Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Lamar Trotti (screenplay) and
Sonya Levien (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

10 November 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War | Western

Tagline:

Red-Blooded DRAMA !

Plot:

In Revolutionary America, Gil Martin takes his new wife Lana back to his farm in upstate New York. The...

Plot Keywords:

New York | Farm | Fort | Widow | Farmer

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Claudette Colbert	...	Lana (Magdelana)
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	...	Rev. Rosenkrantz
Robert Lowery	...	John Weaver
Roger Imhof	...	Gen. Nicholas Herkimer
Francis Ford	...	Joe Boleo
Ward Bond	...	Adam Hartman
Kay Linaker	...	Mrs. Demooth
Russell Simpson	...	Dr. Petry
Spencer Charters	...	Innkeeper
Si Jenks	...	Jacob Small
Jack Pennick	...	Amos Hartman (as J. Ronald Pennick)
Arthur Aylesworth	...	George Weaver
Chief John Big Tree	...	Blue Back (as Chief Big Tree)
Charles Tannen	...	Dr. Robert Johnson
Paul McVey	...	Capt. Mark Demooth
Tiny Jones	...	Mrs. Reall (as Elizabeth Jones)
Beulah Hall Jones	...	Daisy
Edwin Maxwell	...	Rev. Daniel Gros
Robert Greig	...	Mr. Borst
Clara Blandick	...	Mrs. Borst
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frank Baker	...	Commander of Colonial Troops (uncredited)
Noble Johnson	...	Native American (uncredited)
Payne B. Johnson	...	Boy in Wedding (uncredited)
Mae Marsh	...	Pioneer Woman (uncredited)
Lionel Pape	...	General (uncredited)
Tom Tyler	...	Capt. Morgan (uncredited)
Clarence Wilson	...	Paymaster (uncredited)

Directed by
John Ford

Writing credits
Lamar Trotti		(screenplay) and
Sonya Levien		(screenplay)
Walter D. Edmonds		(novel)
William Faulkner		(contributor to treatment) uncredited &
Bess Meredyth		(contributor to treatment) uncredited

Produced by
Raymond Griffith	....	associate producer
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Alfred Newman

Cinematography by
Bert Glennon		(director of photography)
Ray Rennahan		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Robert L. Simpson		(as Robert Simpson)

Art Direction by
Richard Day
Mark-Lee Kirk

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Gwen Wakeling

Makeup Department
Ann Barr	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Irene Beshon	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Marie Brasselle	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Robert Cowan	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Steve Drumm	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Myrtle Ford	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Newton House	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Norbert Miles	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Ralph Dietrich	....	production manager (uncredited)
W.F. Fitzgerald	....	unit production manager (uncredited)
Robert E. Goux	....	unit production manager (uncredited)
Bernard McEveety	....	unit production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
F.E. Johnson	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Edward O'Fearna	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Wingate Smith	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Joe Behm	....	props (uncredited)
Stanley Detlie	....	assistant propman (uncredited)
Fred J. Rode	....	set dresser (uncredited)
Tom Shaw	....	assistant propman (uncredited)

Sound Department
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)
E. Clayton Ward	....	sound
Harry M. Leonard	....	cable person (uncredited)
Robert Parrish	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)
Harry Roberts	....	boom operator (uncredited)
Harold A. Root	....	assistant sound (uncredited)
Mert Strong	....	cable person (uncredited)

Stunts
Jackie Hamblin	....	stunt double (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Alfred Baalas	....	film loader: Technicolor (uncredited)
Charles Bohny	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Fritz Borsch	....	camera maintenance: Technicolor (uncredited)
Nelson Cordes	....	camera technician: Technicolor (uncredited)
John Grady	....	best boy (uncredited)
John Gustafson	....	camera technician: Technicolor (uncredited)
Fred Hall	....	gaffer (uncredited)
John Lees	....	assistant camera: Technicolor (uncredited)
Phil Mandella	....	grip (uncredited)
Frank Powolny	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Irving Rosenberg	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Gwen Wakeling	....	costumes
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Ollie Hughes	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Joe Kane	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Harry Kernell	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
George Koich	....	tailor (uncredited)
Norman Martien	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Josephine Perrin	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Robert Varnado	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Grace Wilson	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Mary Crumley	....	assistant cutter: Technicolor (uncredited)
Jack Wells	....	assistant cutter: Technicolor (uncredited)

Music Department
David Buttolph	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Edward B. Powell	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Conrad Salinger	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Louis Silvers	....	musical director (uncredited)
Frank Tresselt	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Henri Jaffa	....	associate Technicolor director
Natalie Kalmus	....	Technicolor director
Thornton Edwards	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
Harold Lloyd Morris	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
Henry J. Staudigl	....	continuity: Technicolor (uncredited)
Meta Stern	....	script clerk (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1939) (USA) (theatrical) (released through) (as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation)
• Fox Films (1940) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1947) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release) (as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation)
• Centfox (1949) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Fox Video (1988) (USA) (VHS)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• EuroVideo (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• 20th Television (????) (USA) (TV)
• Epoca (????) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Key Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Darryl F. Zanuck's Production of Drums Along the Mohawk" - UK (complete title), USA (complete title)
"Sur la piste des Mohawks" - Belgium (French title), France
"Trommeln am Mohawk" - Austria, West Germany
"Al redoblar de tambores" - Argentina
"Ao Rufar dos Tambores" - Brazil (imdb display title)
"Bebny nad Mohawkiem" - Poland (imdb display title)
"Corazones indomables" - Spain
"Dobok a Mohawk mentén" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Erämaan rummut" - Finland (TV title)
"Flammande vildmark" - Sweden
"Flammer over Mohawk" - Denmark
"La più grande avventura" - Italy
"Liekehtivä erämaa" - Finland
"Mohawks op het oorlogspad" - Belgium (Flemish title)
"Ouvem-se Tambores ao Longe" - Portugal
"Pyrinos heimarros" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Tambores de guerra" - Mexico (imdb display title)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | USA:Approved (Certificate #5530) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Australia:PG (video rating) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (2004) | UK:PG (tv rating) | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Duck Creek, Kanab, Utah, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Clarence Wilson in the role as "Paymaster" and Lionel Pape in the role of "General" are in studio records/casting call lists as cast members, but they did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the Indians first attack the settlers during the land clearing, the first Indian to shoot at the fleeing settlers fires a musket shot and then falls down as though shot before anyone returns fire.

Quotes:

Reverend Rosenkrantz:Any man failing to report to duty will be promptly hanged. Amen.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Unearthly (#4.20)" (1991)

Soundtrack:

America, My Country Tis of Thee

Yeoman Farmers In the Mohawk Valley

Drums Along the Mohawk is the story of newlyweds Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert and the trials they faced trying to make a life in the Mohawk River Valley during the Revolutionary War.

The Upstate New York theater save for the key battle of Saratoga was one of the backwater areas of the American Revolution. Still it has a colorful history and it's the one area of the Revolution where the British made use of their allies among the Indians.

Specifically the Iroquois who had supported the British against the French in the Seven Years War 20 year earlier. As a consequence of that support, the Indians were guaranteed no white settlement west of the Appalachian mountains. Saying that and enforcing that were two different propositions. Farmer pioneers as depicted by Fonda and Colbert were not about to be turned back by words in the Treaty of Paris. Of course the Indian side to it was never told on screen at that time in Hollywood.

Still those were brave people who pioneered and the film is a tribute to them. The real person of Nicholas Herkimer and his brave death in the Battle of Oriskany is woven into this story. Herkimer is played by Roger Imhoff and he was the son of German settlers from Hanover. Remember George III was Duke of Hanover and lots of German settlers came to the colonies. Imhoff plays Herkimer with correct German accent and as the gallant hero he was.

John Carradine plays Caldwell the one eyed Tory who leads the Iroquois, Why John Ford just didn't use the real name of Walter Butler for Carradine's character I couldn't say. Yet Caldwell is based on Butler who was right up there with Benedict Arnold as one of the Revolution's deepest, darkest villains. Carradine does well with the part, no shades of gray in his portrayal. You might recall that Butler was one of the 'jury' at the trial in The Devil and Daniel Webster and Lionel Barrymore played him in D.W. Griffith's silent classic, America.

Edna May Oliver is the pioneer widow woman who takes in Fonda and Colbert after their own place is burned to the ground during a raid and won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was a hardy soul and she steals the film.

This is John Ford's first Technicolor feature and he really did well in the cinematography department. The forest greens of upstate New York really are depicted well, especially in the part where Henry Fonda is being chased by the Indians as he goes for help in the climax.

Upstate New York was a key area of the American Revolution. With the British occupying New York City for most of the war, upstate was the bridge in which those rabble rousers in New England kept connected with the south. It's why the Battle of Saratoga was so important, why Benedict Arnold's aborted treachery in turning West Point over to them was so important. If it wasn't for those yeoman farmers in the Mohawk Valley there might not be an America today.

And the Mohawk Valley was more important afterwards because another man with vision who was New York's governor named DeWitt Clinton had an idea to extend the headwaters of the Mohawk River straight to Lake Erie with a canal. That act opened up the northwest to trade and made New York the largest city in the USA. No doubt the descendants of Colbert and Fonda worked on the Erie Canal as well.

Drums Along the Mohawk is a nice tribute film to some brave people whose battles on that sideshow theater of the war made possible the very existence of America.