7 WOMEN (1966, Directed by John Ford)

When Orson Welles was asked who his favourite directors were, he responded ‘the American Masters, by whom I mean John Ford, John Ford and John Ford.’ Welles’ reverence and the fact that Ford won six directing Oscars (more than any other director) would indicate that he was one of the world’s great film directors. He is certainly my favourite.

7 WOMEN was John Ford’s last feature film (he went on to do two more documentaries).

I have been trying to find it on video for ages. It used to be available on Laser Disc (whatever happened to that?) but up until now, it has not been available on video. I purchased my copy from Cinema Classics in New York. 7 WOMEN is on the Hellfire Video label, which I think is suspect, because their products are obviously dubs, probably from an overseas release. Still, I’m glad to own this fine John Ford film in my collection.

John Martin Feeney was John Ford’s real name. He took the name John Ford from an obscure Elizabethan playwright of the same name. I would suggest that this is a perfect metaphor for John Ford the filmmaker.

John Ford was one of the most literate, intelligent filmmakers ever. He innovated many shots and styles of story telling that, because they’ve inspired so much imitation, have since become clichés. He was a poet, a visionary and he was unafraid to tackle themes of nobility, courage and masculine friendship. Yet he hid behind his poet’s soul with a gruff exterior and a sometimes off-putting irascibility that cost him friendships and even family members. It is as if his ‘stage name’ were a mask that he wore on set and off, perhaps afraid to reveal his true self to anyone, including himself.

7 WOMEN is not John Ford’s best film, bus despite the unflattering criticism I have read about it over the years, it is not a bad film. It does seem dated (for one thing it is totally studio bound), and even though it is set in 1935 China, it still plays like a Western in many ways. Some of the casting is questionable (Mike Mazurki and Woody Strode as Chinese warlords?—they look more like Cossacks left over from TARAS BULBA) and there are moments when one might be inclined to believe Ford and the rest of the people involved in the film were racists. (When Anne Bancroft, playing a gruff doctor summons a Chinese coolie, she yells: ‘Come here Chang, or whatever your name is!’) However, it is very easy to look back to an earlier era and make judgments. For example, John Ford was most definitely not a racist, rather he was working within a given story structure at a certain time (the 1960s) that was portraying a less enlightened period of history (the 1930s).

Having said all that, there is still more in this film that is commendable than not. I would rather watch anything by John Ford than most of what is produced today. And not just for sheer entertainment value. Ford’s themes are always interesting. The most striking aspect of 7 WOMEN is that it is about women. Ford, who is arguably best known today for his frequent collaborations with John Wayne (giving us many, many great films), is not the first director you would think of as a ‘woman’s director’. George Cukor, on the other hand, had that reputation. Yet Ford was the ideal director for 7 WOMEN because he was in essence taking a very masculine storyline (courage, daring, sacrifice under extreme and dangerous circumstances) and exploring how his female characters would react.

Anne Bancroft is the top-billed star of this film. She plays a John Ford stock character of sorts, the hard-drinking, caustic doctor whose observations on life and his/her immediate surroundings often cuts through anything artificial to reveal the core issues at stake. (Edmond O’Brien in THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE is another example of this ‘type’). Bancroft is such a good actress that she makes this character believable. Appearing at an isolated mission in China which is run by several (mostly female) Christian missionaries, Bancroft surprises everyone by simply not being a man. A male doctor was expected. A female doctor is much more interesting in this particular mix of characters.

Margaret Leighton, a magnificent stage actress, plays the head of the mission. Her performance is a bit over-played for my tastes, revealing her theatrical background. Nonetheless she is good in a very unsympathetic part. She runs the mission as if it were a prison. Her stern demeanor betrays her own uptightness and extreme unhappiness. She is also strongly suggested to be a lesbian, with an invested interest in young Sue Lyon, one of the mission’s workers.

At first I thought that perhaps Ford was laying on the ‘Christian as hypocrite’ theme a bit too strongly. But then I came to realize that his point was not to malign Christianity (Ford was a lapsed Catholic, but he did have deep respect for the Catholic Church, considering it the anchor of spiritual and moral authority). Rather Ford’s viewpoint was to depict the genuine virtues embodied in Christ (sacrifice, compassion, etc.) portrayed by an Atheist (Bancroft’s character). This is not unreasonable. Jesus Himself pointed out the difference between the Pharisees who made a public show of their faith and those who quietly went about practically living their faith. While Bancroft’s character is not motivated by her own active faith, she is compelled by virtues that are clearly personified in Christianity. Her ultimate act of self-sacrifice so that the others can live exemplifies this theme.

I’m deliberately not telling you the outline of the story because I don’t think reviews should waste time telling you what you are going to see. Reviews should be more concerned with what to look for within the film.

In fact, the story, were I to concern myself with a summary, is nothing special. The point of the piece is that it is a character study, told from the fairly unique perspective of the 7 women, rather than a more conventional story featuring men. There is no romantic love story, but there is a greater love story—that of sacrificing for one’s fellow woman.

Interestingly, the lesbian aspect of the story is not belaboured. It is simply another characteristic of Margaret Leighton’s missionary. It is clearly shown to be a negative characteristic, which is as it should be, given that she is a professed Christian missionary, but Ford does not distinguish this characteristic from any other. He simply shows that the head of the mission, professing to ‘minister with the Gospel’ is a hypocrite. Without going into the pros and cons of ‘political correctness’, it is not ‘homophobic’ to disagree with something or even to pronounce the belief that it is wrong. (It becomes ‘homophobia’ when there is an active hatred involved). Ford is such a good director, and Margaret Leighton such a fine actress that if anything, we are sympathetic to the missionary’s distress and inner turmoil. Dr. Bancroft allows her and the other characters to see themselves as if for the first time, as if she (Bancroft) were a strange kind of soul-piercing mirror.

How people react under stress (extraordinary circumstances) has long been a favourite theme of Hollywood directors. Howard Hawks explored similar territory in some of his greatest films. The twist here is that women are examined; what’s more, examined by a great director normally associated with masculine stories. How many times had that been done in 1966?

Additionally, the ending (which initially seemed to me rather abrupt) is atypical of Hollywood films. There is an appropriate mixture of happiness for the survival of six of the women (including Leighton, who presumably, like the others, has learned from Bancroft’s sacrifice) and trepidation for Bancroft’s impending fate. (Don’t worry, I haven’t given it away—the circumstances are what’s important here).

If you are an appreciator of John Ford, then I strongly recommend 7 WOMEN. This tape is in Widescreen format and includes the theatrical trailer and a ‘making of’ documentary. The folks at Cinema Classics are very friendly and have a number of titles not otherwise accessible. Contact them for a catalogue or visit them online at www.cinemaclassics.com.

Anything by John Ford is a poignant reminder that they don’t make them like they used to! Now let’s see the rest of Ford’s sound films brought out on video!

Jon Ted Wynne