John Ford Essay Research Paper John FordDorothy

John Ford Essay, Research Paper

John Ford

Dorothy R. Donahoo

English 2145

Dr. Klink

04/03/99

John Ford was an American motion-picture director. Winner of four Academy Awards, and is known as one of America’s great film directors. He began his career in the film industry around 1913. According to Ellis, Ford’s style is evident in both the themes he is drawn toward and the visual treatment of those themes, in his direction of the camera and in what’s in front of it. Although he began his career in the silent film area and continued to work fruitfully for decades after the thirties, Ford reached creative maturity in the thirties. Ford, unlike other directors continued to do some of his finest work after the nineteen thirties. Nevertheless, he shaped his art into personal and full expression during those precedent-setting years. (Pg.200)

Ford directed more than two hundred movies throughout his career. Following in his brother’s foot steps; Ford produced, directed, and wrote many films. Throughout his career, which spanned nearly fifty years, he worked for such studios as Universal, Fox Film Corporation, RKO, United Artists, 20th Century Fox, Republic Pictures, and Warner Brothers. John Ford was born to Irish immigrants on February 1, 1894 or 1895, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. His birth name was Sean Aloysius O’Fearna (Feeney). He changed his name when he began his career in the film industry. John’s brother, Frances Ford took him under his wing and showed him the ropes. He started out in Hollywood by doing stunt work, camera work, and film editing. In addition, Ford performed in such movies as Lucille Love, Girl of Mystery (1914), The Mysterious Rose (1914), The Broken Coin (1915), The Hidden City (1915), The Bandit’s Wager (1916), The Lumber Yard Gang (1916), and Chicken-Hearted Jim (1916). He even played one of the Klansman extras in D.W. Griffith’s historical epic, The Birth of a Nation (1915). Ford also performed and was assistant director in the film The Doorway of Destruction (1915). However, by 1917, he was working almost entirely as a director.

According to MacIntyre, the first studio John directed for was Universal Studios. During his early days in cinema, many of his films were short Westerns. His first film with Universal in 1917 was, The Soul Herder starring Harry Carey Sr. Carey would become a lifelong friend of Ford. Most of his early films were short Westerns, many of them starring Carey and occasionally Hoot Gibson. During the next couple of years 1917-1921, Ford would direct a number of Westerns for Universal Studios. In addition, he wrote, directed, and starred in at least three of the films The Trail of Hate (1917), The Tornado (1917), and The Scrapper (1917). However, the majority of his time with Universal was spent directing. (Pg. 1 of web pg.)

In 1921, John moved to Fox Film Corporation and directed such stars as John Gilbert, Tom Mix, Madge Bellamy, Henry B. Walthall, Janet Gaynor, and George O’Brien. In addition, Ford discovered O’Brien. Through the 1920’s, he began assembling such talent as John Wayne, Fred Kohler, Victor McLaglen, and J. Farrell MacDonald. According to Sklar, the turning point in Ford’s career occurred when he directed his first historical epic, The Iron Horse (1924). A brilliant storyteller, Ford soon developed a distinctive style as a director, displaying not only a consistent point of view but also thematic continuity over time. Ford gave his films more than grandness he celebrated everyday people. It was a formula that he would repeat film after film with great success. Ford was a director that was able to work within the changing studio structure and still express his own individuality. Other films Ford directed while at Fox Film Corporation were Cameo Kirby (1923) starring John Gilbert, Three Bad Men (1926) starring O’Brien, and Hangman’s House (1928) starring June Collyer and Victor McLaglen. However, In order to save money during the changing structure of the studio system and the depression, Fox replaced Ford in 1931 with three directing teams. This saved Fox almost fifty percent of the salary of Ford. (Pg. 218-19, 417-18)

Ford’s next move would be to RKO studios. During the next couple of years, Ford directed at least a dozen films. His breakthrough as a director came in 1935, when he convinced Merian C. Cooper, production chief at RKO studio’s, to let him film Liam O’Flaherty’s novel The Informer. This was during the early years of sound. The Informer relates chiefly, among Ford’s preoccupations, to his Irishness. The film was known as the first great American art film. The Informer was the first of many Oscars and honors Ford received throughout his career.

Ford’s next move would be to United Artist in 1938, where he directed StageCoach starring John Wayne in1939. Ford gave this film the shape and unity of The Covered Wagon by focusing on the adventures of a single stage and its occupants. In 1940, Ford’s monumental epic The Grapes of Wrath based on John Steinbeck’s novel about migrant farmers in the Great Depression. In 1941, he produced, How Green Was My Valley, based on John Llewellyn’s novel of the Welsh depressed areas.

Ford had emerged in the silent era as a director of Westerns, and he bought to his mature work a developed view of American history. Through out his career as an actor, director, film producer, writer and c