Drums in the Deep South (1951)

Director:

William Cameron Menzies

Writers:

Philip Yordan (screenplay) and
Sidney Harmon (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

September 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Plot:

Best friends Clay Clayburn and Will Denning graduate from West Point only to soon find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the Civil War...

Plot Keywords:

Civil War | Plantation | Signal Mirror | Piano | Harmonica

Cast

James Craig	...	Maj. Clay Clayburn
Barbara Payton	...	Kathy Summers
Guy Madison	...	Maj. Will Denning
Barton MacLane	...	Sgt. Mac McCardle
Robert Osterloh	...	Sgt. Harper
Tom Fadden	...	Purdy
Robert Easton	...	Jerry
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Col. House
Craig Stevens	...	Col. Braxton Summers
Taylor Holmes	...	Albert Monroe
Lewis Martin	...	Gen. Johnston
Peter Brocco	...	Union Corporal
Dan White	...	Corp. Jennings

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Supercinecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #14990) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

King Brothers Productions

Soundtrack:

Dixie

Spectacular drama with intrigue during the Civil War

The film deals about an old rivalry between two former West Point Academy roommates,under the present circumstances are on opposite sides in Georgia 1861 during the American Civil War(1861-1865).The war breaks outs,both are Officials from the Union(Guy Madison) and the Confederation(James Craig) besides they compete with the same women(a gorgeous and blue-eyes Barbara Payton)and wind up in a military showdown . The film is a historical drama based on true facts which narrates the Sherman campaign over Georgia.The general established his reputation as a successful and relentless ruler,an advocate of total war he believed in bringing hostilities to a quick end inflicting the hell of war on the civil population,destroying goods,crops,public buildings and factories.On his March to the Sea through Georgia,Sherman burned and destroyed on a sixty-mile-wide front.In the film the Confederates put a cannons in the Mountain of the Devil for attack supplies trains led towards Atlanta and the Union soldiers use a giant naval cannon .

This historic drama takes part argument from ¨Gone with the wind¨,packs a loving triangle with action,shoot out and suspense. The film is starred by Guy Madison, an usually Western actor such American as Spaghetti Western.Principal protagonist is Barbara Payton(formerly acted in important films as Dallas,Only the valiant) as one of the saddest stories from dark chronicle Hollywood.Attractive blonde sexpot and her life eventually disintegrated,mostly by her own doings.She was the subject of a spread in Confidential Magazine in the early 1950s when then fiancé Franchot Tone allegedly caught in bed with Guy Madison.Tone later married her,despite the indiscretion,besides she had a tempestuous relationship with Tom Neal.But happened the downfall, her once enticing countenance now blotchy and once sensational figure now bloated,Barbara sank deeper into the bottle and had several brushes with law ,among them public boozy,bad checks and ultimate prostitution.The 39 years former star was found on the bathroom floor.The picture is rightly directed by William Cameron Menzies known as production designer(Thief of Bagdag,Gone with the wind,Things to come) and realized a Scifi classic(Invasors of Mars)film.