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Released to coincide with Wayne’s 99th birthday ( I
guess waiting for his 100th would have been too long), Univeral’s
“John Wayne-An American Icon” is a hodgepodge of some of
Wayne’s lesser films in a package that may be economical
in terms of space and cost but pales in comparison to Warner
Home Video’s Wayne/Ford box set that includes “The Searchers”.
Wayne wasn’t anybody’s idea of a great actor but as a star
and performer he kept audiences in riveted to movie screens
for five decades. This no frills set includes five Wayne
films made with a variety of directors and ranges from 1940
to 1957 (really 1950 as the last film in the set “Jet Pilot”
went unreleased for seven years). ***
“Seven Sinners” (1940) isn’t a stand out but it’s a
solid Wayne picture with Marlene Dietrich proving to be
a great foil for Wayne as a cabaret singer in the South
Pacific during World War II. “The Shepherd of the Hills”
made the following year is one of the better films in this
set (and considering the quality of the films that isn’t
necessarily saying a lot). Wayne stars as a young moonshiner
named Matt Masters in the Ozark Mountains. “Hills” is saved
by some solid casting in the supporting roles and moody
color photography by Charles Lang (“Wait Until Dark”, “Charade”
). Directed by Henry Hathaway it’s one of his lesser efforts
but still entertaining particularly if you’re a Wayne fan.
“Pittsburgh” followed in 1942 paired Wayne again with Dietrich
and featured Wayne as a industrialist who is given a second
chance after his fall from grace. ***
The worst of the lot is “The Conqueror” directed by
Dick Powell with Wayne totally out of his element playing
Genghis Khan. The film is most notable for being shot in
the desert very close to where the Trinity atom bomb tests
were done and for the high incidence of cancer among the
cast and crew that appeared in the film as a result. Featuring
Susan Hayward as a Tartar princess “The Conqueror” features
camp acting, stilted dialogue and even Powell’s direction
can salvage this disaster. “Jet Pilot” is the most recent
of the films made two years after “The Conqueror” and features
Janet Leigh as a “defecting” Russian pilot that is secretly
a spy. Directed by Josef Von Sternberg (with “Rio Bravo”
writer Jules Furthman shooting additional scenes) the film
was shot seven years before it’s release. The most memorable
part of the film is the flying stunts some of which were
performed by Chuck Yeager flying the legendary Glamorous
Glennis Bell X-1 plane that allowed Yeager to br eak the
sound barrier. Producer Howard Hughes intended this film
to show off the latest jets but by the time it was released
the jets seen in the film were already out of date.
Image & Sound:
Presented on two discs the image quality is solid for
some of the pictures included here. Universal has done a
decent job in transferring these films. Audio is clear crisp
for most of these films. ---
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