DVD/Blu Ray review: Two from John Wayne released by Kino Lorber

After toiling in B Westerns throughout the 1930s, following the triumphant “The Big Trail” (1930), John Wayne hit stardom with John Ford’s “Stagecoach” (1939). He spent the 1940s building upon that stardom, and Kino Lorber has released two of his earliest films from that process.

In the first, Tay Garnett’s “Seven Sinners” (1940), Wayne plays opposite Marlene Dietrich who, at the time, was rebuilding her own career. Considered “box office poison” in the press (in an article that also named Katherine Hepburn and Fred Astaire), Dietrich scored a comeback with George Marshall’s “Destry Rides Again” also in 1939. Dietrich had been a star in her native Germany, most notably in Josef von Sternberg’s “Der blaue Engel” (1930), before coming to America with the director and starring in hit films like Von Sternberg’s “Shanghai Express” (1932) and “Blonde Venus” (1932). A series of flops hampered her American screen career until “Destry Rides Again.”

“Seven Sinners” is Dietrich’s first movie after “Destry Rides Again,” and it is decidedly her movie (Wayne doesn’t appear for the first 20 minutes). At first, it seems unlikely she would have chemistry with rugged John Wayne. However, Wayne had not fully honed his noted screen persona just yet (he would do so before the 1940s ended), so he was expanding his reach by playing the occasional romantic lead. He does so here and quite effectively, reminding us the he was an actor, not a cowboy. Wayne plays a Naval Officer who falls for a much-beloved, and disruptive, saloon entertainer played by Dietrich. Director Garnett nicely balances the action and romance without offsetting the film’s rhythm. The structure is even and supporting performances by the likes of Albert Dekker, Oscar Homolka, and Broderick Crawford add a bit more romance and a touch of humor to the proceedings, while the appearance of Billy Gilbert is an especially fun addition.

Kino Lober’s beautiful restoration features an audio commentary by film historian David Del Valle and screenwriter C. Courtney Joyner, offering further insight as to our appreciation of, and enjoyment of, the film.

The blu ray can be purchased at this link: Seven Sinners

Henry Hathaway’s “The Shepherd of the Hills” is not only John Wayne’s first movie in Technicolor, it is also his first with Hathaway. In our concentration of John Ford’s importance to John Wayne’s film career, we often overlook other directors who were noteworthy. Hathaway would go on to direct the Duke in his Oscar-winning performance for “True Grit” some years later.

“The Shepherd of the Hills” features the Duke as an angry young man whose bitterness stems from his father having left him and his ailing mother when he was a child. He carries the chip with such gusto, the slightest provocation can set him off. This attitude actually permeates the entire woodsy area where he lives, until a stranger (Harry Carey) comes to town. The stranger’s warmth and calm demeanor reinvents the town’s collective personality. Yep, you guessed it, the stranger turns out to be the Wayne character’s long-lost father. Betty Field, as a barefoot, tomboyish girl who connects to each aspect of the narrative, is striking and effective. Her performance reminds us what a fine actress she was, despite never achieving stardom in films (she was more successful on stage).

While the story is good and the performances are as well, it is often director Hathaway’s visual sense that is most impressive. The location scenery responds beautifully to the Technicolor, and Hathaway uses a lot of expansive establishing shots.

Kino Lorber’s blu ray is beautiful, with an alternate commentary track by film critic an author Simon Abrams, who enhances our appreciation of this film.

The blu ray can be purchased at this link: Shepherd/Hills