Considering John Ford's reputation as one of the greatest and most influential American directors who won four Academy Awards for Best Director in the early sound era, it's about time some of his silent films were also released on DVD in a nice set which they deserve. And this new set of five films lives up to expectations with beautifully restored clear picture quality and newly created orchestral music accompaniment to match the superior quality of each film. Although well known to many as a director of Westerns with John Wayne, John Ford was also an actor, writer and producer, starting his career in films in the early 1910s, and by 1920 his skills had already been well developed, as the first film in this set, "Just Pals" clearly shows. Equally skilled in any genre, Ford can bring out the best in a story with careful attention to drama and detail which express the emotions and depths of his characters. This is perhaps most poignant in "Four Sons" which I found very moving, as well as impressive in its attention to the beautiful and detailed setting in Bavaria before and during World War I. Just as much careful attention to detail was given by the modern music composers for these DVD releases, choosing tunes, instruments and moods which make the story and scenes become vividly real. Cowboy tunes on guitar for some of the Westerns and German melodies for the setting in Bavaria are just two examples of this finely-tuned marriage of silent film and music presented on each of these discs.
No doubt one of his greatest Western epics, "The Iron Horse" is about the laying of the first railroad across the West to California, with emphasis on historic authenticity in every imaginable aspect, from featuring two of the original locomotives which were used in the real construction project, to the individual workers and their lives and personalities, at times seasoned with a touch of humour. This grand production would rival a Cecil B DeMille epic in the number of people involved, as well as the moving and exciting historical event in itself, but there are similar such impressive grand-scale scenes in the other quite different Western in this set, namely "3 Bad Men", which focuses more on individual people and their personalities, and what really defines the word `bad'. A similar examination of true characters in people is "Just Pals" about a lazy town bum and the homeless boy he takes under his wing as he tries to change his image and prove himself. Quite different in setting but also very intriguing for some of its particularly wicked characters is "Hangman's House" which is actually set in Ireland, and along with a superbly eerie old house, it has a tight and complicated plot which unfolds at an exciting pace. And for another change of pace, this time a human family drama oozing sentimentality and `old world charm', "Four Sons" is quite unforgettable, perhaps because it feels so real, and no doubt many families did indeed share a similar fate during WWI. No matter which genre or type of story, Ford's expertise as a director and also producer make this excellent selection a worthy addition to any film-lover's collection, not just for silent film enthusiasts alone.
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