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This has to be the biggest ever DVD box set devoted to a famous star. And John Wayne is the ONLY star whose popularity is big enough to support it. Also Universal is the ONLY company who have the wide range of catalogue to present it.
So what kind of a job have they done ? Well, in a hit-and-miss way, it's as near to definitive as you can get.
In presenting an overview of Wayne's finest years as the biggest box office star of them all, the 34 feature films ( count 'em ) span four decades from his star-making breakthrough role in John Ford's superb "Stagecoach" (1939) to his penultimate film appearance in "Rooster Cogburn" (1976 ). To achieve this, the people at Universal have been able to call on the catalogues of various studios - Republic, RKO, Paramount and their own Universal This one-of-a-kind collection is wisely broken down into five separate themed boxes Wayne Out West, Wayne At War, Wayne In Action, Wayne and Ford ( easily the finest of the set featuring the best six films that Wayne made with director John Ford including the famed Cavalry Trilogy of "Fort Apache (1948), "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" (1949) and "Rio Grande" (1951) plus the aformentioned "Stagecoach", the Oscar-winning "The Quiet Man" (1952) and my own personal favourite "The Long Voyage Home" - a gem of a film highlighted by Gregg Toland's spellbing cinematography.
There is a fifth box called the Bonus Collection - a mixture of good ( Cecil Be De Mille's terrific 1942 sea saga "Reap The Wild Wind" and "War of the Wildcats" ( originally released in 1943 as "In Old Oklahoma" ) and bad ( the turgid "Seven Sinners" (1940)- the first and worst of his three films with Marlene
Dietrich ( all of which are included in the set at different points ) and the pedestrian "Lady From Louisiana" (1941).
There are,however, more good films than bad. The good one are very good indeed but the bad ones ( worse than those already mentioned ) are real stinkers. "Jet Pilot" - made in 1950 was deemed so bad that it remained on the shelf and was not released until 1957 when RKO's new owners figured that Wayne's popularity would sell it. ( they were wrong ). But even worse is "The Conqueror" (1956). By general consensus, this is the worst film that Wayne ever made. Little wonder, then that this marks it's first ever appearance on video in any format. Can you imagine Wayne as Ghengis Kahn ? Nor can anyone else. Yet even these turkies may well appeal to diehard Wayne collectors and fanatical completists.
We all know that John Wayne made some bad films and these selections prove it beyond question. The wonder is how he managed to survive such drivel. But survive it, he did.
As you may gather, there are good things and bad connected with this set. One of the good things is the packaging. Whooever solved the dificult problem of housing 34 feature length films in one hugely attractive box deserves praise. Inside the box are the five separate boxes - each with its own theme sensibly organised for easy access.
Not so easy to access,however, are the Special Features. Looking at the set, you may well ask "What Special Features ?"
Nowhere on the box or inside the five 8-page booklets is there any mention of special features. But, I can assure you they are there if you're prepared to blindly search for them. They consist of three exclusive interviews ( actor,Harry Carey,Jr.
director, Peter Bogdanovich and the Duke's son, Patrick Wayne )
plus two engrossing documentaries from American film guru, Leonard Maltin. For some strange reason, the people of Universal decided to keep these features a secret. And in doing so may well have reduced the sales of this massive package.
As a busy DVD producer myself, I am only too well aware of the importance of Special Features - particularly in a package of this magnitude. It took me quite a while to find the features in this package and I believe many consumers will be equally frustrated by this inexecusable ommission.
While I have not yet had time to play all 34 of the films in this package, I have so viewed 12 of them in the last few days
and, equally inexcusuble, is the slapdash chaptering of most of the films. They all seem to have been authored by different studios - some are moving chapters, some are static. Some have been titled, some have been numbered as "Scene 1," "Scene 2," etc
( how redundant can you get ? )while others have been titled ( which is always helpful ). Perhaps the worst example in the whole set is the famous saloon brawl in "The Spoilers." You see it in the Moving Chapters and when you call it up, the fight between Wayne and Randolph Scott is in its final stages. Whoever chaptered this disc was clearly not paying attention to the consumer's requirements.
The five booklets, written by Tom Charity, make pleasant enough reading ( although the repitition in each booklet is tiresome).
Charity has clearly done some research on each of the films - and some of it is interesting. But, like many writers, he has perpetuated the myth that Wayne's real name was Marion Michael Morrison ( In actual fact, the Duke's birth certificate reads
Marion Mitchell Morrison ). He also states that Wayne's screen character died "less than six times" in films. In fact - out of 152 listed films - he died eight times ( three of them are in this set ).
In summing up this exceptional set, I would say - all criticism aside - it's an amazing release. Not as well made as Warner's wonderful "Chaplin" box of 2003 ( this was the standard that Universal should have aimed for ) but better packaged than the Laurel and Hardy box issued earlier this year.
JOHN WAYNE - THE COMPLETE COLLECTION is not your average box set, it's a veritable juggernaut that will either sweep all before it or sink under its own weight. Personally, I wouldn't want to be without it. If you're an admirer of John Wayne, I urge you to buy it. But, first make sure you've got a shelf big enough to store it. This will dwarf any collection you've ever seen before
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