JOHN FORD

Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB

USA, 1917.  Universal Film Manufacturing Company.  Story by George Hively. Cinematography by John W. Brown, Ben F. Reynolds.  Produced by Harry Carey.  Music by Donald Sosin.

John Ford’s second year in filmmaking included this charming western romance. Harry Carey, who would become a regular collaborator with the great director, plays a cowboy who is happy when his feelings of affection for Molly Malone are returned, particularly as he has built a home to prepare for life as a married man and believes her to be the ideal candidate to place within its walls.

Things are going well until she is wooed away from the wide open spaces of Wyoming by a city stockbrocker, who takes her to live with him in the urban jungle and away from Carey’s broken heart.

Not one to take it lying down, our hero heads to the bustling metropolis where Ford delights in the kind of fish out of water jokes that don’t feel corny thanks to his emphasis on genuine chemistry between the supporting players.

This film that was thought lost for decades until it was discovered in an archive in 2002; brushed up and cleaned, the images reveal beautiful uses of close-ups, expansive views of wide open spaces as well as gorgeously controlled mayhem in the interior scenes.