Dossier John Ford (2010 Bologna, hosted by Joseph McBride)

André S. Labarthe: Cinéastes de notre temps S1.E18: John Ford, entre chien et loup (FR 1966). SC: Janine Bazin, André S. Labarthe. With John Ford, Axel Madsen III, Jean Narboni. Cin: Seymour Cassel. PC: ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision française [1964-1975]. Asked about his favourite film. My screenshot.

17:00 Sala Scorsese, Bologna, 1 July 2010
Joseph McBride presenta alcune interviste rare di John Ford

The clips:
1. from the interview with Peter Bogdanovich (1969). John Ford in Monument Valley: "Cut!"
2. from the interview with André Labarthe (1965): "I have no ambition". "Films I like: little pictures such as Young Mr. Lincoln and Sun Shines Bright".
3. a clip from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: the ending. - Joseph told that the only time John Ford tried to explain critics what he was after was with The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, in a letter to Bosley Crowther: he shot on the backlot in black and white, with an intentionally cheap look like in the Western programmers of the 1930s, as he wanted it to be seen as a film of ideas. But Crowther misunderstood the film completely.
4. from the interview with Philip Jenkinson for the BBC. Why Westerns? "I love to film outdoors, I like the people I work with".
5. a clip from Sergeant Rutledge: "someday...".
6. from the interview with Philip Jenkinson: "My sympathy is all with the Indians". "Hitler... Stalin... genocide is commonplace". "Politics has nothing to do with the pictures".

Francis Ford: "I have been trying to figure him out since the day he was born".

A fine introduction to the John Ford mystery. Joseph stressed that he learned to respect John Ford's way of refusing to explain.