Drums Along the Mowhawk **** (1939, Claudette Colbert, Henry Fonda, Edna May Oliver, Eddie Collins, John Carradine, Arthur Shields, Ward Bond, Jessie Ralph) – Classic Movie Review 6828

Director John Ford’s sprawling and unfocused but exciting and colourful 1939 film tells the story about a group of farmers in upstate New York caught napping by Indian attacks during the Revolutionary War.

Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda star as Newlyweds Lana and Gil Martin, who try to set up a farm in the Mohawk Valley but are menaced by Native Americans and Tories at the start of the Revolutionary War. When their farm is burned, Lana and Gil take work with Mrs Sarah McKlennar.

Edna May Oliver, Eddie Collins, John Carradine, Arthur Shields, Ward Bond, Jessie Ralph notably co-star as Mrs Sarah McKlennar, Christian Reall, Caldwell, the Reverend Rosenkrantz, Adam Hartman and Mrs Weaver.

The riveting acting (especially from Fonda, Colbert and Oliver), cinematography, production and direction help to turn this into one of Hollywood’s best re-creations of America’s history.

Lamar Trotti and Sonya Levien’s screenplay, based on the novel by Walter D Edmonds, effectively balances the typical Ford ingredients of action, humour and pathos, and there is visual splendour in Bert Glennon and Ray Rennahan’s Technicolor cinematography, which was Oscar nominated. Oliver was also Oscar nominated as Best Supporting Actress.

Also in the cast are Robert Lowery, Doris Bowden, Roger Imhof, Francis Ford, Kay Linaker, Chief Big Tree, Spencer Charters, Arthur Aylesworth and Si Jenks.

Drums Along the Mowhawk is directed by John Ford, runs 105 minutes, is made by 20th Century Fox, is written by Lamar Trotti and Sonya Levien, based on the novel by Walter D Edmonds, is shot in Technicolor by Bert Glennon and Ray Rennahan, is produced by Darryl F Zanuck and Raymond Griffith, and is scored by Alfred Newman.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6828

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