To tease: Don't forward your reviews to a Ford scholar and biographer. Look to the main page for the eventual revelation of what I'm talking about.
Some mea culpas to my review:
The original negative of Stagecoach was destroyed years ago. The print used today was donated to the American Film Institute by the Duke his'self. I'm told this DVD looks better than any other version (VHS,etc.) of the past. I'll admit that I didn't pull my old DVD and do a comparison. However, I still say that a digital restore could've been done and removed the scratches, etc. digitally. May not have restored the elements (sounds like that can never be done since the original neg is gone) but it would've made it prettier for us DVD watchers ;). I based my assumption that no digital restoration of any kind was done by the lack of listing it as a feature on the back of the DVD case (usually it is and is mentioned on the Searchers case methinks). However, it does say some was done on the back of the Wayne/Ford DVD boxset. Until I dig out my old DVD, I dont know.
A large market of Westerns before Stagecoach were B Westerns, but not ALL.
Duke Wayne was not technically an 'unknown' before Stagecoach, but Stagecoach made him a star. He was in the Big Trail for Raoul Walsh but it was a flop and he was relegated to low budget films. C. B. DeMille actually started returning his phone calls after Stagecoach, before that it was John who?
This landmark 1939 Western began the legendary relationship between John Ford and John Wayne, and became the standard for all subsequent Westerns. It solidified Ford as a major director and ...more
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