The Best News of the Year

We haven't had a whole lot of good news this year, have we?

Well, if you take a look to your left you'll see what is arguably the best news we're going to get all year -- the release, in December, of "Ford at Fox," 24 of the films that John Ford made while working for 20th Century-Fox, many of which have never before been available on DVD.

If you look at the length and breadth of Ford's career, it's hard not to come to the conclusion that he was, all things considered, American's greatest filmmaker. And while he worked almost everywhere in his long career, he made many of his best films at Fox -- so it's appropriate that the studio where he had such a long and productive working life should honor him with such a comprehensive DVD collection.

Among the films available in the collection are not just the films that most cinephiles know -- "Young Mr. Lincoln," "My Darling Clementine," "How Green Was My Valley" -- but the rareties and museum pieces that haven't been available before and that deserve to be seen by a wider audience. Films like Ford's 1924 epic "The Iron Horse," or the heavily Murnau-influenced WWI drama "Four Sons." In addition, "Ford at Fox" includes a documentary by 1997 Oscar nominee Nick Redman, as well as several of Ford's own documentaries such as "December 7th" and "The Battle of Midway" (which won a 1943 Oscar for Best Documentary).

It's not cheap (the collection has a suggested retail price of $299.98), but all told these films comprise an important and vital part, not only of American film history, but of American culture. No film fan can afford to ignore this set.

Tom Moran