“Ford at Fox,” a gargantuan set that assembles 24 of the 50-some films John Ford made for the studio that was his most consistent home, may be just the nudge the old paradigm [of nostalgia collections] needs. Other studios, notably Warner Brothers with Stanley Kubrick and Universal with Alfred Hitchcock, have produced collections devoted to single directors, but no previous effort has matched what Fox has put into this impressive undertaking.

Reviving some extremely rare works in fully restored versions, presenting critical editions of the major titles (in three instances, complete with alternate cuts) and reintroducing several overlooked masterworks, “Ford at Fox” finally does for a filmmaker what the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade in France and our homegrown Library of America have long done for writers. Scattered, individual films have been recast into a body of work — an oeuvre — easily accessible for the first time.