John Ford directed 12 films before this title, released on 22 April 1918. The violence, the action sequences, the critique of racism and visible class tensions make The Scarlet Drop stand out. Above all, there is one iconic scene to which Howard Hawks paid homage in Rio Bravo (1959).
It is the story about two families: the Calverts, wealthy landowners in the south of US, and the Ridges, poor peasants who depend on hunting. When war is declared, Kentucky Ridge tries to enlist, but is rejected and humiliated, so he becomes an outlaw. Harry Carey made 26 films with Ford, between 1917 and 1936. They developed a kind of character who is not a hero, but an antihero, and this archetype will be fundamental in the construction of Ford’s work. The director was on the side of the outcasts, never the winners, and Carey projects both rudeness but, at the same time, fragility and an unkempt appearance. We can feel in this movie his vulnerability and his attachment to his mother. What a great actor he was. The secondary characters show us Ford’s universe, so we are immediately at home, waiting for the director to take our hand and start the journey.
It is a very complex film if we consider the budget, the shooting plan and the genre. The Scarlet Drop goes beyond simple entertainment and gives us a glimpse of the visual elements that will become characteristic in Ford’s work. Ford always was Ford, combative and politically incorrect. We have the opportunity now to see this film, which was lost for almost 106 years until it was found in Chile, in a warehouse that was going to be demolished. By watching this film we will be able to recognise the values of the era of the American Civil War, the figure of Lincoln, and of the mother and the theme of redemption – all factors that make Ford’s vision of US history so unforgettable.

Jaime Córdova