One of the weirdly overlooked DVD box megasets recently was the epic Ford at Fox collection, which brought together 24 early films of John Ford, certainly one of America’s greatest filmmakers. Many of these films had never been on DVD before, or even on video.
While you have to be a real film buff to get the appeal (a number of the films are silents, for instance), this is a treasure trove for the serious cinema buff. It is pricey, at $300 MRP, but it can be had for about $235, or ten dollars a film. (Not at Amazon, though, they charge $275). And the set comes with a supposedly very nifty hardcover book on Ford, and a new documentary on him.
However, it turns out that can get the majority of the films, 16 of them, plus the documentary to boot, for only $75. Amazon is now selling three sub-sets at $25 a pop (list price $50), meaning that for a mere $75 (and free shipping) you can get at least the majority of the films, plus the documentary. No book, and the packaging isn’t supposed to be that great, but hey, that’s pretty nifty. The completist may want to get the bigger set to get all the films, but that’s quite a bargain.
The more casual film buff may want to stick with Ford At Fox Collection: The Essential John Ford Collection subset, which includes many authentic classics; The Frontier Marshall / My Darling Clementine / Drums Along the Mohawk / How Green Was My Valley and The Grapes of Wrath. This is also the set that includes the documentar, Becoming John Ford. Not a bad buy for $25. Moreover, some of these titles are two-disc special editions.
The other sets include:
Ford At Fox Collection: John Ford’s Silent Epics (Just Pals / Four Sons / The Iron Horse / Hangman’s House / Bad Men)
Ford At Fox Collection: John Ford’s American Comedies (Steamboat Around the Bend / Judge Priest / Doctor Bull / When Willie Comes Marching Home / Up the River / What Price Glory)
The films that are only available in the larger set (or as separate stand-alone discs, which cost more, obviously), including Prisoner of Shark Island (dammit), Tobacco Road, Wee Willie Winkie, Young Mr. Lincoln, World Moves On, Pilgrimage, Born Reckless, Four Men and a Prayer and Seas Beneath.
Here’s the whole magilla:
