Review of Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) by Woody W — 11 Dec 2007

John Ford undertakes a different kind of frontier soap opera in this story of a newlywed couple trying to survive hardships such as living off the land and attacks from Indians during the Revolutionary War.

Fonda, Colbert, and especially Oliver give great performances, as do many of the colorful supporting players. Utah makes a fine double for upstate New York in the 18th century (although the aspen trees do give it away).

However, while the central characters are strong, there is no real antagonist to work against the protagonists. Fonda and Colbert's Gil and Lana Martin quickly tame the foreign land, and the Indian and British attackers are hardly menacing. John Carradine is sadly underused as the eye-patched British menace Caldwell (he could have made a decent, if one-dimensional villain). The fort siege is exciting because the characters seem to be legitimately outnumbered and threatened with death. Sadly, this doesn't happen elsewhere.

As a side note, Ford treats women fairly progressively here, giving us several strong female characters. Too bad he doesn't do the same with Indians.