Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

LeonLouisRicci There are a Couple Things that make this an Endurable John Ford Sermon. The Early Technicolor, and a Few Good Scenes of Tension and Battle. What is Hardly Endurable is the Preaching and Overacting that is Typical Ford. The Overt Sentimentality and Overplaying Certain Aspects that were so Near and Dear to the Director.The Birthing Baby Scene just goes on Forever and becomes Somewhat Intolerable, the Cartoonish Characters like the Happy Drunk (even while being tortured and burned to death), Patriotism as Religion, and just so much Heavy Handedness. Then there's Propaganda like Fonda's (read American) Proclaiming, "No Indian alive can outrun me!".But it is an Entertaining Film and the Final Siege at the Fort is Stunning in its Gripping Brutality. Fonda and Colbert are All Right and Edna May Oliver is again a Scene Stealer, but the Supporting Cast is nothing but a Silly Conglomerate of Overt Stereotypes and Overacting.Certainly Worth a Watch for the Aforementioned Good Parts, but Far from a Classic or Enticing Cinema. That is Typical of most John Ford Stuff. Some rather Great Scenes, but His Movies as a Complete Piece of Art, Generally with a Few Exceptions, cannot Withstand the Weight of Ford's Ego.

Joeystate Ford left out an important topic about the American Revolution in the Mohawk Valley. The topic being that it was a theater of extreme neighbor on neighbor violence. Colonial Patriots, Loyalists and Iroquois all who once lived together in peace were split because of politics. The patriots were so harsh on the Loyalist about their beliefs to a point were many Loyalists left the valley for Canada or England. The Iroquois original wanted no part in the conflict. I do believe that the word vengeance for what the Patriots put the loyalists through can be valid. I think British officials and John Johnson wanted to assign those loyal to the crown who knew and lived in the area to attack the Patriots. Many of the New York Loyalist and Iroquois enlisted were part of the Kings Royal Regiment of New York, and Butlers Rangers. I mostly believe that it was the British objective to lay waste to the valley for two reasons. One, The Mohawk valley was a major food source for the Continental Army up until after the Sullivan Expedition of 1779. Two, St. Ledger wanted to provide a diversion to help Burgoyne at Saratoga. We do not see the worst of it because the film goes from 1777 to early 1779. From 1780 to the end of the war there were a lot more raids with smaller raiding parties containing mostly of Loyalists from the area. By the end of the war the valley was practically deserted with lots of destroyed homesteads and farms. Some settlements and small villages were wiped from the face of the earth like Andrustown. Only less than a 1000 out of about 7000 residents remained. Even though other frontier communities faced the same events like Cobleskill, and Cherry Valley, the devastation according to accounts was not as near as what it was in the Mohawk Valley. Repeated battles and raids made the Mohawk Valley the most bloodiest and dangerous place during the War for Independence. It took the lives of many innocent Patriots, Loyalist, and Iroquois. I do like the film and Ford did a good job showing frontier life and a good portrayal of the 1778 attack.

Spikeopath Drums Along the Mohawk is directed by John Ford and adapted to screenplay by Sonya Levien & Lamar Trotti from the novel written by Walter D. Edmonds. It stars Henry Fonda, Claudette Colbert, Edna May Oliver, John Carradine and Ward Bond. Music is by Alfred Newman and cinematography by Bert Glennon and Ray Rennahan. Settlers on the New York frontier face up to the challenges of the Revolution and hostile forces homing in on their settlements. In what was a stellar year for cinema, John Ford had three films released, Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln and Drums Along the Mohawk, of the three it's not unfair to say that the latter is seen as the lesser light of his 1939 output. Yet this in no way means it's a weak film, it isn't, although it has some problems, it's just a measure of the director that he was able to churn out quality more often than not. Drums Along the Mohawk is very much a quintessential Ford movie, it's awash with sentiment, an awareness of the value of community and of course some muscular love of America. The attention to detail of frontier life - and the knowledge of the folk who fought in that first wave of the Revolution - is superb, boosted no end by the magnificent Technicolor (it was Ford's first film in colour) and the way Glennon and Rennahan (Oscar Nominated Best Color Cinematography) bring the Utah landscapes vividly to life. The story allows Ford to produce some great moments. A battle scarred Gilbert Martin (Fonda) musing on the horrors of war holds the viewer spellbound, the edge of seat attack on Fort Herkimer that closes the picture excites and frightens in equal measure, and a chase sequence that sees Gil pursued by three Mohawks is a thing of beauty as it begins under a blood red sky and continues through the changing landscape. It's a film showcasing the strengths of the director for sure. On the acting front the ever watchable Fonda and the Ford stock company are let down a touch by the odd casting of Colbert. Bright and cute in that Bonnet wearing kind of way, Colbert is miscast and never fully convinces as a frontier wife, though she is not helped by scripted dialogue that often borders on being twee. No such problem with Oliver, though, who is delightful as the crotchety and stoic old gal, her Oscar Nomination for Best Supporting Actress was well warranted. Some misplaced humour, Colbert and twee dialogue stop it from being ultimate Ford, but it's often a thing of beauty and it has knowledge and warmth driving the narrative forward. 7/10

Claudio Carvalho 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")