Warner Archive has released a Blu-ray of the long in demand 1948 version of Peter B. Kyne’s 1916 novel 3 Godfathers.

John Ford’s film was the 8th of 9 films to date made from the 1913 novel of the same name. The first two versions, released in 1913 and 1916, respectively, starred silent screen great Harry Carey. The third, released in 1919, was directed by Ford who directed many of Carey’s westerns. The 1948 version is dedicated to Carey who died in 1947. It starred John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, and Harry Carey, Jr. as the three gunmen who become godfather to a newborn baby while being pursed by a sheriff’s posse led by Ward Bond.

The film had its premiere in Washington, D.C. in November 1948, but was not shown anywhere else until January 13, 1949, which seems odd in that the film is set at Christmastime and features many references to Christmas including distinct references to the three gunmen as representative of the three wise men who visited baby Jesus.

Ford’s first color film since 1939’s Drums Along the Mohawk is beautifully photographed but failed to receive an Oscar nomination for its striking color cinematography. Ironically, it was another Ford western also starring John Wayne, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, that won the 1949 Oscar in the category. 3 Godfathers received no Oscar nominations despite being widely regarded as one of the year’s best films.

The supporting cast features many Ford regulars including Mae Marsh, Mildred Natwick, Jane Darwell, Ben Johnson, Hank Worden, and Jack Pennick. It was also the last film of Guy Kibbee, who was not a Ford regular.

The casting of Mildred Natwick as “a young mother of 28 or 30” was controversial as she was 43 at the time of the filming, just two years younger than Ward Bond who played her uncle.

Included as an extra on the disc is the equally fine 1936 version of the novel which starred Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, and Walter Brennan as the three godfathers whose back stories are different than those of Wayne, Armendariz, and Carey, Jr. It was directed by Richard Boleslawski whose other films that year included Garden of Allah and Theodora Goes Wild.

The 1936 version retains the novel’s realistic bittersweet ending. Ford’s 1948 version gives it the kind of happy ending audiences of the day preferred.

The two films seen back-to-back make for a riveting viewing experience.

Kino Lorber has released a 4K UHD Blu-ray of 1969’s Paint Your Wagon, a film that had last been released on DVD.

Contrary to its reputation, Paint Your Wagon was not a flop, but it cost so much to make that its earnings barely covered its costs.

Lerner and Loewe’s 1951 Broadway musical was about a prospector, his daughter, and his daughter’s widowed lover. The film was about two prospectors (Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood) and the Mormon widow (Jean Seberg) who married them both in a reverse of the once popular practice of a Mormon man marrying more than one woman.

Marvin was attracted to the project because he liked the script by Paddy Chayefsky, and Eastwood was attracted to the opportunity of working with director Joshua Logan. Both would be disappointed. Marvin because Alan Jay Lerner, who produced the film, kept rewriting Chayefsky’s script, and Eastwood because of the extravagant waste of time and money on the Paramount film. He was particularly incensed by Lerner flying his fifth wife and her entourage in and out of the film’s out-of-the-way Oregon location.

Logan was a great stage director, but his films were mired in controversy. His early acclaim for Picnic, Bus Stop, and Sayonara was almost eclipsed by his staggering ineptitude in choosing to bury Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific in hideous color filters that couldn’t be removed because they were filmed in camera instead of being added post-production.

Logan’s 1961’s film of Fanny was beautifully rendered, but the decision to use Harold Rome’s glorious score as background without having the actors sing the songs was deemed asinine. His 1967 film of Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot was not as good as it could have been but was a popular one that led to his hire as director of Paint Your Wagon, the last film he ever made.

What is good about Paint Your Wagon is its splendid cinematography, art direction, and, of course, its score, particularly “Wand’rin’ Star,” which became an unexpected hit for Marvin, and “They Call the Wind Maria,” sung to the hilt by Harve Presnell, the film’s only real singer.

The film was nominated for two Golden Globes – Best Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Musical or Comedy (Marvin). It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Score of a Musical Picture, Original or Adapted. It lost to Hello, Dolly!

The commentary by Marvin biographer Dwayne Epstein, screenwriter/author C. Courtney Joyner, and film historian Henry Parke is excellent.

20th Century Films continues its slow release of James Cameron’s films on 4K UHD Blu-rays with his 1994 film, True Lies, a box-office hit that many fondly remember.

The film plays like a James Bond film in which the comic asides are as important as the action scenes to the success of the film.

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as a spy whose wife of fifteen years (Jamie Lee Curtis) has no idea that he is anything more than a computer salesman until she gets involved in his business in this big and loud comedy-thriller.

The game supporting cast, including Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Art Malik, Tia Carrere, Grant Helove, and, briefly, Charlton Heston, all give competent performances even though their characters are only of comic book relevance. Curtis even received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance, but Oscar wasn’t biting, even in one of the worst years ever for leading actresses. The film’s only nomination was for its visual effects, which it lost to Forrest Gump.

If you liked the film, you’ll love this beautifully rendered presentation.

Happy viewing.