By Angela Eckstein
John Wayne will appear on the silver screen in the Library''s auditorium Thursday night Feb. 27 when the Motion Picture Archive Film Series shows 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,' which was filmed entirely in Utah''s Monument Valley.
John Wayne stars as Captain Nathan Brittles who goes on a mission to negotiate peace with the warring Indian tribes before retiring from a long career in the U.S. Cavalry.
'It''s a good movie,' said junior Marcie Hanaeberg, 19, from Brentwood, Calif., majoring in humanities. 'It has beautiful cinematography and I like the desert in it.'
The Monument Valley desert, according to the American Southwest Utah Guide, provides the most enduring and definitive images of the American West with its isolated red mesas and sandstone buttes surrounded by an empty, sandy desert.
The film will be projected from a rare dye transfer Technicolor print, said James D''Arc, film series director and curator of the Motion Picture Archives.
'The colors are vivid and stable even though the print was struck nearly 50 years ago,' D''Arc said.
The colors were vivid when the film was released in 1949. It won the Academy Award in 1950 for best cinematography and color. Winton C. Hoch filmed the movie under Director John Ford.
'This is a wonderful opportunity to see such a beautiful copy on the big screen,' D''Arc said.
Freshman Jake Romney, 18, from Spokane, Wash., majoring in English said he enjoys John Wayne films because they usually have good dialogue, action and plot.
'It''s better to see the movie in the theater than on TV,' Romney said.
'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' was co-produced by Merian C. Cooper, and is archived as part of his personal papers in the Library''s Special Collections.
Other items archived with his papers are stories of his life as a cavalry man and film producer and the tattered confederate flag used as a prop in the movie.
According to the Paccifc Film Archive, 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' is 'Arguably Ford''s most extraordinary use of color, arguably John Wayne''s best performance and inarguably one of Ford''s greatest masterworks.'
The film also stars Joanne Dru, Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr.
The film is part of the Motion Picture Archive Film Series, but also functions as the first event of the conference Building Bridges with Folklore Archives.
'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' will start at 7 p.m. with a short introduction by D''Arc. Doors open at 6:30. Admission is free, but seating is limited.