Wayne and Ford’s long, dusty trail

John Wayne-John Ford Collection

(Warner Home Video, $80)

Stagecoach

Director John Ford and John Wayne had one of the most fruitful collaborations in celluloid history, making 11 films together over 23 years. Ford had befriended the young Wayne in the late 1920s when the Duke was working on behind-the-scenes jobs and bit roles at Fox. Raoul Walsh then cast the tall, lanky actor in his big-budget 1930 western “The Big Trail.” After it failed at the box office, Wayne wound up toiling in low-budget sagebrush sagas and serials.

Ford came to Wayne’s rescue when he cast him as the Ringo Kid in this seminal 1939 western -- the first truly adult western of the sound era. Joining Wayne are Claire Trevor, Donald Meek, Andy Devine, John Carradine and Thomas Mitchell, who won the supporting actor Oscar as an alcoholic doctor. “Stagecoach” also marked the first time Ford used Utah’s picturesque Monument Valley for his location shooting.

“Stagecoach” was nominated for seven Oscars including best film and director; besides Mitchell’s acting honors, the film won the Academy Award for best score.

Extras: The two-disc set features the recent “American Masters” documentary on Ford and Wayne; a new documentary, “Stagecoach: A Story of Redemption”; a radio version of the movie starring Trevor and Randolph Scott; and astute commentary from Scott Eyman, author of “Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford.”

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The Long Voyage Home

The year after “Stagecoach,” Ford and Wayne teamed up for this evocative seafaring drama based on several Eugene O’Neill plays. Instead of playing a western hero, Wayne is cast as a young Swedish sailor named Ole Olson. Initially, Wayne was worried that he couldn’t pull off a Swedish accent, but he took the role after Ford persuaded him; he ends up giving a sweet-natured performance. Mitchell and Ian Hunter also star. Released the same year as Ford’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” this film received six Oscar nominations including best film and screenplay.

Extras: A documentary about Ford’s love of the sea and his boat the Araner.

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Fort Apache

This gritty 1948 western -- the first in Ford’s cavalry trilogy -- stars Wayne as an experienced officer at Fort Apache who tries to keep his by-the-books new martinet of a commander (Henry Fonda) from starting a war with the Indians. Fonda’s Lt. Col. Owen Thursday is allegedly based on George Armstrong Custer. The strong supporting cast also features such Ford stalwarts as Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen, Pedro Armendariz and Anna Lee. Shirley Temple and her then-husband, John Agar, play the love interests.

Extras: The featurette “Monument Valley: John Ford Country.”

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The Searchers

In his gifted commentary on this 1956 masterpiece, Peter Bogdanovich mentions that though the tough, dark western was a box office hit, critics basically brushed it aside as just another John Wayne film. Only over the decades has “The Searchers” come to be seen as a landmark, influential western.

Wayne gives one of his most complex performances as Ethan Edwards, an Indian-hating Civil War veteran who spends five years searching for the tribe that slaughtered his brother and his family and kidnapped his young niece. Jeffrey Hunter and Natalie Wood star, along with Vera Miles, Bond, John Qualen, Oliver Carey and Harry Carey Jr.

Extras: The two-disc set features a nostalgic introduction by Wayne’s son Patrick; the documentary “The Searchers: An Appreciation,” which features interviews with directors Martin Scorsese, John Milius and Curtis Hanson; “A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and the Searchers”; and excerpts from a TV series hosted by Gig Young that promoted the movie.

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The Wings of Eagles

Despite the pairing of Wayne and his frequent co-star Maureen O’Hara, this 1957 biographical picture about aviation pioneer Frank “Spig” Wead, who turned to screenwriting after he was hurt in an accident, fails to take flight. Dan Dailey also stars in this overlong, sentimental drama.

Extras: The trailer.

Rounding out the collection are these films previously released on DVD: “3 Godfathers,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” and “They Were Expendable.”

**

The John Ford

Film Collection

(Warner Home Video, $60)

The Lost Patrol

The taut, rugged 1934 psychological thriller follows a small British army troop that must fight off unseen Arab snipers while holed up at a desert oasis. Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff -- as a religious zealot -- Wallace Ford and Reginald Denny headline the strong cast. The film was shot in Yuma, Ariz., in just two weeks, and the cast and crew suffered from dysentery, bad water and heat.

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The Informer

This 1935 drama brought Ford his first Oscar for directing. McLaglen, in his Academy Award-winning best actor role, is Gypo Nolan, a poor Irishman who sees a “wanted for murder” poster of his friend rebel Frankie McPhillip (Wallace Ford), with a monetary reward offered for information leading to his arrest. After Gypo’s prostitute girlfriend (Margot Grahame) berates him for being poor and unable to take her to America, he decides to inform on his best friend and goes to the British army headquarters. Frankie is killed at his mother’s house, and Gypo must battle his conscience and suspicious friends.

The low-budget film was nominated for six Oscars, including best film. Beside awards for director and actor, it won for Dudley Nichols’ screenplay and Max Steiner’s evocative score.

Extras: The featurette “The Informer: Out of the Fog.”

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Mary of Scotland

Katharine Hepburn plays the Scottish queen who lost her head in this lavishly produced 1936 historical epic that also stars Fredric March as the Earl of Bothwell and his real-life wife Florence Eldridge as Queen Elizabeth.

Hepburn had wanted George Cukor to direct the film, but producer Pandro S. Berman refused, since their last collaboration, “Sylvia Scarlett,” was a critical and commercial bust.

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Sergeant Rutledge

This 1960 western drama is the only Ford film to feature an African American protagonist: Tall, striking Woody Strode plays Sgt. Braxton Rutledge, a soldier who is accused of rape and murder at a western outpost in the 19th century. Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers and Billie Burke of “Wizard of Oz” fame star in this compelling drama.

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Cheyenne Autumn

Ford’s last western -- a lengthy, uneven 1964 drama that chronicles the 1,500-mile trek that Cheyenne Indians made in the 1870s from an Oklahoma reservation to their home near Yellowstone. Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, Sal Mineo, Dolores Del Rio and Arthur Kennedy also star.

Extras: A new featurette about the Cheyenne Autumn trail, a vintage documentary and thought-provoking commentary from writer Joseph McBride.

-- Susan King