Warner Bros. John Wayne Film Collection sees six of Duke’s films make their US DVD debut. With one exception, all of Wayne’s post-‘60s output has already been released on DVD, that exception being Circus World, and it isn’t included in this set; it is available on DVD in the UK as The Magnificent Showman however. The films that make up this set are culled from the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s.

So the big question is – have Warners unearthed any lost Wayne classics or are they scraping the bottom of the barrel with this set?

The Films

Allegheny Uprising (1939)

The earliest of the films in the set, Allegheny Uprising came out the same year as Stagecoach and again paired Wayne with Claire Trevor. That’s where the similarities end however, as this is certainly no classic.

Wayne plays Jim Smith and the story details the true(ish) tale of Pennsylvanian frontiersmen at odds with the British authorities over trade with the Indians. The main problem with the film is that not much really happens; in the only big action scene, a siege on a fort by the Pennsylvanians, no one is killed and only Jim Smith is slightly injured.

The performances are variable. Wayne is solid but the script really doesn’t give him much to work with. As the leader of the British troops, George Sanders is a straight-laced, stiff upper lip caricature of an officer. Sanders was a great actor and this part is unworthy of his talent, but then so many of his films were.

Claire Trevor as Janie MacDougall is superfluous to the plot and there simply to add a touch of romance to this adventure story, unlike her pivotal role in Stagecoach. Throughout the film her presence is a constant irritation and it’s hard to see what attraction she could possibly have for Jim Smith.

Faring the best is Wilfrid Lawson as Janie’s father 'Mac' MacDougall. Coming across as more pirate than frontiersman, he could be a distant relative of Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and he’s as enjoyably over the top as Johnny Depp is in that film.

Matching the film's storyline is the dull and uninspiring look of the film. William A. Seiter is no John Ford and his composition has none of the poetic beauty of Stagecoach. Allegheny Uprising looks cheap and uninteresting visually, a quick attempt to cash in on Ford’s classic. Anthony Collins' stirring score does its best to generate some excitement during the few action scenes but there is only so much music can do when hampered by such pedestrian visuals.