Wayne and Ford arrive – not without incident

I’m currently absorbed by movies made by John Ford and of course they all star John Wayne. Yes, my John Wayne - John Ford Film Collection finally arrived. Not without incident, however (though quickly and easily resolved, thanks to Amazon.ca).

For reasons I do not understand, this set from Warner is one of the few where what you get in the U.S. is not what you get in Canada. The American set has 8 films; the Canadian 7. In Canada, the DVD you do not get is Stagecoach – Two Disc Special Edition.

This is a huge omission. One of the main reasons I ordered the set was Stagecoach (the other was The Searchers).

As mentioned, I don’t know why this is difference between the U.S. and Canada editions exists, but I do understand there are sometimes copyright, distribution, legal etc. differences between the two countries. The problem I had was that initially, and up to the time the actual set began showing up in stores (as far as I can tell), the U.S. information on the set’s details was the same. So someone like me, ordering the set, thought he or she was getting one thing when in fact they were getting something else. And let’s be honest, anyone ordering a fairly big set like this is probably into John Ford-John Wayne films and the absence of Stagecoach is a very big deal.

However ... Thankfully, Amazon can teach other companies a few things about customer service. Granted, it took me a while to find a place to actually send them an e-mail, but once I did and pointed out the problem they immediately acknowledged the problem, apologized for it, and offered me some options. I chose to order Stagecoach separately – at no charge. (Actually, it is charged to my credit card but Amazon processed a refund for it that will appear on my credit card billing.)

You’ll also notice that if you look for John Wayne - John Ford Film Collection on Amazon.ca now, there is no reference to Stagecoach. The information has been corrected to reflect what the Canadian set contains.

It would be nice if Warner acted a bit more like Amazon. I could find no contact link for Warner Home Video in Canada. I finally found a contact thing on the U.S. site, sent them an e-mail, but have heard nothing from them. I love Warner DVDs. They are easily the best for classic film – the movies themselves and the quality of the discs. But like most film companies, certainly the big Hollywood companies, beyond taking customers' money they have absolutely no interest in having anything to do with us. This, more than anything to do with technology, is the biggest threat to the commercial film business.

In the meantime ... If you live in Canada, here’s what you get in the Canadian edition of the John Wayne - John Ford Film Collection:

- The Long Voyage Home (1940)
- They Were Expendable (1945)
- 3 Godfathers (1948)
- Fort Apache (1948)
- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
- The Searchers - Ultimate Collector's Edition (1956)
- The Wings of Eagles (1957)

Of these, I’ve so far watched The Searchers, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and They Were Expendable. I don’t know if it’s because they were westerns, but I loved the first three – They Were Expendable, not so much.

If I get time, I’ll scribble a few thoughts on these movies. I’ll say this, though ... Having seen the first two of Ford’s cavalry trilogy (Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon), I’ve dug out Rio Grande so I can rewatch that one too (haven’t seen it for a while). I also dug out The Quiet Man, which I haven’t seen for a while either. It’s one of my favourite of all the Ford-Wayne movies – and who in their right mind doesn’t love Maureen O’Hara?

Tags: Movies, DVD, John Wayne, John Ford, Amazon, Warner, Warner Home Video