Bert Glennon , Archie Stout and William H. Clothier . Most of Ford's postwar films were edited by Jack Murray until
John Ford - Misplaced Pages Continue
4368-641: The Khyber Pass starring Victor McLaglen and Myrna Loy is Ford's first all-talking feature; it was remade in 1954 by Henry King as King of the Khyber Rifles . Ford's output was fairly constant from 1928 to the start of World War II; he made five features in 1928 and then made either two or three films every year from 1929 to 1942, inclusive. Three films were released in 1929— Strong Boy , The Black Watch and Salute . His three films of 1930 were Men Without Women , Born Reckless and Up
4472-420: The cross cut , which establishes the concurrence of action in different locations. Jump cuts are allowed in the form of the axial cut , which does not change the angle of shooting at all, but has the clear purpose of showing a perspective closer or farther from the subject, and therefore does not interfere with temporal continuity. Classical narration progresses always through psychological motivation, i.e., by
4576-491: The " Jupiter " and " 119 " locomotives that met at Promontory Summit when the two ends of the line were joined on May 10, 1869. Although Ford was to become one of the most honored of Hollywood directors (by film-makers as well as critics) his reputation in 1928 was modest at best. While he proved himself a commercially responsible director, only two or three of his films had earned more than passing notice. The pre-1929 Ford, according to Andrew Sarris , seemed to deserve "at most
4680-411: The "photographed play" style by creating an imaginary 180-degree axis between the viewer and the shot, allowing viewers to clearly orient themselves within the position and direction of action in a scene. According to the 30-degree rule , cuts in the angle that the scene is viewed from must be significant enough for the viewer to understand the purpose of a change in perspective. Cuts that do not adhere to
4784-593: The 1920s, Ford also served as president of the Motion Picture Directors Association , a forerunner to today's Directors Guild of America . Ford was one of the pioneer directors of sound films; he shot Fox's first song sung on screen, for his film Mother Machree (1928) of which only four of the original seven reels survive; this film is also notable as the first Ford film to feature the young John Wayne (as an uncredited extra) and he appeared as an extra in several of Ford's films over
4888-480: The 30-degree rule, known as jump cuts , are disruptive to the illusion of temporal continuity between shots. The 180-degree and 30-degree rules are elementary guidelines in filmmaking that preceded the official start of the classical era by over a decade, as seen in the pioneering 1902 French film A Trip to the Moon . Cutting techniques in classical continuity editing serve to help establish or maintain continuity, as in
4992-511: The Cop (1928) and Strong Boy (1929), starring Victor McLaglen ; which were both released with synchronised music scores and sound effects, the latter is now lost (although Tag Gallagher's book records that the only surviving copy of Strong Boy , a 35 mm nitrate print, was rumored to be held in a private collection in Australia). The Black Watch (1929), a colonial army adventure set in
5096-868: The Irish neighborhood of Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine, and his father worked a variety of odd jobs to support the family—farming, fishing, a laborer for the gas company, saloon keeping, and an alderman. In interviews John Ford said that his family was well off, he said that they had a farm and his father fished. John and Barbara had eleven children: Mamie (Mary Agnes), born 1876; Delia (Edith), 1878–1881; Patrick; Francis Ford , 1881–1953; Bridget, 1883–1884; Barbara, born and died 1888; Edward, born 1889; Josephine, born 1891; Hannah (Joanna), born and died 1892; John Martin, 1894–1973; and Daniel, born and died 1896 (or 1898). Feeney attended Portland High School, Portland, Maine , where he played fullback and defensive tackle. He earned
5200-708: The River , which is notable as the debut film for both Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart , who were both signed to Fox on Ford's recommendation (but subsequently dropped). Ford's films in 1931 were Seas Beneath , The Brat and Arrowsmith ; the last-named, adapted from the Sinclair Lewis novel and starring Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes , marked Ford's first Academy Awards recognition, with five nominations including Best Picture. Ford's efficiency and his ability to craft films combining artfulness with strong commercial appeal won him increasing renown. By 1940 he
5304-455: The automobile. Moving to Los Angeles from San Antonio, Francis began his Hollywood career working for Thomas H. Ince at Ince's Bison studio , directing and appearing in westerns. Ambitious and prolific, in Ford's early work he cast himself as George Armstrong Custer , Sherlock Holmes (with his younger brother as Dr. Watson) and Abraham Lincoln , a role in which he specialized. By 1912, Ford
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#17327725241795408-408: The biopic Young Mr Lincoln (1939) starring Henry Fonda , was less successful than Stagecoach , attracting little critical attention and winning no awards. It was not a major box-office hit although it had a respectable domestic first-year gross of $ 750,000, but Ford scholar Tag Gallagher describes it as "a deeper, more multi-leveled work than Stagecoach ... (which) seems in retrospect one of
5512-434: The film as a form of storytelling. It was also the year when Yevgeni Bauer (the first true film artist, according to Georges Sadoul ) started his short, but prolific, career. In the world generally and America specifically, the influence of Griffith on filmmaking was unmatched. Equally influential were his actors in adapting their performances to the new medium. Lillian Gish , the star of film short The Mothering Heart ,
5616-416: The film industry itself, with the height of the studio system . This mode of production, with its reigning star system promoted by several key studios, had preceded sound by several years. By mid-1920, most of the prominent American directors and actors, who had worked independently since the early 1910s, had to become a part of the new studio system to continue to work. The beginning of the sound era itself
5720-748: The finest prewar pictures". Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) was a lavish frontier drama co-starring Henry Fonda, Claudette Colbert and John Carradine; it was also Ford's first movie in color and included uncredited script contributions by William Faulkner . It was a big box-office success, grossing $ 1.25 million in its first year in the US and earning Edna May Oliver a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. Despite its uncompromising humanist and political stance, Ford's screen adaptation of John Steinbeck 's The Grapes of Wrath (scripted by Nunnally Johnson and photographed by Gregg Toland )
5824-467: The first narrative films in the mid-late 1890s, filmmakers have sought to capture the power of live theatre on the cinema screen. Most of these filmmakers started as directors on the late 19th-century stage, and likewise, most film actors had roots in vaudeville (e.g. The Marx Brothers ) or theatrical melodramas. Visually, early narrative films had adapted little from the stage, and their narratives had adapted very little from vaudeville and melodrama. Before
5928-429: The first of his three films with Will Rogers . The World War I desert drama The Lost Patrol (1934), based on the book Patrol by Philip MacDonald , was a superior remake of the 1929 silent film Lost Patrol . It starred Victor McLaglen as The Sergeant—the role played by his brother Cyril McLaglen in the earlier version—with Boris Karloff , Wallace Ford , Alan Hale and Reginald Denny (who went on to found
6032-472: The frame. The action is subtly addressed towards the spectator (frontality) and set , lighting (mostly three-point lighting , especially high-key lighting ), and costumes are designed to separate foreground from the background (depth). The New Hollywood of the mid-1960s to early 1980s was influenced by the romanticism of the classical era, as was the French New Wave . These were recognized on
6136-478: The genre had fallen out of favor with the big studios during the 1930s and they were regarded as B-grade "pulp" movies at best. As a result, Ford shopped the project around Hollywood for almost a year, offering it unsuccessfully to both Joseph Kennedy and David O. Selznick before finally linking with Walter Wanger, an independent producer working through United Artists . Stagecoach is significant for several reasons—it exploded industry prejudices by becoming both
6240-555: The greatest directors of all time. Subsequent generations of directors, including many of the major figures of the New Hollywood movement, have cited his influence. The Harvard Film Archive writes that "the breadth and measure of Ford's major contributions to the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema, and to film language in general, remains somewhat difficult to discern.... Rarely recognized in full are Ford's great achievements as
6344-631: The grounds of the Crags Country Club (later the Fox ranch, now the core of Malibu Creek State Park). Another reported factor was the nervousness of Fox executives about the pro-union tone of the story. William Wyler was originally engaged to direct, but he left the project when Fox decided to film it in California; Ford was hired in his place and production was postponed for several months until he became available. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck had
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#17327725241796448-484: The highly successful Judge Priest , his second film with Will Rogers, which became one of the top-grossing films of the year. Ford's first film of 1935 (made for Columbia ) was the mistaken-identity comedy The Whole Town's Talking with Edward G. Robinson and Jean Arthur , released in the UK as Passport to Fame , and it drew critical praise. Steamboat Round The Bend was his third and final film with Will Rogers; it
6552-522: The illusion of realism – that is temporal linearity and spatial continuity. By the early 1910s, when the Lost Generation was coming of age, filmmaking was beginning to fulfill its artistic potential. In Sweden and Denmark, this period would later be known as the "Golden Age" of the film; in America, this artistic change is attributed to filmmakers like D. W. Griffith finally breaking the grip of
6656-487: The integrity of films taken to document conditions at Nazi concentration camps. His last wartime film was They Were Expendable (MGM, 1945), an account of America's disastrous defeat in The Philippines, told from the viewpoint of a PT boat squadron and its commander. Ford created a part for the recovering Ward Bond , who needed money. Although he was seen throughout the movie, he never walked until they put in
6760-489: The job—he yells good". The Tornado was quickly followed by a string of two-reeler and three-reeler "quickies"— The Trail of Hate , The Scrapper , The Soul Herder and Cheyenne's Pal ; these were made over the space of a few months and each typically shot in just two or three days; all are now presumed lost. The Soul Herder is also notable as the beginning of Ford's four-year, 25-film association with veteran writer-actor Harry Carey , who (with Ford's brother Francis)
6864-540: The late 1920s. Ford's last film of 1917, Bucking Broadway , was long thought to have been lost, but in 2002 the only known surviving print was discovered in the archives of the French National Center for Cinematography and it has since been restored and digitized. Ford directed around 36 films over three years for Universal before moving to the William Fox studio in 1920; his first film for them
6968-503: The latter's 1961 death. Otho Lovering , who had first worked with Ford on Stagecoach (1939), became Ford's principal editor after Murray's death. During his first decade as a director Ford worked on dozens of features (including many westerns) but only ten of the more than sixty silent films he made between 1917 and 1928 still survive in their entirety. However, prints of several Ford 'silents' previously thought lost have been rediscovered in foreign film archives over recent years—in 2009
7072-475: The lead roles, but eventually accepted Ford's decision to cast Claire Trevor as Dallas and a virtual unknown, his friend John Wayne , as Ringo; Wanger reportedly had little further influence over the production. In making Stagecoach , Ford faced entrenched industry prejudice about the now-hackneyed genre which he had helped to make so popular. Although low-budget western features and serials were still being churned out in large numbers by " Poverty Row " studios,
7176-454: The men who are lynched in The Ox-Bow Incident . He was born Francis Joseph Feeney in Portland, Maine on August 14, 1881, the son of John Augustine Feeney and Barbara "Abbey" Curran. An Irish immigrant, John Feeney was born in the village of Spiddal , County Galway , Ireland, on June 15, 1854. By 1878, John had moved to Portland, Maine, and opened a saloon, at 42 Center Street, that used
7280-513: The most admired and imitated of all Hollywood movies, not least for its climactic stagecoach chase and the hair-raising horse-jumping scene, performed by the stuntman Yakima Canutt . The Dudley Nichols – Ben Hecht screenplay was based on an Ernest Haycox story that Ford had spotted in Collier's magazine and he purchased the screen rights for just $ 2500. Production chief Walter Wanger urged Ford to hire Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich for
7384-414: The most powerful and pervasive style of filmmaking worldwide. Similar or associated terms include classical Hollywood narrative , the Golden Age of Hollywood , Old Hollywood , and classical continuity . The period is also referred to as the studio era , which may also include films of the late silent era. For millennia, the only visual standard of narrative storytelling art was the theatre . Since
7488-466: The movie's iconic images of the American West. John Wayne had good reason to be grateful for Ford's support; Stagecoach provided the actor with the career breakthrough that elevated him to international stardom. Over 35 years Wayne appeared in 24 of Ford's films and three television episodes. Ford is credited with playing a major role in shaping Wayne's screen image. Cast member Louise Platt, in
7592-468: The next two years. Moreover, Hangman's House (1928) is notable as it features John Wayne's first confirmed onscreen appearance in a Ford film, playing an excitable spectator during the horse race sequence. [2] Just before the studio converted to talkies, Fox gave a contract to the German director F. W. Murnau , and his film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), still highly regarded by critics, had
7696-406: The nickname "Bull" because, it is said, of the way he would lower his helmet and charge the line. A Portland pub, named "Bull Feeney's" in his honor, was open from 2002 to 2023. He later moved to California, and in 1914 began working in film production as well as acting for his older brother Francis , adopting "Jack Ford" as a professional name. In addition to credited roles, he appeared uncredited as
7800-665: The photographic unit for the Office of Strategic Services and made documentaries for the Navy Department. He was commissioned as a commander in the United States Navy Reserve . According to Searching for John Ford, "Ford and his men concentrated largely on secret photographic missions for the OSS." In 1961 Ford told a magazine, "Our job was to photograph both for the records and for our intelligence assessment,
7904-590: The release of such classics as The Wizard of Oz ; Gone with the Wind ; The Hunchback of Notre Dame ; Stagecoach ; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ; Destry Rides Again ; Young Mr. Lincoln ; Wuthering Heights ; Only Angels Have Wings ; Ninotchka ; Beau Geste ; Babes in Arms ; Gunga Din ; The Women ; Goodbye, Mr. Chips ; and The Roaring Twenties . The visual-narrative style of classical Hollywood cinema, as elaborated by David Bordwell ,
8008-545: The salary of the U.S. president at that time (although this was still less than half the income of Carole Lombard , Hollywood's highest-paid star of the 1930s, who was earning around $ 500,000 per year at the time). With film production affected by the Depression, Ford made two films each in 1932 and 1933— Air Mail (made for Universal) with a young Ralph Bellamy and Flesh (for MGM) with Wallace Beery . In 1933, he returned to Fox for Pilgrimage and Doctor Bull ,
8112-452: The same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio. For instance, Cedric Gibbons and Herbert Stothart always worked on MGM films ; Alfred Newman worked at 20th Century Fox for twenty years; Cecil B. DeMille 's films were almost all made at Paramount Pictures ; and director Henry King 's films were mostly made for 20th Century Fox. Similarly, actors were mostly contract players. Film historians note that it took about
8216-451: The string of classic films Ford directed during 1936 to 1941 was due in part to an intense six-month extramarital affair with Katharine Hepburn , the star of Mary of Scotland (1936), an Elizabethan costume drama. Stagecoach (1939) was Ford's first western since 3 Bad Men in 1926, and it was his first with sound. Orson Welles claimed that he watched Stagecoach forty times in preparation for making Citizen Kane . It remains one of
8320-429: The telegrams or hold them up and have stunt gunman Edward "Pardner" Jones shoot holes through the sender's name. Despite the pressure to halt the production, studio boss William Fox finally backed Ford and allowed him to finish the picture and his gamble paid off handsomely— The Iron Horse became one of the top-grossing films of the decade, taking over US$ 2 million worldwide, against a budget of $ 280,000. Ford made
8424-590: The time Jack Ford was given his first break as a director, Francis' profile was declining and he ceased working as a director soon after. Ford's films used a 'stock company' of actors, far more so than many directors. Many famous stars appeared in at least two or more Ford films, including Harry Carey Sr. , (the star of 25 Ford silent films), Will Rogers , John Wayne , Henry Fonda , Maureen O'Hara , James Stewart , Woody Strode , Richard Widmark , Victor McLaglen , Vera Miles and Jeffrey Hunter . Many of his supporting actors appeared in multiple Ford films, often over
8528-455: The visual style which would become known as "classical continuity", scenes were filmed in full shot and used carefully choreographed staging to portray plot and character relationships. Editing technique was extremely limited, and mostly consisted of close-ups of writing on objects for their legibility. Though lacking the reality inherent to the stage, film (unlike the stage) offers the freedom to manipulate apparent time and space, and thus create
8632-681: The will of a human character and its struggle with obstacles towards a defined goal. This narrative element is commonly composed of a primary narrative (e.g. a romance) intertwined with a secondary narrative or narratives. This narrative is structured with an unmistakable beginning, middle and end, and generally there is a distinct resolution. Utilizing actors, events, causal effects, main points, and secondary points are basic characteristics of this type of narrative. The characters in classical Hollywood cinema have clearly definable traits, are active, and very goal oriented. They are causal agents motivated by psychological rather than social concerns. The narrative
8736-491: The work of guerrillas, saboteurs, Resistance outfits." He won two more Academy Awards during this time, one for the semi-documentary The Battle of Midway (1942), and one for the propaganda film December 7: The Movie (1943). Ford filmed the Japanese attack on Midway from the power plant of Sand Island and was wounded in the left arm by a machine gun bullet. Ford was also present on Omaha Beach on D-Day . He crossed
8840-481: Was Just Pals (1920). His 1923 feature Cameo Kirby , starring screen idol John Gilbert —another of the few surviving Ford silents—marked his first directing credit under the name "John Ford", rather than "Jack Ford", as he had previously been credited. Ford's first major success as a director was the historical drama The Iron Horse (1924), an epic account of the building of the First transcontinental railroad . It
8944-403: Was a global landmark for filmmaking, 1917 was primarily an American one; the era of "classical Hollywood cinema" is distinguished by a narrative and visual style which began to dominate the film medium in America by 1917. The narrative and visual style of classical Hollywood style developed further after the transition to sound-film production. The primary changes in American filmmaking came from
9048-556: Was a huge hit with audiences, coming in behind Sergeant York as the second-highest-grossing film of the year in the US and taking almost $ 3 million against its sizable budget of $ 1,250,000. Ford was also named Best Director by the New York Film Critics, and this was one of the few awards of his career that he collected in person (he generally shunned the Oscar ceremony). During World War II , Ford served as head of
9152-484: Was a large, long and difficult production, filmed on location in the Sierra Nevada . The logistics were enormous—two entire towns were constructed, there were 5000 extras, 100 cooks, 2000 rail layers, a cavalry regiment, 800 Native Americans, 1300 bison, 2000 horses, 10,000 cattle and 50,000 properties, including the original stagecoach used by Horace Greeley , Wild Bill Hickok 's derringer pistol and replicas of
9256-405: Was a strong early influence on the young director, as well as being one of the major influences on the screen persona of Ford's protege John Wayne . Carey's son Harry "Dobe" Carey Jr. , who also became an actor, was one of Ford's closest friends in later years and featured in many of his most celebrated westerns. Ford's first feature-length production was Straight Shooting (August 1917), which
9360-422: Was acknowledged as one of the world's foremost movie directors. His growing prestige was reflected in his remuneration—in 1920, when he moved to Fox, he was paid $ 300–600 per week. As his career took off in the mid-Twenties his annual income significantly increased. He earned nearly $ 134,000 in 1929, and made over $ 100,000 per annum every year from 1934 to 1941, earning a staggering $ 220,068 in 1938—more than double
9464-490: Was also a film actor/director. Ford died after being diagnosed with cancer. The Ford brothers were, at the best of times, critical of each other and sometimes sharply antagonistic. Ford wrote an unpublished memoir in 1934 called Up and Down the Ladder which is "filled with bitter and sometimes heartrending complaints about how old-timers who had helped create the industry had been shunted aside by younger men." When Jack Ford
9568-414: Was an American film actor, writer and director. He was the mentor and elder brother of film director John Ford . As an actor, director and producer, he was one of the first filmmakers in Hollywood. He also appeared in many of his brother John's movies as a character actor, including The Informer (1935), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) and The Quiet Man (1952). He gave a memorable performance as one of
9672-935: Was born in Spiddal , County Galway , Ireland, in 1854. Barbara Curran was born in the Aran Islands , in the town of Kilronan on the island of Inishmore (Inis Mór). John A. Feeney's grandmother, Barbara Morris, was said to be a member of an impoverished branch of a family of the Irish nobility , the Morrises of Spiddal (headed at present by Lord Killanin ). John Augustine and Barbara Curran arrived in Boston and Portland respectively in May and June 1872. They filed their intentions to marry on July 31, 1875, and became American citizens five years later on September 11, 1880. The John Augustine Feeney family resided on Sheridan Street, in
9776-606: Was both a big box office hit and a major critical success, and it is still widely regarded as one of the best Hollywood films of the era. Noted critic Andrew Sarris described it as the movie that transformed Ford from "a storyteller of the screen into America's cinematic poet laureate". Ford's third movie in a year and his third consecutive film with Fonda, it grossed $ 1.1 million in the US in its first year and won two Academy Awards—Ford's second 'Best Director' Oscar, and 'Best Supporting Actress' for Jane Darwell 's tour-de-force portrayal of Ma Joad. During production, Ford returned to
9880-538: Was clear that John's star was on the rise. Frank's directorial style remained suitable for serials, but failed to evolve. Ford's final known directorial credit is for the 1928 The Call of the Heart , a 50-minute vehicle for "Dynamite the Devil Dog". Ford may have acted in over 400 films, with many of his early credits poorly documented and probably lost. From the late 1920s, and for the next two decades, Ford sustained
9984-548: Was directing alongside Thomas Ince. It rapidly became clear that Ince was routinely taking credit for Ford's work, so in 1913, Ford moved over to the Universal Film Manufacturing Co. , a movie studio founded by Carl Laemmle the previous year. His 1913 Lucille Love, Girl of Mystery was Universal's first serial, and the first of a string of very popular serials starring Ford's collaborator and lover Grace Cunard . The 1915 serial The Broken Coin
10088-477: Was expanded from 15 to 22 episodes by popular demand, and likely represents the height of Ford's career. In 1917, Ford founded a short-lived independent company, Fordart Films, which released the 1918 Berlin via America with Phil Kelly, and briefly opened his own studio at Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street . At the same time, Ford mentored his younger brother, collaborating frequently as writers, directors and actors in each other's projects, but as early as 1917, it
10192-410: Was first in Hollywood working for his brother, Francis had him perform a dangerous stunt where, as his elder brother's stunt double , he ran across a railroad station roof and jumped onto a moving train. At the time he was performing the stunt, the younger brother said to the older that he owed him for the stunt. Many years later, with the power relation reversed, Jack had Francis tied to a hay wagon that
10296-413: Was hailed at the time as one of the best films ever made, although its reputation has diminished considerably compared to other contenders like Citizen Kane , or Ford's own later The Searchers (1956). The politically charged The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)—which marked the debut with Ford of long-serving "Stock Company" player John Carradine —explored the little-known story of Samuel Mudd ,
10400-483: Was heavily influenced by the ideas of the Renaissance and its resurgence of mankind as the focal point. It is distinguished at three general levels: devices, systems, and the relations of systems. The devices most inherent to classical Hollywood cinema are those of continuity editing . This includes the 180-degree rule , one of the major visual-spatial elements of continuity editing. The 180-degree rule keeps with
10504-601: Was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won two Oscars, for Best Supporting Actor (Thomas Mitchell) and Best Score. Stagecoach became the first in the series of seven classic Ford Westerns filmed on location in Monument Valley , with additional footage shot at another of Ford's favorite filming locations, the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, Calif. , where he had filmed much of Wee Willie Winkie two years earlier. Ford skillfully blended Iverson and Monument Valley to create
10608-483: Was one of Ford's personal favorites; stills from it decorated his home and O'Neill also reportedly loved the film and screened it periodically. Tobacco Road (1941) was a rural comedy scripted by Nunnally Johnson , adapted from the long-running Jack Kirkland stage version of the novel by Erskine Caldwell . It starred veteran actor Charley Grapewin and the supporting cast included Ford regulars Ward Bond and Mae Marsh , with Francis Ford in an uncredited bit part; it
10712-468: Was scripted by Dudley Nichols and Ford, in consultation with O'Neill. Although not a significant box-office success (it grossed only $ 600,000 in its first year), it was critically praised and was nominated for seven Academy Awards—Best Picture, Best Screenplay, (Nichols), Best Music, Original Score ( Richard Hageman ), Best Photography ( Gregg Toland ), Best Editing (Sherman Todd), Best Effects (Ray Binger & R.T. Layton), and Best Sound ( Robert Parrish ). It
10816-463: Was written by Philip Dunne from the best-selling novel by Richard Llewellyn . It was originally planned as a four-hour epic to rival Gone with the Wind —the screen rights alone cost Fox $ 300,000—and was to have been filmed on location in Wales, but this was abandoned due to the heavy German bombing of Britain. A search of Southern California locations resulted in the set for the village being built on
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