Start saving your pennies, or else be extra  nice so that Santa will bring you a copy of the John Ford compilation Ford at Fox. The massive 21-DVD set, which will be released on Dec. 4, is the largest collection of a single director’s work ever issued to the home video market. It includes 24 films, 18 of which have never been available on DVD.

Although the Fox Studio Classics website says that the box includes all of the movies made for 20th Century Fox by the director considered by some to be the master of classic American film making, it lacks a half dozen of Ford's silent films (as Dave Kehr pointed out on his website).

Genius doesn't come cheap, though. The Ford DVD collection retails for a cool $300.

Many of his biggest hits were made for other studios, and if you’re looking for The Quiet Man, Searchers, Stagecoach, Hurricane, The Lost Patrol, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Informer, or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, they’re available on other Ford sets from Warner Home Video. Which is not to say that Ford at Fox will be lacking in box office classics—the set includes The Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, Young Mr. Lincoln, and How Green Was My Valley, winner in 1941 of five Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. Still, for the real student of American cinema this will be an invaluable collection, assembling many of Ford’s early films that probably wouldn’t be considered commercial viable on their own. Extras include the new documentary Becoming John Ford by Ford historian Nick Redman and an exclusive hard-cover book. Most (but not all) of the films will also be available in three smaller sets, The Essential John Ford Collection, The American Comedies Collection, and The Silent Epics Collection, for $50 each.