Talk:John Ford

John Ford's cinematography

Several years ago, while watching Ford westerns on the late, great American Movie Classics, I noted that some scenes seemed to have been shot as if Ford was working in 3D. That is, there were obvious, clearly separated planes of grouped objects or characters. This isn't something one commonly sees.

Watching the magnificent Blu-ray of The Searchers really brought this home. Scenes, both interior and exterior, have two, three, or four planes, with those closest to or farthest from the camera in less-than-perfect focus. This is used to great effect in some of the Monument Valley scenes.

I assume this was all quite intentional. Is there an expert on Ford who might discuss this in the article? WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 23:38, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

First off, John Ford was not a cinematographer, unlike his brother, director Francis Ford, who had operated a camera in his time. That said, Ford like his contemporary William Wyler were known for creating three planes -- front, middle, and rear. This is more apparent in Wyler's films, like JEZEBEL & THE LITTLE FOXES. They both used Gregg Toland as a lighting cameraman. Interestingly, Tag Gallagher, who is extensively quoted in this article, says in his Senses of Cinema article "Brother Feeney" about Francis Ford (whom John said he learned everything from), "Also anticipating John, Frank often organises shots in three planes of depth, with characters in the middle."Shemp Howard, Jr. (talk) 21:37, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Disney was well aware of multiple planes when he developed the multi-plane camera. Cinematographers use different planes through "selective focus". 63.192.100.202 (talk) 21:41, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Automate archiving?

Does anyone object to me setting up automatic archiving for this page using MizaBot? Unless otherwise agreed, I would set it to archive threads that have been inactive for 60 days.--Oneiros (talk) 22:42, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

 Done--Oneiros (talk) 18:40, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

World's foremost movie directors in 1940?

I'm currently translatin this article into Finnish (great job, by the way, - and with sources :) ), but the statement "by 1940 he was acknowledged as one of the world's foremost movie directors" struck me as odd. I always thought John Ford's real rise to fame came with the Auteur theory in the late 50s and early 60s. Please correct me if I'm wrong.--Nedergard (talk) 09:40, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

At one point, THE INFORMER was considered the greatest sound film ever made. Hard to believe now. Ford won his first Academy Award for THE INFORMER, and then his 2nd and 3rd in 1941 & '42 (for THE GRAPES OF WRATH & HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY). So, he was pretty much established as the foremost American director other than Frank Capra (who had segued into his own hybrid of comedic films by 1940), who racked up three Oscars by 1940. Shemp Howard, Jr. (talk) 21:50, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I agree that a reference will help to support this view - can anyone assist? - but I think the point is pretty much borne out by the article -- by the early '40s his films had won a slew of major awards including numerous Oscars, and he was one of the highest-paid paid directors in the world - in fact (as I note) he was earning more than the US President. Dunks (talk) 11:57, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

John Fords silent movies

20110130 by Pandion: I just viewed "Upstream" a 1927 silent film directed by John Ford at the NY premiere at the Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, NY of the restored print found in the New Zealand Film Archives . The handout for the screening said that John Ford directed over 60 silent titles and only about dozen films survive. I would like to add this to the opening sentence of this article if no objects. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pandion (talk • contribs) 02:53, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Silent movies were made on cellulose nitrate (basically gunpowder) until safety film was invented in 1951, and I've read reports that 50% of all films made before 1950 were lost or destroyed. 63.192.100.202 (talk) 21:45, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

"The Searchers" Medal

In "The Searchers" the medal that John Wayne gives to Debbie at the beginning of the movie is the Order of St. Sava medal, a Serbian decoration established in 1883. The scene in the movie takes place in 1868 and the medal is supposed to be from John Wayne's time in Mexico after the Civil War. Why would John Ford, who was an Admiral in the Navy, use the wrong medal? Does the medal have a symbolic significance? The medal is light blue and white, like Aunt Martha's costume, does this signify that Natalie Wood is actually John Wayne's daughter in the movie? Where is the medal nowadays? 63.192.100.202 (talk) 21:54, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

File:John Ford c1920.jpg Nominated for speedy Deletion

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