****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I've just recieved my DVD copy of John Ford's,forgotten masterpiece,"The Long Voyage Home",from 4 short playlets by the noted Irish author Eugene O'Neil,adapted by Dudley Nichols,with a cast filled with "The John Ford Stock Company",John Wayne,Thomas Mitchell,Ward Bond,John Qualen,Joe Sawyer, Mildred Natick(her first film),Barry Fitzgerald,Arthur Shields,and (non Ford stock member) Ian Hunter,in perhaps his greatest role(aside from Frank Borzage's "Stange Cargo",with Gable,Crawford,and Lorre.Another film in which much of the action takes place at sea)as "Smitty",a tormented Englishmen. This is a story of a merchant marine ship,and its mixed nationality crew, at sea,carrying a cargo of munitions,during WW2.Some of the crew,especially a young John Wayne,with a Swedish accent(!)are eager to get home and stay as from the sea as possible!NOT ALL of the crew makes it back home. Before this DVD viewing I've seen this film at least 20 times(more like 40!),and my heart is tugged EVERYTIME,in the same places,even though I KNOW what is about to happen.A great film,director,a great director of Photography(Greg Toland-Citizen Kane),a great musical score by Richard Hageman,a Fantastic motion picture event.JOHN FORD AT HIS BEST AND YOU CAN'T GET ANY BETTER!!-----THe DVD transfer is very good!
