The Guardian said in February that Wes Anderson, 45, is probably at the halfway point of his career, with 8 films under his belt. But stacked up against director John Ford’s 140 films (made between 1917 and 1966), Anderson is anything but prolific. But don’t take that as a slight against Anderson—because you know we love him—instead see it as a great reason to study Ford’s oeuvre.
Cinephilia and Beyond recently uncovered an interview with Ford from 1968 that the BBC never aired. ASCJohn Bailey uncovered the interview he worked on during a simple YouTube search a few years back. “I recognized it instantly as the interview on which I had worked. The video looked like uncorrected, raw dailies; I could believe it had never been broadcast, although Joseph McBride says he saw a finished version titled ‘My Name is John Ford: I Make Movies,’” said Bailey.
Ford’s career began in “The Birth of a Nation” with a bit part as a hooded klansman, and it spanned the 1930’s Dust Bowl in “The Grapes of Wrath,” through post-WWII America. Basically, John is your go-to source to study America through motion pictures in the early 20th century. So spend an hour with him in the video below.
Watch the interview here. [Indiewire]