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42 out of 50 people found the following review useful:
An Exception To a Rule About American History Films, 28 April 2004
Author: theowinthrop from United States

It is a strange truism about films concerning American History. While some of those films dealing with the Civil War are great ("The General", "Gone With The Wind") or highly respectable ("The Raid", "Gettysburg", "Glory"), this is less true about films about the American Revolution. It's a sad or mediocre commentary. D.W.Griffith's first great feature length film was the controversial - pro K.K.K film: "The Birth OF A Nation". No matter how you hate the film's racism, it's innovation make it a film landmark. But his attempt at a Revolution film, America, was a flop. Just see the titles: "America", "The Howards Of Virginia", "The Devil's Desciple" (slightly better due to its star cast, especially Olivier as "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne), "John Paul Jones", "Lafayette", "Revolution". There are two exceptions. The musical "1776" was a good film, and (despite some historical errors) told the story of the creation of the Declaration of Independence pretty well. This film is the other. It is the only film by John Ford set in the American Revolution (he was more at home in the Indian Wars of the 1870s). It is in glorious color for a 1939 film. It has a dandy cast from Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert as the young married couple, to Edna Mae Oliver, Ward Bond, Arthur Shields, and John Carridine (except that his motivation as a Tory is never developed - possibly his scenes were cut in the editing).

Perhaps it was the source. Walter D. Edmonds is a forgotten writer today, but when I was growing up in the 1960s his novels, "Drums Along The Mohawk" and "Chad Hanna", were still published and read. Interestingly Henry Fonda was also in the film version of that latter novel. Edwards was a regional historical writer (which may explain his contemporary oblivion). All his novels are set in upstate New York, "Chad Hanna" being set in the 1830s. "Drums Along The Mohawk deals with the warfare between settlers in Western New York and the Six Nations of the Iroquois Indians, the latter allied with Tories. It is a grueling warfare - culminating in the battle of Oriskany, where American troops literally slugged it out in forest fighting with the Indians. Commanded by General Nicholas Herkimer (Ralph Imhof in the film)the Americans barely won the battle. Herkimer died of his wounds a few days later (movingly captured in the movie). He is honored today by a county upstate named for him. These events occurred in 1777, and the film seems to end in 1779. It ends with the settlers of the Mohawk River Valley triumphing over the Tories and Indians. What is not shown is what really crushed the Indians - Washington sent General John Sullivan into the area, and in a foreshadowing of the scorched earth policies of General William Tecumseh Sherman, Sullivan burned the Iroquois villages to the ground. It is not a pretty story now, but in that period Sullivan was considered a national hero. Ford does not even touch on that aspect. Probably just as well. But what he does show is first rate Ford, and we are all grateful for that.

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24 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
Neglected gem! One of John Ford's finest films..., 13 May 2001
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

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!

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25 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
Yeoman Farmers In the Mohawk Valley, 5 October 2006

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Drums Along the Mohawk is the story of newlyweds Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert and the trials they faced trying to make a life in the Mohawk River Valley during the Revolutionary War.

The Upstate New York theater save for the key battle of Saratoga was one of the backwater areas of the American Revolution. Still it has a colorful history and it's the one area of the Revolution where the British made use of their allies among the Indians.

Specifically the Iroquois who had supported the British against the French in the Seven Years War 20 year earlier. As a consequence of that support, the Indians were guaranteed no white settlement west of the Appalachian mountains. Saying that and enforcing that were two different propositions. Farmer pioneers as depicted by Fonda and Colbert were not about to be turned back by words in the Treaty of Paris. Of course the Indian side to it was never told on screen at that time in Hollywood.

Still those were brave people who pioneered and the film is a tribute to them. The real person of Nicholas Herkimer and his brave death in the Battle of Oriskany is woven into this story. Herkimer is played by Roger Imhoff and he was the son of German settlers from Hanover. Remember George III was Duke of Hanover and lots of German settlers came to the colonies. Imhoff plays Herkimer with correct German accent and as the gallant hero he was.

John Carradine plays Caldwell the one eyed Tory who leads the Iroquois, Why John Ford just didn't use the real name of Walter Butler for Carradine's character I couldn't say. Yet Caldwell is based on Butler who was right up there with Benedict Arnold as one of the Revolution's deepest, darkest villains. Carradine does well with the part, no shades of gray in his portrayal. You might recall that Butler was one of the 'jury' at the trial in The Devil and Daniel Webster and Lionel Barrymore played him in D.W. Griffith's silent classic, America.

Edna May Oliver is the pioneer widow woman who takes in Fonda and Colbert after their own place is burned to the ground during a raid and won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was a hardy soul and she steals the film.

This is John Ford's first Technicolor feature and he really did well in the cinematography department. The forest greens of upstate New York really are depicted well, especially in the part where Henry Fonda is being chased by the Indians as he goes for help in the climax.

Upstate New York was a key area of the American Revolution. With the British occupying New York City for most of the war, upstate was the bridge in which those rabble rousers in New England kept connected with the south. It's why the Battle of Saratoga was so important, why Benedict Arnold's aborted treachery in turning West Point over to them was so important. If it wasn't for those yeoman farmers in the Mohawk Valley there might not be an America today.

And the Mohawk Valley was more important afterwards because another man with vision who was New York's governor named DeWitt Clinton had an idea to extend the headwaters of the Mohawk River straight to Lake Erie with a canal. That act opened up the northwest to trade and made New York the largest city in the USA. No doubt the descendants of Colbert and Fonda worked on the Erie Canal as well.

Drums Along the Mohawk is a nice tribute film to some brave people whose battles on that sideshow theater of the war made possible the very existence of America.

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18 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Three-strip Technicolor in all its glory!, 26 June 2003
Author: Greg Couture from Portland, Oregon

Other comments on this film quite well echo my sentiments: John Ford once again exhibits his mastery of the medium, with a minimum of the sentimentality to which he sometimes succumbed; a very young and handsome Henry Fonda wonderfully embodies an ordinary man virtually forced to perform feats of extraordinary heroism; Claudette Colbert, although she seems out of her usually sophisticated element, really cannot be faulted, especially when one considers the Hollywoodized glamor of her makeup and costuming; and Edna May Oliver, heading Ford's customarily astutely chosen supporting cast, almost steals the picture.

But, to my eyes, it is the unusually beautiful Technicolor cinematography by Bert Glennon and Ray Rennahan (the latter being the credited cinematographer on the first feature-length film in three-strip Technicolor, 1935's "Becky Sharp") who deserve the most accolades. Their work simply glows and has that special crispness characteristic of certain early Technicolor films (many of which bore the Twentieth Century Fox label, as it happens.) No doubt, working on outdoor locations with the cumbersome equipment and lighting requirements involved in the use of the Technicolor process at that time, not to mention the lengendarily dictatorial control of the Technicolor Corporation's czarina, Madame (Natalie) Kalmus, and her frequent associate, Henri Jaffa, Messrs. Glennon and Rennahan managed to accomplish one of 1939's finest achievements in color cinematography. With Alfred Newman's fine musical score and all of the other first-class production values lavished on this stirring tale, "Drums Along the Mohawk" deserves a place among the best recreations of those remarkable personal stories that were part of this newly emerging nation.

I am not aware if the available VHS tape transfer does justice to the prints struck from the original negative, but American Movie Classics occasionally shows this title (mercilessly chopped up with endless commercials, etc., as is now their wont) in a version that makes one realize why the invention of color television broadcasting just had to happen!

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13 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
An engrossing Revolutionary War story from John Ford, with many of his strengths and some of his weaknesses, 25 August 2006

Author: Terrell-4 from San Antonio, Texas

When Lana Martin (Claudette Colbert) arrives by wagon with her new husband, Gil (Henry Fonda), to Mohawk Valley and his homestead, she isn't prepared for what she sees. The time is just before the Revolutionary War. The valley is beautiful and unspoiled, but the homestead is a one-room log cabin Gil has built, and the farm will need to be worked by the two of them. Lana has never seen an Indian, but in the course of the movie she's going to see a lot, and most won't be friendly.

Drums Along the Mohawk is John Ford's curious but effective look at one aspect of the Revolutionary War. The story isn't about George Washington or the great battles. It's the story of what happens in this one, isolated valley in upstate New York. While there are Indian attacks and we can see the results of a battle or two, the story really is about Lana Martin and how she changed. We watch her and Gil build their farm, and we see it burnt to the ground when war comes to the valley. From a young woman in a big, frilly dress facing a life she had never imagined, by the end of the movie Lana is wearing a soldier's coat and is prepared to shoot down an attacker, which she does with hardly a blink. She sees Gil return from his first battle almost shell-shocked. We see her and Gil having to become hired hands when their farm is destroyed. We see her suffer a miscarriage. At the start of the movie, Gil was an honest, hard-working young man, almost naive at times. Now he and Lana are watching the birth of their new nation. They've both become...capable. "Well," Gil says to her at the close, "I reckon we'd better be getting' back to work. There's going' to be a heap to do from now on." And we know he's talking about building a nation, not just a new farm.

The movie is effective despite John Ford's long-time propensity for ham-handed humor, sentimental myth building and his indulgence in stereotypical portrayals of Indians as either child-like objects of amusement or animal-like objects of fear. What saves this story, as it saved many of Ford's films, is his great talent for cinematic story-telling. As corn-ball as some of the scenes in this movie are -- the short, chubby drunk or Gil's amazement that his wife is giving birth or the wise but child-like behavior of the Christian Indian chief -- we still are caught up in Gil's and Lana's story. Although the movie is particularly a paean to the women who had to struggle on, sometimes fighting, sometimes waiting, Ford gives the film an unusual unwarlike tone. The widow Mrs. McKennar, who took Gil and Lana in when their farm was destroyed, looks at Gil marching off to his first battle and thinks about her husband. "Sometimes he'd wave. Ten to one he wasn't even seeing me. He was thinking about all those men, you see. All those men he went out to fight...to kill and be killed...blast his eyes, loving it." One powerful scene has Gil and the other men back from the battle. They won but it didn't go well. Gil has collapsed, and as Lana tends to him he barely notices her. He just stares into the distance while he tells what happened when they were ambushed. "I got down back of a log and aimed at a fellow. He leaped straight up in the air. Fell forward on his face. After that we just kept shooting as fast as we could load for I don't know how long. Adam Hartman came over beside me. His musket was broke. He had a spear. He kept grinning. I remember thinking, 'He's having a good time. He likes this.' Pretty soon he pointed off. I saw an Indian coming toward us, naked. I tried to load but it was too late. Adam stood up and braced his spear and the Indian came down. I never saw a fellow look so funny, so surprised. He just hung there, with his mouth open...lookin' at us, not sayin' a word. I had to shoot him, there wasn't anything else to do."

Ford pushes the buttons of duty, faith and patriotism. We've learned that war isn't the glorious struggle some make it out to be. Still, Ford shows us that fighting to protect our land, to protect our chance to build our farm and keep our children safe is proper. In 1939, that was a strong message. So was his theme of patriotism with which he closes the movie. At the fort in Mohawk Valley a company of regular soldiers arrives to tell the people that the war has been won, that Cornwallis has surrendered to Washington. They're carrying a flag. A churchman looks at it and says to the others, "So that's our new flag, the thing we've been fighting for. Thirteen stripes for the colonies and thirteen stars in a circle for the Union." And with that a couple of men take the flag and climb to the top of the church steeple, where they tie it down so that it waves in the wind. Ford knew how to punch home a point, alright.

Fonda and Colbert were both fine actors. Fonda, in particular, brings, as usual, a strong sense of decency to his role. While I think he and Colbert make a slightly improbable pair (Colbert in all her roles, for me, seems to have a sly worldliness that makes her so good at sophisticated comedy), they work well together. The movie is really war from a woman's point of view, and Colbert brings it off.

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15 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
This is one of my favorite films., 24 February 2004

Author: wily55 from Wading River, New York

This film has everything, drama, humor, and action. My favorite character is Mrs. McKlennar, played by the great Dame Edna May Oliver (also see her in A Tale of Two Cities). She's got the right combination of real independence, sauciness, and feeling. Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert are also fine as Gil and Lana. The usual John Ford stock company (Ward Bond, Arthur Shields, etc.) are in evidence in the well cast supporting roles. I'm kind of surprised that no one has targeted this story for a remake, though it might be a case of watching out what you wish for - it could be ruined by political correctness. Anyway, sit back and enjoy.

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10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Excellent depiction of life during colonial times in New England., 27 September 2005

Author: lynl1108 from United States

I've used this movie in many history classes. It illustrates life during these turbulent times when people were moving to the frontier and just trying to live their lives in peace. However, other people had lived on those lands and now wanted it back and war erupted. The American Revolution is vastly different for people on the frontier. There was no help -they had to rely on each other to protect their farms, their families and livestock. It was a hard life but they managed to find humor and enjoyment even during the hardest of times. This movies illustrates the new culture that had to evolve in order to survive. Fighting Indians, British and French became a way of life during this period. These people developed a strong bond of friendship and family. They helped one another in many ways. The only way to get communication from Albany was at church on Sunday when the Reverend would give everyone the latest news about the war as well as cloth that had arrived at the general store in Dayton. It's a good story and one that will remain a favorite.

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10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A Ford Winner!, 3 December 2001
Author: Bucs1960 from West Virginia

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

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.

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7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Romance in Times of the American War of Independence, 1 March 2011

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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")

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9 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Classic-style cinema through and through, 17 September 2007

Author: Polaris_DiB from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Ahhhh, classic cinema! The Technicolor, the optimism, the stock characters, the racism! Coming to you from main man John Ford is a Western/War drama about Gil and Lana, two newlyweds who move to the countryside to start out their lives, promptly to get involved in the militia that fights in the Revolutionary War. Their eagerness and enthusiasm ingratiates them promptly with the surrounding community, and their misfortunes tell the American tale of burgeoning success against oppression through work and freedom.

John Ford is, of course, a great director, and with leads Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert, he paints a very pretty picture that ranges from funny and light-hearted domestic scenes to moments of darkness when the community is surrounded by violent Indians led by the eye-patched John Carradine. His period detail is lovingly built around characters that one can't help but love: the friendly general, the bumbling role-caller, the converted Christian Indian, the gruff but ultimately good-hearted widow, and of course the main characters, Gee-Whiz style Gil and his pretty upper-class beau Lana who both promise to work the land and reap its fruits.

The scenes are mostly entertaining, paying more attention to the workings of the community than to the war surrounding them. The preacher adds his own political commentary explicitly in his sermons. People marry, children are born. The town drunk, doubling as the militia roll-call man, brings in some comedic relief. The town's converted Indian Blueback gives domestic advice in stunted "Me noble savage" English. Some of them are downright nonsensical, such as the scene where the pair of drunken Mohawks attempt to save the old widow and her bed from the fire that they started after appearing out of literally nowhere. But it's all held with the colorful optimism which tends to define the era, as it rounds up symbols of Americana (the villagers, the freed black man, the native) as they all regard the new American flag, reminding the United States about the land that they are fighting for.

--PolarisDiB

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