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")

mhesselius John Ford is an enigma. He has great virtues and vices as a director. Unfortunately, in this film (as in the Searchers) all his worst qualities are on display. Instead of the inherently dramatic events from Walter Edmonds' novel about Revolutionary War farmers in upstate New York, troubled by divisions within the community between Tories and Patriots, we get Ford's unmistakable brand of maudlin sentiment, and the hysterics of characters who are so simplistically rendered they'll remind you of children pretending.Ford also violates a cardinal rule of good film making by having Henry Fonda's character, Gil Martin, deliriously narrate to his wife the details of his experience in the battle of Oriskany. The scene is static, and Martin's story would have been better shown, not told. But Ford's movies are never entirely without interest. The best part of this movie (an action sequence where Henry Fonda has to outrun some Native American warriors) is a fine set-piece, but the characters have absolutely no dimension. I think Ford worked best when his producers reined him in. We can see this in STAGECOACH, in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, and in FORT APACHE. But when they gave him his head he could turn out cloying material like DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK, THE SEARCHERS, and RIO GRANDE.In 1939 the three strip Technicolor process was Hollywood's new toy. In most early color features the new medium was the message; story and character development took a back seat as they do here. If you love melodrama and films with lots of action but not much depth, this one might appeal to you.

Benoît A. Racine (benoit-3) I first saw "Drums" dubbed in French at age 7 in front of an old small-screen black and white early TV set in the fifties in my native Quebec. In spite of the bad quality of the print and the primitive technology, it struck me – even then - as elaborately engrossing. But its depictions of Indian attacks warped me for life. For all the political correctness talk of Aboriginal-sensitive commentaries that bemoan the fact that Indians are portrayed like the flying monkeys from "The Wizard of Oz", the fact remains that of the more than 300 native cultures in North America, Mohawks were the most violent and troublesome. They were s.o.b.'s then and they are s.o.b.'s now and forever getting into trouble with the laws of my native Quebec (which offered them asylum after the war and to this day), neighbouring Ontario and New York State. They may have fought against the Revolution but we were stuck with them for 250 years.It was quite a revelation to see the film again in the wondrous 2005 DVD restoration with its sound spatialised for stereo equipment. I saw the colours and the detail and heard the original English dialogue for the first time. The film has acquired a lot of new qualities to my eyes and ears during that viewing - even though the Mohawks were still the blood-thirsty bastards I remembered. I will try to name a few reasons for loving that film.THE RESTORATION AND PHOTOGRAPHY: The restorers worked from a well preserved early interpositive that they cleaned up electronically. Although the results can't compare with the wonders of the expensive ultra-resolution process where all three colour layers of Technicolor are realigned electronically, the image is still for the most part stunning and showing very little misregistration. The day-for-night scenes may be a little wanting in the contrast department, but, all in all, the DVD shows the viewer examples of what made Technicolor such a fascinating novelty. The director of photography takes loving care in giving the viewer his money's worth by showing landscapes, sunrises, sunsets, high noon, cloudy skies, clear skies, forest trails, interiors, thunderstorms, moonlight and candlelight in a way that black and white photography could only suggest. And everything gives the illusion of having been shot on location and mostly outdoors even when logic dictates that this is impossible.THE HISTORICAL INTEREST: There are very few films showing the reality (and the horror) of the Revolutionary War and its impact on frontier people. This film is a magnificent reconstruction. The Black servant Daisy and the good Indian Blue Back may be given short shrift all through the film but they are counted among the characters who proudly salute the new flag of the United States in the final scene when Gil says to his wife that there is still "a heap of work to do" to make this a real country. I also liked Alfred Newman using "Country Gardens" as a musical theme representing the gentility of the lifestyle – and the home country - the pioneers left behind.THE MUSIC: Alfred Newman is a rustic melodist but a very sophisticated musicologist and orchestrator. His music, while never calling attention to itself, does a wonderful job of underlining the numerous suspense scenes with intelligent commentary that has nothing to do with today's "fear music", which is all about percussion, electronic effects and high noise level. His work gives the film its soul through its drama, comedy, suspense and pathos.THE ACTORS: Henry Fonda – perfectly cast (his family actually founded the village of Fonda on the Mohawk River) - gives one of the best speeches of his career. Claudette Colbert, whom it can be suspected was offered the part for her box-office appeal and as a consolation prize for not doing "Gone With The Wind", renounces all mannerisms and compensates for bad casting by acting in a purely visceral and physical way. She succeeds in portraying a subservient and modest wife – which is quite a stretch for her. Edna May Oliver is also given a meaty part of a woman of courage and expression, which she manages to underplay and make real. All the other John Ford regulars (with special kudos to Ward Bond)are equally memorable in making the sometimes quirky and era-specific characters come to life.For all those reasons, this is a film worth preserving and seeing over and over again when one wants to get in touch with the real spirit of the American Revolution, the sacrifices it cost and what it was supposed to accomplish.

Pongsakorn Phuaree I could not believe this story is about war history because the movie began with the scene of the beautiful wedding. Besides, there were many soft musics that performed in the beginning. I thought this movie would have been the romantic movie. However, this movie attracted me because it introduced the life of people in rural. I watched many movies ,but they usually were about the life of people in urban, so it was like I learned another taste of movies. It was natural. Moreover, The scene that was about the war was exciting because there were a lot of shooting and using many kinds of weapon. A lot of people were used to perform the scene of the war that helps the audience get the feeling of war. In addition ,it was a good opportunity to learn the strategy of the war in that era. Another scene that I like when the three indians was chasing the main actor, and they were running on the mountain on the background of the sunrise. It helps me imagine this is very long running. Nevertheless, I think there is the problem of the color of the movie because I could not see the detail in far vision.