| Drums Along the Mohawk | |
|---|---|
 DVD release cover | |
| Directed by | John Ford |
| Screenplay by | Sonya Levien Lamar Trotti |
| Based on | Drums Along the Mohawk 1936 novel byWalter D. Edmonds |
| Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck |
| Starring | Claudette Colbert Henry Fonda Edna May Oliver John Carradine Ward Bond |
| Cinematography | Bert Glennon Ray Rennahan |
| Edited by | Robert L. Simpson |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | over $2 million[1] |
| Box office | $1.558 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)[2] |
Drums Along the Mohawk is a 1939 Americanhistorical drama film based upon a 1936novel of the same name by American authorWalter D. Edmonds. The film starsHenry Fonda andClaudette Colbert, was produced byDarryl F. Zanuck, and directed byJohn Ford.
Fonda and Colbert portray a couple who settle on theNew York frontier during theAmerican Revolutionary War and defend their farm fromLoyalist andNative American attacks before the conflict ends and peace is restored.
Edmonds based the novel on a number of historic figures who lived in the valley. The film—Ford's firstTechnicolor feature—was well received. It became a major box-office success and was nominated for oneAcademy Award.
Lana Borst, the eldest daughter of a wealthy colonial family, marries Gilbert Martin. Together, they leave her family's luxurious home to embark on a frontier life on Gil's smallDeerfield farm situated in theMohawk Valley ofCentral New York. In July 1776, after theAmerican Revolutionary War has broken out, the valley's settlers have formed amilitia in anticipation of conflict, and Gil enlists in it.
As Gil and his neighbors are clearing land for farming, Blue Back, a friendlyOneida, arrives to warn them that aSeneca raiding party led by aLoyalist named Caldwell is in the valley. The settlers leave their farms and take refuge in nearby Fort Schuyler. Lana, who is pregnant, miscarries during the frantic ride to the fort. Martin's farm is destroyed by the raiding party. With no home and winter approaching, the Martins accept work on the farm of a wealthy widow, Mrs. McKlennar.
During a peaceful interlude, Mrs. McKlennar and the Martins prosper. Then, word comes that a large force of Loyalist troops andNative Americans are approaching the valley. The militia sets out westward to intercept the attackers, but their approach is badly timed and they are ambushed. Though the enemy force is eventually defeated atOriskany, more than half of the militiamen are killed. Gil returns home, wounded and delirious, but slowly recovers. Lana is again pregnant and delivers a son.
Later, the Loyalists and Native Americans mount a major attack to take the valley, and the settlers again take refuge in the fort. Mrs. McKlennar is mortally wounded and ammunition runs short. Gil makes a heroic dash through enemy lines to secure help from nearbyFort Dayton. Reinforcements arrive just in time to beat back the attackers, who are about to overwhelm the fort. The militia pursues, harasses, and defeats the enemy, scattering them into the wilderness. The Mohawk Valley settlement is saved. Shortly afterward, a regiment arrives at the fort to announce thatLord Cornwallis has surrendered toGeorge Washington at thesiege of Yorktown and the war is over. The settlers look forward to their future in the new, independentUnited States.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(September 2024) |
Parts of the film were shot in Utah, specifically inDuck Creek, Strawberry Valley,Mirror Lake,Navajo Lake, Sidney Valley, andCedar Breaks National Monument.[3]: 287
The discovery of early drafts of the screenplay reveal the involvement ofWilliam Faulkner as author of the original treatment and creator of the film's initial dialogue.[citation needed]
 | This sectionmay lendundue weight to too much detail at too great length. Please helpimprove it by rewriting it in abalanced fashion that contextualizes different points of view.(September 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Drums Along the Mohawk is loosely based on historical events. A central feature of the plot is theBattle of Oriskany, a pivotal engagement of theSaratoga campaign during the American Revolutionary War, in which a British force drove southward from Canada in an attempt to occupy theHudson Valley and isolate Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts from the rest of the Thirteen Colonies.[4] A second, smaller force called theSt. Leger Expedition, traveled down the St. Lawrence, across Lake Ontario, and marched across the Mohawk Valley heading from the west, and besieged Fort Schuyler, now better known under its original, prewar name ofFort Stanwix.[5][6]
TheMohawk Valley of upstate New York had been the traditional homeland of theIroquois Six Nations, a powerful political and military force in the region prior to the American Revolution. Increasingly, white settlers entered the area, with a contingent furthest west of primarily GermanPalatine origin, who had been largely welcomed by the Mohawks resident there.
Nonetheless, the larger Iroquois Confederacy (that the Mohawks were a part of) was quite concerned about the increasing presence and growing numbers of White settlers in their homeland. Dependent on the White civilization for trade goods and economic opportunities, it was at first eager to try to stay neutral in the conflict between Americans settlers and the British Crown; this proved impossible for several reasons, and the bulk of the Iroquois nations chose sides in the conflict. The Seneca and theMohawk, led byJoseph Brant, sided with the British, motivated by their traditional good relations with Britain andSir William Johnson, and Britain's promise to continue to work to reduce American settlement in their homeland. Others, notably the Oneida, sided with the Americans and participated in this conflict on the rebel side throughout the war.[7]
Prior to the arrival of the St. Leger Expedition, the conflict in the region was primarily between local people who wished to remain loyal to the Crown and those who wished to separate from British rule. Locally recruited Loyalist units also participated in the fighting in the region. Troops from theKing's Royal Regiment of New York, (also known as Johnson's Royal Greens) andButler's Rangers, participated in the campaign and fought at the Battle of Oriskany on the side of the Crown with Mohawk and Seneca warriors.[5][6]
Contrary to its depiction in the film, Fort Schuyler was situated far from any civilian settlements at the site of an important portage of east–west travel through the Mohawk Valley. The fort was besieged by British, Loyalist andHessian soldiers aided by Seneca and Mohawk warriors, and was defended byContinental Army soldiers from the3rd New York Regiment and troops from Massachusetts, not militiamen.[8] TheTryon County militia, under GeneralNicholas Herkimer, aided by Oneida Iroquois, attempted to assist in the fort's defense, but they were ambushed on their way there by a predominantly Mohawk, Seneca, and loyalist force at Oriskany, six miles east of the fort.[9]
Some sources state that attacks on settlements in the Mohawk Valley lacked a historical basis, and were included in the film because Ford felt obliged to perpetuate the mythology.[10] Others contend that countless raids were conducted throughout the war, often by hostile Native Americans allied with loyalists such as Butler's Rangers and the King's Royal Regiment of New York. Among these were theCherry Valley Massacre, theBattle of Cobleskill, the raid on theBallston Lake, and others. Such attacks were one motivation for the laterSullivan Expedition and theBattle of Newtown, as Contintental forces tried to end this threat.[11][5][12] Many of the Loyalists who had been forced to flee to Canada from the valley due to the war believed that attacks on their former neighbors in New York might result in the Mohawk Valley remaining Crown territory as part of Canada.[13] This aspect of the war has been covered by, among others, the writings of Gavin K. Watt, a Canadian historian of Loyalist descent.[citation needed]
The film includes only Loyalists and Native Americans as antagonists; the British are seldom referenced or seen. While Loyalists and local Native American tribes were a factor in the actual Mohawk Valley campaign,[14] their role was a minor one compared to that of theBritish Army. Ford chose to minimize the British role in the film due to the global political situation in 1939: "He knew that war with Germany was coming, and he had little desire to show the British as villains when they were fighting for their lives against theNazis."[15]
Correctly portrayed in the film is that the American forces of the Revolutionary War were ethnically and linguistically diverse. The settlers in the Mohawk Valley included many German-speaking Palatines, includingNicholas Herkimer, and many Dutch, including the commander of Fort Schuyler,Peter Gansevoort of the 3rd New York Regiment. Also correctly portrayed was the presence of African-American slaves in the Mohawk Valley as portrayed by Buelah Hall Jones as Daisy, a house servant.[16][6]
A popular trend in Hollywood at the time was location premieres, wherein communities could apply to be given world-premiere status based on geographic location in films. 40 municipalities applied and 5 were awarded, given their geographic location within theMohawk Valley. The first one was awarded toGloversville, New York, where it screened at theGlove Theatre, the flagship venue and headquarters for Schine Enterprise, citing its geographic location ofFort Johnson and Sacandaga.[17] Other locations includedAlbany, New York, at thePalace Theatre (Albany, New York) wherein NYS GovernorHerbert H. Lehman and MayorJohn Boyd Thacher II were in attendance with descendants of Colonial Albany;[18]Utica, New York, at the Olympic Theatre;[19] andAmsterdam, New York, at the Rialto Theatre, also operated by Schine Enterprise. Prior to the screening, a street parade took place which included several Native American tribes, The Liberty Boys, and descendants ofDouw Fonda.[20]
| This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(September 2024) |
Frank S. Nugent reviewed the film forThe New York Times of November 4, 1939, and praised the film for its faithfulness to the book and well-balanced acting.[21]
The film was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Edna May Oliver).[22]It was on a preliminary list of submissions from the studios for an Academy Award for Cinematography (Color) but was not nominated.[23]
Drums Along the Mohawk was restored by theAcademy Film Archive, in conjunction withThe Film Foundation, in 2007.[24]
Edmonds wrote a novel that combined hard research into the dynamics of a social crisis with a form that opened that research to a mass public. Ford made of that novel a film which pictures two forces that must conflict because their nature demands it and which argues that the triumph of the American cause obliterates all divisions, whether of race, class, or sex.
