Drums Along the Mohawk

source: Darryl F. Zanuck's Production of Drums Along the Mohawk

Here's the problem: I just don't John Ford. I don't like the way he panders, the way all nuance is erased and only, only broad strokes presented. He was an innovator with space, in particular grand exteriors. And he sometimes does sweep me up. But its all in the service of a dramatic simplicity that hurts me, blunts my senses. Its odd, I suppose, that something can be clear and powerful and effective, that it can actually touch you and still be harmful. Well, I suppose it isn't so odd, because we do get hurt, and there are people who touch us by simplifying their efforts and energies to such an extent that it hits deep. For me, storytelling is about someone working with me to help weave my soul in ways that I couldn't otherwise. A storyteller who wants to just occupy my time so that he can get his bread isn't welcome. And particularly unwelcome is someone willing to be so selfish that he will work against my interest in order to fool himself into my home. This is a good case, because it is grand form without John Wayne, who provides his own distractions. It has all the standard elements of a Ford project including the notion that women need to be beaten a little for their own good. Patriotism, evil and the equating of good with open sky. So I caution you that this is harmful stuff; you enter it at high risk and there is scant reward here. If you do, there are two interesting things to look for. One is a matter of space. We have two internal spaces that are rendered here: the church in the fort and the widow's home. That home becomes a hospital where our heroine cares for her husband. Its shot conventionally: him prone on the floor, she behind caressing his head, which is propped against a wall. After some dramatic histrionics, she asks a man to help lay him down. This fellow steps between us an the camera. His whole backside fills the screen. Its very disturbing because nearly everything we see until that point is there for a very specific narrative reason. This isn't. Our view is obstructed by something that looks like a mistake. He's even out of focus. It functions as a sort of break from the visual narrative, a pause, a step out of the flow. A mistake? No. Later the situation is reversed: he is in the same position with her in the church. He similarly asks for help and there is a very similar intercession, man blocking view. Its shot further away and is no so jarring because his back and butt don't fill the whole screen. But once again, we find ourselves craning to see around him. Its competence worth noticing. The other interesting thing to watch for is Edna May Oliver. She had already had a career starring in her own Hildgard Withers detective series, and was known to the audience, more so than Fonda, who is billed below Colbert. She plays a widow who takes in the beleaguered couple. Its a conventional role, but it written with some interesting overtones. There's one scene that matters. Remember that the whole Ford effect has to do with contrasting interior space with exterior. Part of that is establishing the importance and enclosure of some key internal spaces. The Widow is awakened from sleep by two wild Indians. Have to be wild, you see. These are the closest we get to actually seeing Indian behavior. They seem retarded or drunk. They are there to burn down her house and want her to leave. She refuses and while they set fire to the bedroom, she commands them to remove her precious bed; she will not leave that bed, in fact will not leave actually sitting on the bed. Later, we see that she and the bed have been transported as far as downstairs and to the front door and abandoned, she still aggressively squatting. Its pretty poignant, uncharacteristic of Ford, and probably only allowed because it could be seen as comic. Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Towards the end of this film much is made of an extended sequence where Henry Fonda sneaks out of a beleaguered fort to get help and in doing so TOTALLY outruns the three indians on his trail. This would have been more believable if we had been provided with any previous proof of or even reference to Fonda's skill in this area. As it is he merely says he can outrun any Indian on earth yet up to now we've seen him driving a team, scything corn and chopping trees. If you don't have a problem with sloppy writing like this - the film opens, for instance, with the wedding of Fonda and Claudette Colbert in an urban setting prior to them settling in the backwoods of upstate New York where Fonda has a cabin. We're never told how a backwoodsman like Fonda came to meet a townie like Colbert in the first place or what they could possibly have in common on which to base a marriage. Colbert herself is something of a fish out of water in a rural setting, her metier was Park Avenue rather than National Park and without a wisecrack on her lips and a martini in her hand she's unfairly handicapped. On the credit side there's some nice photography and Edna May Oliver watchers will welcome another sighting and an Orcar-winning one at that. See it once and move on to later Ford.

In 1776, the apolitical farmer Gilbert 'Gil' Martin (Henry Fonda) gets married to Magdelana "Lana" Borst (Claudette Colbert) at the Borst Home in Albany, New York. They travel to his lands in the Mohawk Valley, Deerfield, where they work hard to improve their lives, but their house and crop are burned out by Indians fomented by the British. The couple loses everything including their baby and they have to restart their lives working for the widow Mrs. McKlennar (Edna May Oliver). But it is times of the American War of Independence, and the settlers have to fight against the Indians and the British soldiers to survive. "Drums along the Mohawk" is a romance in times of the American War of Independence. John Ford uses the historic moment as background of the tough life of the American colonists in the Mohawk Valley, through the dramatic lives of Gil and Lana. This is not my favorite film of John Ford, but the story is engaging and it is a good movie. The thirty-six year old Claudette Colbert is miscast and too old for the role of Lana. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Ao Rufar dos Tambores" ("At the Drum Roll")

An early novel called " Drums Along the Mohawk " written by Walter D. Edmonds is the foundation for this motion picture of the same name. It relates the story of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Martin (Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert) a young, married America couple moving from New York city to the early frontier to begin a new life. The time coincides with events from 1776 thru the end of the Revolutionary War. As most Americans have learned from our history, life was incredibly harsh. Indeed, when not working on the toils of the farm, early colonists were often at war with the Native American tribes who had sided with the British army. After their farm is burned and losing their first child, their lives are constantly threatened, they move in with Mrs. McKlennar (Edna May Oliver) a wealthy widow woman to supplement their meager existence. Most of the film is dedicated to the hardship of early frontier life and includes the destruction of their farms and their valiant defense inside the nearby fort. John Carradine, plays the heavy named Caldwell with Arthur Shields playing Rev. Rosenkrantz. For many reasons John Ford creates a formula for the movie establishing himself as a superb director. This early Color picture is fabulous in many ways, not the least is the excellent cast and exciting drama. It's little wonder it has become an excellent Classic. Recommended for all audiences. ****

John Ford is an enigma. He has great virtues and vices as a director. Unfortunately, in this film (as in the Searchers) all his worst qualities are on display. Instead of the inherently dramatic events from Walter Edmonds' novel about Revolutionary War farmers in upstate New York, troubled by divisions within the community between Tories and Patriots, we get Ford's unmistakable brand of maudlin sentiment, and the hysterics of characters who are so simplistically rendered they'll remind you of children pretending. Ford also violates a cardinal rule of good film making by having Henry Fonda's character, Gil Martin, deliriously narrate to his wife the details of his experience in the battle of Oriskany. The scene is static, and Martin's story would have been better shown, not told. But Ford's movies are never entirely without interest. The best part of this movie (an action sequence where Henry Fonda has to outrun some Native American warriors) is a fine set-piece, but the characters have absolutely no dimension. I think Ford worked best when his producers reined him in. We can see this in STAGECOACH, in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, and in FORT APACHE. But when they gave him his head he could turn out cloying material like DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK, THE SEARCHERS, and RIO GRANDE. In 1939 the three strip Technicolor process was Hollywood's new toy. In most early color features the new medium was the message; story and character development took a back seat as they do here. If you love melodrama and films with lots of action but not much depth, this one might appeal to you.

This is one great film to look at on a lazy afternoon. It is definitely the finest film John Ford ever directed without the use of John Wayne. The timing of the release of it was interesting due to the fact that the world was edging ever closer to the brink of war and the country needed something to help boost morale. Also, the performances in this film were great as well. Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert were wonderful, but the character that really stood out for me was the old spinster, Mrs. McKlennar portrayed by Edna May Oliver. Too bad it had to be released in 1939. Due to all the great releases that year, this film definitely got lost in the shuffle.

Visual narrative was an expensive proposition back in these days, so the chief consideration was economy: there are no flashback sequences, one battle is recounted through monologue, virtually all character development is through spoken words, with little visual dialogue. Simple images, simple messages...that we are a nation of frontiersmen, who pull together when the going gets tough. We begin in 1776 with a wedding, and after a battle is won, hey presto, it's 1781, the war's over and we salute the triumphant flag. Cinema is hard to find here; the only evidence of a third spatial dimension includes a long perspective shot of the regiment heading off to battle, Fonda on horseback racing towards the burning homestead, and, perhaps most famously, Fonda on foot eluding three pursuers against a wrack of clouds in the sunrise. The rest might as well be stage scenery, and hammy stage acting. Rather shocking today is Colbert shrieking at the sight of a native American (back then, there was no other word but 'Indian'), and the hero Fonda slapping his wife across the face -- before the marriage is even consummated!. A villager derides the 'snivelling women'. Chief John Big Tree plays a stereotype (later spoofed in "Airplane!"). We know he's killed off a bad guy because he dons the deceased's eye patch, with a wink at us. However, Colbert is later redeemed when she blows away a marauder with her rifle -- a scene exactly copied in "Dances With Wolves".

There is a small *SPOILER* in the text below. This is one of my favorite John Ford films, although it usually is not ranked as one of his classics. There is enough action, pathos and downright patriotism to satisfy Ford devotees. The standout in this film is Edna May Oliver as the feisty widow who won't give up her home to the invading Indians even though they are burning it down around her. What a gal!!!!....her relationship with Ward Bond in this film is sweet and her final scenes will tear your heart. The Indians are reminiscent of the characters in "Northwest Passage", in that they are savage beyond belief and some of the scenes are tough to take....such as the man tied to the burning wagon and Arthur Shields reaction to it. Claudette Colbert is good as the wife and Henry Fonda was born to play this part, but it is the support cast that really fleshes out this film. Poor John Carradine never gets to play a good guy and he is at his saturnine best here. Look for John Ford's brother, Francis, in a small supporting role. It is a slice of American history and well worth seeing.

1939 was a banner year for great films--and certainly one of them was "Drums Along the Mohawk" in gorgeous early technicolor about a period in history not often used as the subject of a major film. Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert are fine as a young couple in the years before the Revolutionary War settling in the backwoods of New York state. The hardships of pioneer life are made even tougher by the presence of Indians on the warpath, the only refuge being a nearby fort where men, women and children find some protection. Brilliantly photographed with lots of action scenes that bring the film vividly to life under John Ford's direction. John Carradine makes an excellent villain and Edna May Oliver gives another one of her priceless performances as an elderly widow who forms a strong attachment to the young couple. An unforgettable scene has Indians raiding her home while she refuses to budge from her bed even though they set fire to it. Scenes of Indian cruelty and torture are also present--but altogether a moving film well worth viewing to see what frontier life must have been like way back then. Sentimental at times--but also harsh and realistic. Most memorable scene: Fonda pursued by Indians for a long chase over woodlands, finally wearing out his pursuers who collapse from sheer exhaustion. Thrilling chase!

... Seriously! This entire film was a disaster! And I'm a big Ford fan. Claudette Colbert is a screaming mess in desperate need of a tranquilizer, and Henry Fonda's scene after returning home wounded in which he just blabbers on endlessly as Colbert tends to his wounds is just tortuous. How did Ford manage to make two of the greatest actors of the 30s and beyond look so hammy? What is good about this Revolutionary War pic? The color cinematography is to die for. Also, Edna Mae Oliver is great as a rich widow who gives the young couple who have been burned out of their farm (Fonda and Colbert) a home and a job. She is full of wise cracks as usual. I don't know why this was so amateurish. Ford for sure got the old West - and upstate New York was the old west in the 1770s. He for sure got romance - look at Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne in anything he directed. Maybe it was because it was a war picture rather than a focus on one man's individual struggle with another individual such as in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". At any rate, I just don't see what so many others say they see in this film.