Very well executed

Am I Missing Something?

Admirable film.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A recent viewing of John Ford's historical drama of the American revolution, "Drums Along the Mohawk," prompts me to try to persuade you what an under-appreciated masterpiece it is, epitomizing the master at his best in frontier dramas. Sure it's got all the stock Ford elements, not just cast and company, but repetitious cultural details to convey the flavor of the frontier era. (Had he been able to script Henry Fonda doing the same bumpkin dance step he does in "Young Mr. Lincoln", "My Darling Clementine", and "Fort Apache" with any credibility to the era, I'm sure he would have—but that just proves my point.)I say under-appreciated because DATM is the best of the 1939 movies, and one of the greatest of all time, despite its ridiculously paltry 7.2 IMDb rating. It's trite but a truism that you can discover something new in every viewing, some small detail that evokes your admiration.This was one of the first films in Technicolor and Ford showed a mastery of it, even though he plied his trade almost exclusively in black and white, with great artistic skill, for years after. His use of location shooting, especially the wide shots that include sky and background, and contrast demonstrates his understanding of the medium while it was still in its infancy. Claudette Colbert was said to have terrible misgivings about being photographed in color but she is luminous here in many scenes. Ford understood imagery as well as any great filmmaker.Space prevents using more than a few examples to support the point, but try these. The outdoor scene in which the Indians attack Gil's farm is breathtakingly brilliant, both in detail and totality of imagery: angles, colors, contrasts, close-ups, long shots, lighting, costuming, dialog, action, and editing…all perfectly designed and executed. Blue Back breathes heavily as if he had just run for miles, a step head of the Indians unseen in the menacingly shadowed woods just behind him. Caldwell and his men appear in a sun-dappled clearing with smoke drifting through it, foreshadowing what is about to happen to the farm, and the effect is haunting. The next time you watch this film, look at the lower right corner of that scene's opening long shot. Mary Reall can be seen bringing John Weaver a drink of water. It's their first appearance in the movie, well before the minor plot detail of their marriage is even suggested and the touch of a master. How in the world did it even occur to Ford to include it, knowing that 99.99% of his audience would never notice? A similar detail during the barn-raising scene in "Witness" is central to that shot. Did you notice it here, Peter Weir?DATM is crammed with such scenes. Gil marching off with to the Battle of Oriskany (which BTW is unerringly conveyed to the frontier enthusiast without ever using its name) is equally memorable, from Fonda's admirably underplayed intimate parting from Lana and Mrs. McKlennar to the broad vista of Lana sitting like Andrew Wyeth's Christina (and preceding that masterpiece by almost ten years—another coincidence? Probably—it would be interesting though to learn the derivation of Ford's vision) watching the army march across the valley. Every time I see the shot of the New York Continentals shuffling up the dusty road, I get a feeling I'm looking through a window back into history. At the end of that scene look across the valley with Lana and watch a gaggle of horsemen break away from the head of the distant marching line to review the force as it marches by — another perfect touch in miniature.Not all of the best shots are grand in scope or even intentional. The scene inside the McKlennar house when the exhausted and decimated army returns from Oriskany has a stage play feel to it but is no less brilliant. The waiting women sit outside on the porch on a sultry August night (a small point of accuracy) with Mrs McKlennar trying to cool herself with a fan because the house is still too hot inside. After the army returns, militia Captain Mark Demooth sits unrecognizable on the porch in battle shock, unable to speak or respond to Mrs. McKlennar, who caresses his cheek in appreciation of the horror he has experienced. Of the unplanned brilliance, the battle itself was cut from production for time and budget reasons, with a jerry-rigged monologue by Fonda substituted, but the result is far more effective than a battle scene would have been. Fonda understates his description of the battle, conveying it so well that Colbert responds with a sudden look of horror as he describes the memory of seeing a neighbor get his head shot off, a look so fleeting that you almost have to pause the film to see how well she renders it.All of this is accomplished with the Ford craftsmanship we take for granted. His period pieces are so well done that he puts you back into the era using a stock company of actors basically portraying themselves (contrasted to the casting of any of innumerable and interchangeable pretty person clones so integral to filmmaking today) and costumes, makeup and sets that are authentic enough to avoid the feel of a Hollywood back lot. Compare that to today's films with their contrived ugliness—excessively ill-fitting clothing, bad hairdos, and garish makeup—meant to show us that these were the "old times" when the unwashed didn't have the enlightened sense of beauty and sex appeal we're so privileged to enjoy today. If you haven't seen "Drums Along the Mohawk" yet, give it a look, and even if you have, give it another, a more critical one.

A typically enjoyable John Ford frontier romp, set around the time of the American War of Independence and filmed in glowing colour. It contains the usual mix and at times unusual juxtaposition of broad humour with great pathos, although the accent is more on the latter, particularly the lengthy scene of the returning first-time soldier frontiersmen, battered, bruised and weather-beaten but not bested In battle. In the end they're required to put up an Alamo-type defence of their homestead, until the cavalry comes, summoned by Henry Fonda's Gil character after an extended marathon race against three pursuing Indians which must have broken the Olympic record. As stated, Ford's sometimes abrupt changes of mood and scene jar somewhat, for example, in an early scene Claudette Colbert's prim city girl Lana goes native at the sight of a native Indian, requiring a sock on the jaw from Fonda to calm her down, from which point she becomes the perfect supportive wife, helping on the farm, delivering children and even fighting back marauding Indians by the end.For me, the Fonda / Colbert relationship didn't convince, however. She seems too old to be the sweet, virginal wife and is rather matronly throughout. Fonda, if anything seems too young for his part, a fresh-faced youth which no amount of trying experiences seems to age or weather. That apart, it's impossible not to like other aspects of the movie, including Ford's direction of crowd scenes and some wonderful cinematography, none more so than when Fonda outruns his pursuers under the golden hue of a setting sun. Ford made better movies than this in this year never mind the rest of his long career, even if it is one of those "Indian-bashing" films he would live to regret later in his career. However it's made so well that it's probably best to let the story simply unfold of itself, without looking for logic.

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.

The film was fun to watch: especially the slapping of women, pathetic but funny Indians, praying for a good day of Tory and Indian killing, how liquor makes you quicker (ooops, no it didn't), etc. One would like to think we were on the right side in the Indian Wars, but we weren't. Like many treaties that were to come, "we the people" broke many promises to the original Americans. A good example of propaganda in the form of film. I have never seen a more girly pioneer woman in Colbert's characterization. Jeez, look at her run as she watches Gil march away. And then the whole hysterical fit when Blue Back arrives. And did you notice what looks like a plastic nock on the arrow that hits the tree as Gil is running to Fort Dayton! Not a big deal, but funny to see the master Ford's misattention to detail. Otherwise it's a great film!