Ask and ye shall receive: No sooner does this column complain about the lack of John Ford on DVD than the gods of great films provide.

A certain candidate for box set of the year, "John Wayne-John Ford Collection" (Warner) includes new two-disc special editions of "The Searchers," the 1956 masterpiece with Indian-hating Wayne looking for the "Comanch" who have kidnapped his young niece; 1939's "Stagecoach"; and 1948's "Fort Apache."

Also included are 1949's "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," the 1945 PT boat drama "They Were Expendable" and "3 Godfathers." Then there are the 1940s men-at sea-drama "The Long Voyage Home" and 1957's "The Wings of Eagles."

The extras are considerable. "The Searchers," for example, features a reproduction of a 1956 Dell comic book based on the movie, a commentary by Ford scholar Peter Bogdanovich and two background documentaries.

NOT JUST COWBOYS

Contrary to the belief of many, Ford made films without the Duke, and not all of them were westerns and war films. "The John Ford Film Collection" (Warner) collects five made over the course of three years.

The two earliest films here are the best: 1934's "The Lost Patrol" finds a British regiment led by Victor McLaglen and including religious fanatic Boris Karloff lost in the Mesopotamian desert, while 1935's "The Informer" sees McLaglen as an alcoholic Dubliner who during the Irish Rebellion informs on friends to the Brits.

"Mary of Scotland" from 1936 proves Ford as adept with courtly costumes as military uniforms. Katharine Hepburn has the showy role of Mary, Queen of Scots, back in her native France and in love with the Earl of Bothwell (Frederic March) but married off to the wimpy Lord Darnley (Douglas Walton).

Moving to 1960 and color, "Sergeant Rutledge" has Woody Strode front and center and possibly facing a firing squad for the alleged rape and murder of a white woman. 1964's gorgeous "Cheyenne Autumn," Ford's final Western, has the director again acknowledging the nobility of the American Indian.

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