History Brought To Technicolored Life

Colonial Hardship Of Drums Along The Mohawk (1939)

Another stress watch, as many classics have become for me. No blame on John Ford's film, but Drums Along The Mohawk is intense, Indian attacks way harrowing despite repeats of the show and knowing well the finish. Hordes not shown close-up make any stand against them seem hopeless ("Thousands, and they're coming this way!"), which for most of run time, is dispiriting case. How often were real-life pioneers obliged to rebuild after yet another scorch-out of communities? These natives are scarier than most in movies, and that may be why Ford gets latter-day slam for portraying them that way. A tense wrap is out of Griffith's Birth Of A Nation playbook, siege on the settler's fort reaching pitch of children snatched from mothers and nearly tossed to flames before reinforcement arrives at a last moment. Did this cause nightmares for 1939-40 youth? (would have for me) Drums was pitched aggressively to schools, so kids were there as groups, maybe less so by choice. Much as I admire Drums Along The Mohawk, there's fierce edge to its blade that Ford humor cannot undo. How to erase recall of helpless Francis Ford strapped to a hay wagon set ablaze? Takes time, or maybe my hide has thinned for this sort of mayhem.

Americana and patriotic topics was table set for much of 1939 showgoing. Even shorts went three-corner hat route via Warners and its "Sons Of Liberty" group, these less for profit than trumpet blowing "Good Citizenship" on WB part for making them. Westerns as told on empire builder terms were wows for profit, but looks to America's Revolution bore taste of chalk and dates to memorize. In short, back to school, and how was that fun? Allegheny Uprising from RKO went unwanted ($230K lost), while wiser heads stayed clear of the era most considered poison for movies (that had been assumed for Civil War themes as well, until GWTW). Maybe crowds were exhausted with Americana by November 1939 when Drums Along The Mohawk was released. Ford and Fox had gone enrichment route earlier in the year with Young Mr. Lincoln, and that yielded red ink. So too would Drums Along The Mohawk, which cost more ($1.4 million to Lincoln's $606K), did much better, but not enough to return a heady investment in Technicolor and location filming. Drums Along The Mohawk wasn't a disaster ($2.1 million in worldwide rentals), but that wasn't enough to see profit, and profit was what Fox was in business to generate.

A starting-out squawk I had this time was miscast of Claudette Colbert as co-lead with Henry Fonda. He's right, her less so, or maybe it's Fonda looking younger than his thirty-four years when Drums was made. Colbert had two years on him (born 1903), and buying her as sheltered daughter seen off to frontier wedlock by weeping mom Clara Blandick is asking much. Better choice for the part, admittedly less starry, would have been Linda Darnell, new to 20th and initially used for the ingénue part Dorris Bowdon ultimately took over (Darnell is said to be visible in long shots). Sounds unlikely at first blush, but the role needed a girl untried by frontier life, which Colbert decidedly was not, having a so-far career at knowing the score, and better served by contemporary backdrop. Darnell was admittedly green, as in virtually no experience, but wouldn't all that have worked to considerable advantage had Ford brought her carefully along and gotten the character his narrative ideally sought? Word was that Colbert talked back to customarily unchallenged Ford, her ace being status as loaned-out star, as in major star, from Paramount. Serious argument between these two could have led to a him-or-me phone call back to Fox, and I'm not so sure Ford would have prevailed. Give me Darnell then, for ideal pairing with Fonda (and they would get together the following year in Chad Hanna).

Robert Lowery and Linda Darnell on Location --- Darnell Would Later Be Replaced

Fonda at one point recites carnage of a battle Ford meant to shoot, but didn't for time and budgetary reasons. The telling is explicit beyond what could have been shown on screen ("Heads blowed half-off" --- that sort of thing). It was effective shorthand on Ford's part, and what savings ... Monogram could have used his kind of economy. For combat approximating what Ford might have staged for Drums Along The Mohawk, there would be 1940's Northwest Passage, where King Vidor pitched violence-beyond-norm between explorers and redskins, also in color. Sinister face of Drums' enemy is John Carradine with an eye-patch and Tory sympathies. Redcoats don't show until a third act, and they're mostly at a distance. Zanuck didn't want to irk the British, knowing they'd soon enough be our wartime allies. If wilderness was indeed a last lost paradise, Ford found it at his Utah shooting site that cast/crew would remember as highlight of their professional lives. Nightly ritual of meals, entertainment overseen by Fonda, taps blown, tent sleeping, all of roughing it that was/is the Romance Of John Ford, and reason his outdoor stuff cries authenticity.

Exploitation aimed for jugulars ("treachery, massacre, torture ... into the valley where the savage Iroquois lurked!") even as outreach went to educators by way of charts picturing historical sites, these to display in school and public libraries. Fox got Drums Along The Mohawk a favored spot on the Kate Smith radio hour, with dramatization of scenes from the film. "Super-Color Photos" in a set of eight promised a "three-dimensional effect," these turning up later at paper shows and prized by collectors. Drums Along The Mohawk was back in 1947 and did $424K in domestic rentals, along with Western Union a most profitable reissue for Fox that year. Downside was new prints in black-and-white, a disappointment to viewers who remembered how lovely Drums looked in 1939-40. The film was booked to matinees through the late 40's, one of history-themed programs aimed at young people and approval of parents who wanted more enrichment for time offspring spent in theatres. Drums Along The Mohawk unfortunately stayed monochrome from then through early syndication to TV where stations broadcast full-time in B/W. Color prints generated by distributor NTA, many of these on dye-transfer stock, began showing up in the mid-60's. Here was first opportunity to see Drums Along The Mohawk in Technicolor since initial release. Most recent retrieval is a Blu-ray from Twilight Time, a better than might be expected disc, considering what Fox let happen to most of their three-strip elements. A welcome extra is a ninety-minute Ford At Fox documentary.