Introduction PART 1 FORD'S TRANSITION TO SOUND, 1927–1932 Chapter 1 Ford and Murnau at Fox –Studio Expansion –Ford and Murnau Chapter 2 Transformed by Sound –Making the Early Sound Films –The Influence of What Price Glory –Scoring with Songs in The Black Watch –Multiple Camera Shooting and the Long Take in Arrowsmith PART 2 BETWEEN FOX AND RKO, 1931–1935 Chapter 3 Forced to Freelance –Out of Fox –Air Mail Chapter 4 Ford at RKO –New Deals at Fox and RKO –The Lost Patrol –Adapting O'Flaherty's The Informer –Stylistic Experimentation in The Informer Chapter 5 Fox Before Zanuck –Negotiating the Fox Production Sector After 1932: Doctor Bull and Judge Priest –Steamboat Round the Bend –Will Rogers and Ford's Sound Style PART 3 TWENTIETH CENTURY-FOX Chapter 6 Zanuck and Ford –Zanuck Takes Over –The Zanuck/Ford Contract Negotiations –Script Development and Post-production Editing in The Prisoner of Shark Island –Ford's Contributions to The Prisoner of Shark Island Chapter 7 Wee Willie Winkie –Script Development –Wee Willie Winkie: from Script to Film PART 4 ANNUS MIRABILIS Chapter 8 Stagecoach –The United Artists Connection –Story Structure –Script Revisions and Songs –Ford and Glennon on Location –Ford and Glennon on Set Chapter 9 Young Mr Lincoln –Story Sources and Structure –Problems of Exposition and Emphasis –New Salem: The River –Springfield: The Mob and the Dance –The Trial Afterword The Director's Share Bibliography Index

John Ford at Work: Production Histories 1927–1939 explores the evolution of John Ford's career in the Hollywood studio system of the 1930s as the system itself changed in response to the coming of sound and the business downtown instigated by the Depression. Based upon a decade of research utilizing the studio files of Twentieth Century-Fox, RKO and Samuel Goldwyn, it delineates the director's collaborations with the producers, screen- writers, actors and cinematographers that had the most impact on his production practices. It traces the major literary, cinematic and musical sources from which he drew. It considers relevant changes in film technology and seeks to explain how they were incorporated into his style. Films analyzed include 4 Sons, The Black Watch, Arrowsmith, Air Mail, The Lost Patrol, The Informer, Judge Priest, Steamboat Round the Bend, The Prisoner of Shark Island, Wee Willie Winkie, Stagecoach and Young Mr. Lincoln.

Lea Jacobs, professor emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison, taught film history and aesthetics. Her books include: The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film, Theatre to Cinema (written with Ben Brewster) and Film Rhythm After Sound: Technology, Music and Performance.