From 20th Century Fox
Directed by John Ford
Starring
Claudette Colbert
Henry Fonda
Edna May Oliver
Ward Bond
John Carradine
Jessie Ralph
Robert Lowery
Arthur Shields
Chief Big Tree
Being a lover of American history, I have wondered over the years why there haven't been more films about the War of Independence. I could scarcely count the number of films about the Civil War but there have been few on the Revolutionary War. From the 1950s I recall seeing Cornel Wilde in The Scarlet Coat, Disney's Johnny Tremain and Douglas/Lancaster/Olivier in The Devil's Disciple. In the 80s there was the very fine but largely unseen April Morning and of course, a film in 2003 upon which I couldn't lavish enough praise, The Patriot. Sure, I'm missing some but few because there have never been many to celebrate or acknowledge this time in our history. Tis a puzzlement.
John Ford had directed scores of films and shorts before he made this one, but Drums was his first work in color. Fox spared no expense in drenching it in vivid Technicolor which made the crusty director very happy but was quite an undertaking in these early years of using color. There's no better way to see frontier life than in glorious color.
Drums Along the Mohawk isn't considered one of Ford's greatest films but it is certainly one of his most entertaining. It opens with the 1776 marriage of Fonda to Colbert in the Albany mansion of her family. In the next scene they are leaving for Upstate New York's Mohawk Valley. It's a far cry from what she's used to and although we know virtually nothing about either one of them, we feel pretty certain she's a little too genteel to be slopping the hogs.
A single horse pulls their small covered wagon with a cow pulling up the rear. They endure a savage storm to finally arrive in the valley to a cabin some time earlier. While she's looking around trying to fathom what she's chosen to get into, a large, stone-faced but friendly Indian has let himself into her home. When she sees him, she starts screaming so hysterically that Fonda slaps her. So begins life in the Mohawk Valley.
Fonda assures her there are no problems with the Indians but of course he is wrong. They become such a menace with their looting, burning and murdering that the various families flee to the local fort. Fonda and Colbert, fleeing in their cart, look around to see their home burning.
They hire on as workers at the elegant home of a rich widow (Oliver) and all goes well for a while until the dark clouds of an impending war appear on the horizon. The Brits, who have chosen to increase taxation on the colonists, have thus far ignored the Mohawk Valley region but have now decided to include it in their plans. The Tories enlist the aid of the Indians in their quest to tame the citizenry or eliminate them, if necessary. When the locals become aware of the plans, they form a militia and go off to war.
When the Indians burn Oliver's home, as well as scores of others, the entire valley descends on the fort. The film ends with a large-scale fight with the Indians, who bust inside the fort. Fonda has slipped out at the height of the fight to run a great distance to a garrison for troops to come and help. All ends well for Fonda and Colbert who comment that they have a great deal of work ahead of them.
Ford was an avid chronicler of American history but he certainly was known to take a few liberties. The main one here, it seems, deals with the Indians. They weren't hostile, they didn't burn down homes and weren't the menace that Ford wanted us to see, but hey I like Ford's version. There would have been far less drama without it.
There are some fine scenes. Among them is that run Fonda makes for help with three Indians running after him. It is beautifully photographed with liberal use of shadows and silhouette and excitement along the way. A second great scene, and one of much amusement, is when two braves enter Oliver's bedroom as she lay resting. They start fires in the room and as they proceed to torch the bed, she leaps out and begins hitting and shoving them. She ultimately wins her case as she implores them to carry the bed, which her late husband made for her, out of the room to a safe area.
Ford was rough on actors, whether he liked them or not. In Colbert's, case, he didn't like her. She was too fussy and exacting about how she was photographed and he could barely tolerate it. He wanted Linda Darnell for the role (she would work with Ford and Fonda a few years later in My Darling Clementine) but studio head Darryl Zanuck insisted on Colbert. I'm not sure Darnell would have been the right choice but I don't think Colbert was either. Either she was miscast or there was just so little chemistry between her and Fonda... I'm not sure which. I certainly could justify a bit of a stilted performance if the director is obvious about not liking her. I did sense the script was in this character's corner because she is allowed to grow.
This was Fonda's second time working for Ford. They had just finished Young Mr. Lincoln and would next do The Grapes of Wrath, both far superior roles for Fonda. There would be an additional three more pairings which would end on the set of Mr. Roberts (1955) in which their differences became so great that Ford was fired. Fonda is perfectly fine as the young farmer here but the role had no occasion to stretch him as an actor.
Acting honors have to go to Oliver who certainly stole the limelight from her more famous costars. She was a formidable actress and despite her distinctive face, she is not well-known these days. She provided the film with some delicious comedy and was rewarded with an Oscar nomination for her efforts. She died two years after making the film... on her 59th birthday.
Ford's family of actors populated the film... his brother Francis, Bond, Carradine, Shields... a fact that I found made his movies so comfortable to watch.
The film's other Oscar nomination, of course, went to the splendid color photography by Bert Clennon and Ray Rennahan.
Here's the trailer, oddly shown in black and white...
Next posting:
One of the most famous screen
teams in movie history
No comments:
Post a Comment