Though he wouldn’t die until eight years later, the career of legendary director John Ford ended in 1965. That year produced his final film via 7 Women.

Set in 1935, a small group of American female missionaries operate on the Chinese side of the China-Mongolia border. Strict and devoutly religious leader Agatha Andrews (Margaret Leighton) butts heads with Dr. DR Cartwright (Anne Bancroft), a headstrong and apparently atheistic new arrival.

These two need to put aside their differences when they find themselves set upon by Mongolian bandits. The ladies need to figure out how to survive this incursion.

As reflected on this Blu-ray’s liner notes, 7 Women offers an unusual swan song for Ford. Known for his “manly men” movies, it focuses mainly on females, and rather than encompass wide-open Western vistas, it stays concentrated on a fairly tight location.

I like the fact Ford went for a change of pace, especially so late in his career. He easily could’ve churned out a formulaic John Wayne shoot-em-up to wind up his filmmaking days, so his willingness to try something else pleases me.

The question becomes whether or not Ford pulls off this “experiment”. Unfortunately, the answer comes back “not so much”.

Not that 7 Women flops, as it musters some positives. It just doesn’t really gel.

Indeed, 7 Women feels like two separate movies joined into one The first half looks at interactions and conflicts among the inhabitants of the mission, and then the next part gets into the Mongolian assault.

Ford doesn’t connect the parts well. They really do feel like different flicks awkwardly stuck together.

The more character-based first half works best, though that comes mostly from the cast. The tale sets up the independent and non-believing Dr. Cartwright against the pious and strict Andrews.

Both roles feel cliché, but the actors elevate the parts. We find a nicely assertive performance from Bancroft and Leighton manages to give Andrews personality beyond the uptight holier-than-thou stick-in-the-mud we expect.

Beyond the cast, though, 7 Women tends to feel fairly stagnant. Even when the assault occurs, the tale seems stuck in the mud too much of the time.

As noted earlier, 7 Women largely stays in one place, and this means it can feel like a stage play a lot of the time. So accustomed to those Western locations, Ford doesn’t seem to know what to do with these limitations,

This creates a movie without the necessary spark, as Ford can’t create sparks via the personal drama. While Bancroft, Leighton and the rest manage to elevate the roles, they can’t quite overcome the dreary direction Ford brings to the tale.

None of this makes 7 Women an ignominious conclusion to Ford’s career, as even with its drawbacks, the film remains moderately engaging. Nonetheless, it lacks much to make it better than mediocre.

Footnote: given her hairstyle and her clothing, I find it impossible to believe James Cameron didn’t base the look of Ripley in 1986’s Aliens off of Dr. Cartwright.

7 Women appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with an appealing presentation.

Sharpness seemed positive. Outside of a few slightly soft transitions, this became a tight and concise image.

I saw no jaggies or shimmering, and the image lacked edge haloes. Print flaws remained absent, and with a nice layer of grain, I suspected no issues with noise reduction.

Colors looked vivid. Despite a slightly brown cast to the palette, the hues were otherwise lively and full.

Blacks looked deep and dark, while shadows appeared clear and well-developed, though some night-for-day shots inevitably leaned opaque. Overall, this became an impressive scan.

I also thought the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack worked fine given its age. Speech lacked edginess and remained intelligible and fairly natural.

Music seemed fine, as the score and songs lacked great range but appeared reasonably warm and full. Effects were acceptably clean and accurate, though they also lacked range. Overall, this ended up as a perfectly decent track for its vintage.

A handful of extras flesh out the disc, and we find a vintage featurette called “John Ford’s Magic Stage” (4:10). It shows the construction of the movie’s main set as well as a few other behind the scenes elements.

Inevitably, “Magic” exists as promo fodder. Still, it becomes an interesting look at a few aspects of the production.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we get the 1965 animated short The Dot and the Line (10:07) that tells of a line in love with a dot. The line changes himself to impress the dot.

That message surprises me. Don’t moral fables usually tell us to be true to ourselves, not to alter ourselves to satisfy others?

I guess Dot wants to tell us to be open to new things, but it feels more like it says to be what we’re not. Whatever the case, it’s clever and entertaining, even with the muddled purpose.

If nothing else, 7 Women enjoys a place in history as the final film from Hollywood legend John Ford. While not a bad movie, 7 Women fails to play to the director’s strengths and feels like an awkward experiment. The Blu-ray brings excellent visuals, good audio and minor supplements. Ford went out on a mediocre note.