Criterion Releasing 'Stagecoach' On May 25th

Very few movies have ever had the impact Stagecoach did. In short, it legitamized the western, firmly established John Wayne as a box office star, and launched the most important era in the prolific career of director John Ford. It's dated by today's standards, naturally, but put it side-by-side with another 70-year-old western and see which one distinguises itself. We're fortunate that the Criterion Collection is adding Stagecoach to its fantastic library on May 25th. The film comes out as a new high- definition digital transfer, as well as a clear-as-a-bell soundtrack on the Blu-ray. We've got the full list of special edition features below. Ford's first western of the sound era, Stagecoach earned seven Oscar nominations, winning two. It's part of the National Film Registry and makes the AFI list of the best westerns ever. It's impossible to consider the eight films above it on that list without considering Stagecoach, particularly the Ford/Wayne film The Searchers, commonly acknowledged as the best western of all time. Here's what you'll get on the Criterion Collection DVD/Blu-ray: -New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
-Audio commentary by western authority Jim Kitses (Horizons West)
-Bucking Broadway, a 1917 silent feature by John Ford, with new music composed and performed by Donald Sosin
-Journalist and television presenter Philip Jenkinson’s extensive 1968 video interview with Ford
-New video appreciation of Stagecoach, with director and Ford biographer Peter Bogdanovich
-New video interview with Ford’s grandson, Dan Ford about the director and his home movies
-New video piece, featuring journalist Buzz Bissinger, about trader Harry Goulding’s key role in bringing Monument Valley to Hollywood
-New video homage to legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt, with celebrated stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong
-Video essay by writer Tag Gallagher analyzing Ford’s visual style in Stagecoach
-Screen Director’s Playhouse 1949 radio dramatization of Stagecoach, with John Wayne, Claire Trevor, and Ford, downloadable as an MP3 file
-Theatrical trailer
-A booklet featuring an essay by David Cairns and Ernest Haycox’s “Stage to Lordsburg,” the short story that inspired the film