blogging by Andrew Wickliffe


Drums Along the Mohawk (1939, John Ford)


Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert star in DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK, directed by John Ford for 20th Century Fox.

Every eight years or so, I watch Drums Along the Mohawk to see if it gets any better. According to my cursory notes from my last viewing, it apparently has gotten a little bit better. As the titles rolled, I was hopeful–it is John Ford after all (his first color film) and screenwriters Lamar Trotti and Sonya Levien have both written some excellent films. But it’s rocky from the start. The most film’s most rewarding aspect is seeing Ford get comfortable with filming in color. His composition for the opening is problematic, like he’s trying to fit as much into the frame as possible to showcase the lush colors. For the first fifteen or twenty minutes (one of the nicest things about Drums is how fast it moves), it looks like Post-Impressionist. The colors are so vibrant, they distract from the actors.

And the actors are where Drums Along the Mohawk has problems. The film starts with Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda getting married. The rapid-fire pacing gives them a few minutes–a scene working together in the fields and it’s a fine enough scene–to get a reasonable chemistry going. They don’t. The fault seems to lie with Colbert, who’s either entirely wrong for the role or just terrible. It’s hard to tell, because there isn’t a single moment where Colbert doesn’t appear to be a porcelain doll. Her hair and make-up are always perfect (until the scene where she has to shoot at the attacking Indians–and by then, in the third act, it’s far too late to make up for it). Fonda fares better, but only because Trotti and Levien give him an amazing monologue about the nature of war. But Fonda’s not the film’s focus and in many ways, Colbert isn’t either.

Drums Along the Mohawk is a melodrama; it’s event after event after event. There’s some implied nuance–like Jack-o’-lanterns at a wedding–but the film’s sets and costuming are fantastic, so it’s a totally different department working on such additions. The script only approaches subtly a couple times–first, during that field scene and, second (and fair more successfully), with Edna May Oliver and Ward Bond. Oliver’s the feisty widow who can’t stop talking about her passed husband and–in a great scene–makes a couple marauding Indians preserve her bed while they’re burning down her house. Bond’s comically flirtatious in their first scene together, but it soon develops into what appears to be a discreet and touching romance.

The rest of the film’s acting is fine. Jessie Ralph’s in it, she’s always good. John Carradine’s wasted as a villainous Tory.

As the film progresses, Ford’s use of color flourishes. There’s a magnificent chase scene with Fonda on the run, the action only taking up the bottom fourth of the screen, the rest filled with clouds. The film’s eventually unimaginable in black and white, it simply wouldn’t make any sense–quite a difference from the opening scenes.

There’s a general competency to the script, combined with a good performance from Fonda (the script really doesn’t give him much to do save that one scene) and Ford’s direction, Drums Along the Mohawk passes. It’s just a shame they didn’t get a female actor appropriate for Colbert’s role… who knows how it would have turned out.

1.5/4★½

CREDITS

Directed by John Ford; screenplay by Lamar Trotti and Sonya Levien, based on the novel by Walter D. Edmonds; directors of photography, Bert Glennon and Ray Rennahan; edited by Robert L. Simpson; music by Alfred Newman; produced by Darryl F. Zanuck; released by 20th Century Fox.

Starring Claudette Colbert (Lana), Henry Fonda (Gilbert Martin), Edna May Oliver (Mrs. McKlennar), Eddie Collins (Christian Reall), John Carradine (Caldwell), Dorris Bowdon (Mary Reall), Jessie Ralph (Mrs. Weaver), Arthur Shields (Reverend Rosenkrantz), Robert Lowery (John Weaver), Roger Imhof (Gen. Nicholas Herkimer), Francis Ford (Joe Boleo) and Ward Bond (Adam Hartman).


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One response to “Drums Along the Mohawk (1939, John Ford)”

  1. I saw “Drums Along the Mohawk” a few months ago, and while I wouldn’t judge it quite so harshly as you, I did find it to be an unexciting experience, given the talent involved. Colbert is one of my very favorite actresses of the period, but I agree that she is absolutely wrong for this role. It’s the worst performance I’ve ever seen her give. She has no chemistry at all with Fonda; it’s impossible to imagine them as husband and wife. The friend I saw the movie with said she looked like a “painted doll,” almost the same reaction you had! Colbert made more than one movie with certain directors, and Ford tended to use the same actors over and over again. Yet I don’t believe either one of them did another movie together.

    Fonda and Ford, on the other hand, made several movies together (until they had that falling out in the middle of “Mister Roberts”), and he can be a fine actor. But he’s not especially memorable here. His low-key style needs to be channeled into some purpose, and I agree that it happens only in this movie at the very end (which for me was the only part where Ford’s considerable directing skills were evident). I thought you put your finger on the film’s greatest assets–the sets, especially the outdoor ones, and Edna May Oliver’s irascible/lovable performance. It was interesting to see Ford work in color, but the Technicolor of that era always looks artificial to me, rather like those colorized b&w movies of the 80’s.

    I’m glad you do classic movies (which are my main interest) as well as newer ones. I’m now going to check out some of the links at the end of the review.

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