MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Although there were Westerns before it, Stagecoach quickly became a template for all movie Westerns to come. Director John Ford combined action, drama, humor, and a set of well-drawn characters in the story of a stagecoach set to leave Tonto, New Mexico for a distant settlement in Lordsburg, with a diverse set of passengers on board. Dallas (Claire Trevor) is a woman with a scandalous past who has been driven out of town by the high-minded ladies of the community. Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt) is the wife of a cavalry officer stationed in Lordsburg, and she's determined to be with him. Hatfield (John Carradine) is a smooth-talking cardsharp who claims to be along to "protect" Lucy, although he seems to have romantic intentions. Dr. Boone (Thomas Mitchell) is a self-styled philosopher, a drunkard, and a physician who's been stripped of his license. Mr. Peacock (Donald Meek) is a slightly nervous whiskey salesman (and, not surprisingly, Dr. Boone's new best friend). Gatewood (Berton Churchill) is a crooked banker who needs to get out of town. Buck (Andy Devine) is the hayseed stage driver, and Sheriff Wilcox (George Bancroft) is along to offer protection and keep an eye peeled for the Ringo Kid (John Wayne), a well-known outlaw who has just broken out of jail. While Wilcox does find Ringo, a principled man who gives himself up without a fight, the real danger lies farther down the trail, where a band of Apaches, led by Geronimo, could attack at any time. Stagecoach offers plenty of cowboys, Indians, shootouts, and chases, aided by Yakima Canutt's remarkable stunt work and Bert Glennon's majestic photography of Ford's beloved Monument Valley. It also offers a strong screenplay by Dudley Nichols with plenty of room for the cast to show its stuff. John Wayne's performance made him a star after years as a B-Western leading man, and Thomas Mitchell won an Oscar for what could have been just another comic relief role. Thousands of films have followed Stagecoach's path, but no has ever improved on its formula. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Screen: Black and White
• Subtitle: French, English, Spanish
• Features:
  • • cc Commentary by Scott Eyman, Author of Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford
    • Theatrical trailer
    • New feature-length american masters retrospective profile John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker & the Legend
    • New documentary Stagecoach: A Story of Redemption
    • Audio-Only bonus: Radio adaptation with Claire Trevor and Randolph Scott
    • Subtitles: English, Français & Español (Feature Film Only)

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Score - 1939 (Richard Hageman, John Leipold, W. Franke Harling, Leo Shuken)
•     Won Best Supporting Actor - 1939 (Thomas Mitchell)
•     Nominated Best Art Direction - 1939 (Alexander Toluboff)
•     Nominated Best Black and White Cinematography - 1939 (Bert Glennon)
•     Nominated Best Director - 1939 (John Ford)
•     Nominated Best Editing - 1939 (Otho Lovering, Dorothy Spencer)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 1939

• American Film Institute

•     Won 100 Greatest American Movies - 1998

• Library of Congress

•     Won U.S. National Film Registry - 1994

• National Board of Review

•     Won Best Acting - 1939 (Thomas Mitchell)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 1939

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Director - 1939 (John Ford)

• New York Times

•     Won 10 Best Films - 1939

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  John Ford

• Producer:

  John Ford, Walter Wanger

• Screenwriter:

  Dudley Nichols

• Cinematographer:

  Bert Glennon

• Composer (Music Score):

  Gerard Carbonara, Louis Gruenberg, Richard Hageman, W. Franke Harling

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Boris Morros

• Composer (Music Score):

  Max Steiner, John Leipold, Leo Shuken

• Editor:

  Otho Lovering, Dorothy Spencer, Walter Reynolds

• Art Director:

  Alexander Toluboff

• Set Designer:

  Wiard Ihnen

• Costume Designer:

  Walter Plunkett

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Frank Maher

• Special Effects:

  R.O. Binger

• First Assistant Director:

  Wingate Smith

• Stunts:

  Yakima Canutt

• Short Story Author:

  Ernest Haycox

REVIEW:

• Relegated to B-movie status by the mid-1930s, the western was regenerated most prominently by John Ford's Stagecoach in 1939. Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols artfully balanced the genre's standard action with the character studies and quality production values of prestigious 1930s films. In the microcosm of the stagecoach, the confrontation between "civilization" and "savagery," Western future and Eastern past, is played out among characters journeying through hostile Apache territory, with honor-bound outlaw Ringo fighting valiantly for a society that shuns him. Though not the top-billed player, and then a B-movie actor, John Wayne as Ringo became the star hero from the moment that Ford introduces him with a rare kinetic flourish. Ford here introduced his signature Western setting of Monument Valley, lending Stagecoach a realism that set it apart from studio-bound films; and his deep focus interiors preceded Citizen Kane by two years. A critical and commercial hit, Stagecoach helped spearhead the revival of the Western as a viable A-feature, and it turned Wayne into an A-list star. When he made Citizen Kane, Orson Welles claimed that he learned everything about directing movies from watching Stagecoach more than 40 times. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi