John Wayne gets first billing in The Long Voyage Home, but the picture really belongs to Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond and Ian Hunter. The film’s a combination slash adaptation of four one-act plays–which is somewhat clear from the rather lengthy sequences tied together with shorter joining scenes–and while Wayne gets one of his own, it’s […]
Entries Tagged as 'Ward Bond'
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939, John Ford)
March 5th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Every eight years or so, I watch Drums Along the Mohawk to see if it gets any better. According to my cursory notes from my last viewing, it apparently has gotten a little bit better. As the titles rolled, I was hopeful–it is John Ford after all (his first color film) and screenwriters Lamar Trotti […]
Tagged: 20th Century Fox· Claudette Colbert· Henry Fonda· John Carradine· John Ford· Lamar Trotti· Sonya Levien· Ward Bond· ★½
They Were Expendable (1945, John Ford)
February 10th, 2009 · 1 Comment
They Were Expendable has a gradual pace. Not knowing the film’s subject matter–just genre–going in, it all unfolded quite deliberately in front of me. The opening is a PT boat exercise. The film’s special effects are spectacular; it’s impossible to tell what’s an effect and what’s an actual boat in the water. These scenes–there are […]
Tagged: Frank Wead· John Ford· Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer· Ward Bond· William L. White· ★★★★
Canyon Passage (1946, Jacques Tourneur)
September 18th, 2008 · No Comments
Canyon Passage starts out strange. Dana Andrews shows up in 1850s Portland (Oregon) and, after some character establishing, fends off someone breaking into his room. It got me thinking later if the unseen event leading up to the intruder is actually the film’s dramatic vehicle, the event setting off the action. Because Canyon Passage is […]
Tagged: Andy Devine· Brian Donlevy· Dana Andrews· Ernest Haycox· Ernest Pascal· Jacques Tourneur· Susan Hayward· Universal Pictures· Ward Bond· ★★★★
The Fugitive (1947, John Ford)
May 9th, 2006 · 1 Comment
While filming Citizen Kane, Orson Welles screened John Ford’s Stagecoach every night. He said everything one could do in film was done in Stagecoach. Maybe Ford heard about it, because The Fugitive looks like an Orson Welles film… and it’s not just the foreign (Mexico) shooting location with American actors surrounded by non-English speaking extras. […]
Tagged: Dudley Nichols· Graham Greene· Henry Fonda· John Ford· Pedro Armendáriz· RKO Radio Pictures· Robert Armstrong· Ward Bond· ★★
