Drums in the Deep South (1951)

Two old friends find themselves on opposite sides during the Civil War in a desperate battle atop an impregnable mountain.

Director:

William Cameron Menzies

Writers:

Philip Yordan (screenplay), Sidney Harmon (screenplay),

Stars:

James Craig, Barbara Payton, Guy Madison

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Best friends Clay Clayburn and Will Denning graduate from West Point only to soon find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the Civil War. When the two men meet each other in combat, neither knows it as each is in an artillery position hundreds of yards from the other. However, the love of Clay's life, Kathy Summers, does know and tries desperately to save her two good friends from killing each other.

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Plot Keywords:

civil war | mountain | year 1864 | cave | gun | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Trommeln im tiefen Süden

Filming Locations:

Tuolumne County, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

King Brothers Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Supercinecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

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Quotes

Gen. Johnston: A good soldier dies only once, and death is someone he knows.

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Soundtracks

"Dixie"
(uncredited)
Music by Daniel Decatur Emmett
Quoted often in the score

User Reviews

Fairly good movie, but DVD full of glitches

I recently purchased a 4 DVD set, which included "Shoot Out", "Apache Rifles", "Sitting Bull" and "Drums in the Deep South." Like most westerns of its type, it has a very basic plot. Nonetheless, except for the beginning and the very end, I found it to be an interesting and captivating movie. It features elements of current love, love that once was but is no more, and of course, a pretty girl. Combine that with the added dramatic irony of two friends fighting each other without realizing it, and lots of fast paced action, it makes for a fairly good western movie. What I found to be very disappointing was that two DVD's (I exchanged it today for another copy of the same movie) both have glitches, such as the picture skipping a little bit (kind of a like a skipping CD or broken record, except it's pictures, not sound) and pausing here and there for no reason. Also, an amateur could have done a better job of restoring the colour (or was it adding colour to B&W). I'm glad to know at least, that I'm not the only one experiencing these problems.

I will not spoil the ending, but if I was a director re-doing the movie, I would revise the ending, or perhaps re-write it. And I found the dinner scene in the beginning to be rather lacking in action. Other than that, it was not too bad of a movie. In fact, fix the graphics and I'd really like it.

Corey Walker