CineSavant Column

Tuesday June 18, 2024

 

Hello!

Michael McQuarrie’s link contribution for the day is an Atom bomb reel, that looks to be a silent clip from a government film.

We recognize scenes later used in  The Atomic Cafe … but some nice, longer takes are here, all from the Prelinger Archives:

Atomic Bomb Blast Effects.
 


 

Here’s something I didn’t know existed, a sentimental, somewhat self-congratultatory hour-long TV documentary on John Ford for CBS in 1971. … that has the participation of Ford and John Wayne in Monument Valley. James Stewart and Henry Fonda are there as well, speaking mostly platitudes about the director. Andy Devine does a glorified walk-through.

It’s directed by Denis Sanders and uses a great many film clips, saving special honors for The Searchers. The clips look pretty terrible, but it shows that John Wayne already thought that film was his best.

The American West of John Ford
 

It’s all partly rehearsed, which is a little strange. Ford is on camera directing Wayne — and in general behaves like a gent. This is in stark contrast to a parallel documentary film from the same year: in Peter Bogdanovich’s  Directed by John Ford, the director is cranky and obnoxious throughout … something Bogdanovich uses to comic effect.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson