THREE GODFATHERS

US, 1948,106 minutes, Colour.
John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz,Harry Carey Jnr., Ward Bond.
Directed by John Ford.

Three Godfathers is a John Ford/John Wayne western - with a touch of adventure and a great deal of sentiment. The story had been filmed several times in silent versions and was remade as a telemovie, The Godchild.

The film was made at the time Ford was doing his cavalry series including Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. This fable was set in the desert, had some outlaws on the run fleeing from a wily sheriff, finding a dying mother in the desert and taking her child to New Jerusalem, Arizona. They then become a modern equivalent of the three wise men saving a Christ figure child. Ford has a great deal of sentiment in dialogue, Christmas music, emotion in this western. Critics were hostile to the sentiment but praised the beauty of the scenery etc. Depending on one's mood, this is a humorous and emotional satisfying western.

1. An engaging western? The work of John Ford? The range of his westerns? His work with John Wayne? John Wayne's western image? A western of the late '40s?

2. The John Ford tradition: westerns as Americana, the nature of the 19th. century West, men and women, law, integrity, chivalry, decency? Respect for life and death? Honour? Sentiment - and sentimentality?

3. The story as a fable: the many filmings, the emotional appeal? The Christian overtones? An allegory of the three wise men and the Christ Child?

4. Attractive colour photography, Arizona locations, the mountains, the deserts, the storms, the railways, the towns? The musical score? The songs and the hymns - 'Bringing in the Sheaves', 'When We Gather at the River', 'Streets of Laredo'? The insertion of the Christmas carols?

5. The title and expectations: fathers, orphans? In the West? The three and the binding together in their care for the baby? The responsibilities of a godfather? The religious overtones - concern, paternal? God and his fatherliness?

6. The details of the fable - the transferring of the Magi story to the West, from good and wise men to outlaw bad friend? How effective was the transformation of the story? Or was it forced? How well did it work symbolically? The message about life and death, right and wrong, care? The light touches, the grim touches?

7. The situations of the West: isolation, robberies, rustlers, the role of the law, the desert, the pursuit of criminals, know-how and survival, frontier atmosphere?

8. The opening and the three: the visit, the jokes about Pearlie, the giving of the badge, the girl in the bank, the robbery, awkwardness, escape and chase? Conventional material?

9. The three men and their relationship, friendships? Leadership? Decisions, the chase? The Kid being hit? The need for water? The harshness of the desert? The train depot? The shrewdness of the strategy? The links between the two - jokes and insults? The Mexican, the Americans? The support for the Kid? Suffering, the horses, the winds, the need for sleep? The well and its being exploded?

10. Pearlie and the shrewd sheriff, his strategies, the train, the outpost? The encounter with Jane Darwell's rough but humorous storekeeper? Pearlie's pursuit, finding them and chasing them?

11. Bob's story - the man and the fool, the woman, the birth and Pedro? Death? Comedy? The book, greasing and feeding, the dying promise, the name and the saving?

12. The woman in the desert, her experience, her love for her child? The birth, the bequeathing, the sentiment in her speech? The attitude of Ford towards the baby ~ and the beautiful shots of a beautiful child?

13. The baby and the audience emotional response, the belief in saving the baby? The trek, the water, suffering, deaths so that the baby could be saved?

14. The religious symbolism - the Christ Child and the baby, the parallels with Mary and the mother, the Christmas setting? The three wise fools? The Bible and its falling open at the Presentation narrative, going to the New Jerusalem? The Magi changed - and saved? The Magi dying instead of the innocents? The symbols of the donkey, the carols, the celebration of Christmas in the town?

15. The portrait of Hightower and the John Wayne figure? Pete and his Mexican loyalties, the pathos of his death? The Abilene Kid and his youthfulness?

16. Religion and agnosticism, faith in the Bible, Pete and the Indians, the chanting, the sign of the Cross, the Bible, men becoming children and praying - Gospel themes?

17. The end and the chess, the meal, the court and its decisions - Hightower's farewell? A pleasing resolution?

18. A picture of the West, western types in the format of adventure but in the guise of a fable?