Hollywood Elsewhere is perfectly satisfied with a 2011 MGM Bluray of John Ford’s The Horse Soldiers — good color, exceptional detail, 1.66:1 aspect ratio — so I’m not sharing any particular excitement over Kino Lorber’s forthcoming 4K version, which will emerge early next year.
Ford scholar Joseph McBride, who recently recorded a commentary track for the KL disc, has posted the following on Facebook:
“This Civil War film is an example of what a great director can and can’t do with a weak script. The film has sublime imagery by Ford and cinematographer William H. Clothier and many moving vignettes but is burdened with plot contrivances and other story and production problems. “
[HE interjection: The film is not burdened with a “weak script” — it’s fine. Punctuated by several memorable sequences (futile Confederate attack on Newton Station, Union soldiers retreating when attacked by boys from a local military school) and fortified with fine performances top to bottom.]
“Ford was devastated at the end of location shooting and lost much of his already tenuous interest in the film when a beloved member of his Stock Company, stuntman Fred Kennedy, died doing what should have been a routine horse fall.
“I interviewed people involved in the filming, including a witness to that event, while researching my biography SEARCHING FOR JOHN FORD and did additional research for this commentary on one of the director’s somber late works, an especially grim look at that war. It’s always a privilege to be asked by Kino Lorber to comment on films by my favorite director.”
HE commentary:
