The Iron Horse

The cinephile dream release of the year collects 24 films directed by John Ford for 20th Century Fox from 1920 ("Just Pals," an early Western with Buck Jones, made when the studio was still the Fox Film Corporation) to 1952 (the knockabout World War I comedy "What Price Glory," starring James Cagney and Dan Dailey as rivals in love), including 18 films making their DVD debuts. "The Iron Horse" (1924), the epic tale of the building of the transcontinental railway that became a huge hit, is presented in both American and newly restored international versions, the latter with a new score by Christopher Caliendo and commentary. "3 Bad Men" (1926) is an even more accomplished frontier drama of three outlaws turned hero, featuring an absolutely thrilling re-creation of the Dakota land rush; and the expressionistic World War I drama "Four Sons" (1928) is Ford at his most visually sophisticated. Equally exciting are such early Fox comedies as "Up the River" (1930), a fun prison-break adventure starring Spencer Tracy as a career criminal who escapes to help out a young pal (Humphrey Bogart in an early screen appearance) trying to go straight, and Ford's three collaborations with Will Rogers: "Doctor Bull" (1933), "Judge Priest" (1934) and "Steamboat Round the Bend" (1935). Other highlights are the DVD debuts of "The Prisoner of Shark Island" (1936), the excellent drama starring Warner Baxter as Dr. Samuel Mudd, the man railroaded into hard labor for treating John Wilkes Booth, and the weird hillbilly comedy melodrama "Tobacco Road" (1941), adapted from Erskine Caldwell's novel. Also making their DVD debuts are the silent drama "Hangman's House" (1928), "Born Reckless" (1930), the naval adventure "The Seas Beneath" (1931), "Pilgrimage" (1933), with commentary by biographer Joseph McBride, "The World Moves On" (1934), "Four Men and a Prayer" (1938), and the World War II comedy "When Willie Comes Marching Home" (1950). "Young Mr. Lincoln" (1939) debuts on Fox DVD in a movie-only edition, the previously available "Wee Willie Winkie" (1937) is presented in both black-and-white and tinted versions, and "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1939) has new commentary by film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman. Also features previously released editions of "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940), "How Green Was My Valley" (1941), "My Darling Clementine" (1946), all with commentary, featurettes and other supplements.

The bonus documentary "Becoming John Ford" (2007), directed by Nick Redman, parallels the development of the director with his often contentious relationship with Darryl F. Zanuck (who became the head of 20th Century Fox) and is most interesting when it tackles their clashes (through letters and memos read in voice-over by Walter Hill and Ron Shelton). The films are also available individually (some as double features) and in the mini-collections "John Ford's American Comedies" (six films on four discs), "John Ford's Silent Epics" (five films on five discs, plus the alternate version of "The Iron Horse"), and "The Essential John Ford" (four Ford features plus the documentary and Allan Dwan's 1939 "Frontier Marshal," an earlier take on the novel that Ford adapted as "My Darling Clementine"). But it's the massive 21-disc set, collected in a kind of album with four discs per page and accompanied by a hardcover book with a career overview illustrated by rare stills and lobby card reproductions, that is the gold standard of DVD collections. By sheer weight and size alone, it's the most impressive DVD package I've had the pleasure to heft.