Drums in the Deep South (1951)

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

"Drums in the Deep South" is a very boring Civil War film that does absolutely nothing to explain the war and features a romance that is about as sizzling as one between siblings! As a result of being so dull and indifferently made, I can thoroughly understand why RKO let this one fall into the public domain. Why, oh why, would they bother renewing the copyright on something this unappealing and slow?The film begins with a little prologue where you are introduced to some old friends and their love interest. Only a few minutes later, the Civil War is on and the film now jumps ahead to only months before the end of the war. One old friend is on a mission from the Confederacy to slow down or stop the progress of Sherman and his men on their way to burn Atlanta and the other to make sure Sherman gets through. As a matter of record, anyone familiar with the war KNOWS that Sherman did indeed make it past Atlanta and burned it on the way to the ocean. The love story is boring. The ending is a foregone conclusion. The dialog is occasionally dumb and the actors are, for the most part, bland. Sounds like a great way to spend about 90 minutes of your life? Don't bet on it!

The obvious connection between GONE WITH THE WIND and DRUMS IN THE DEEP SOUTH (and there are many connections) is its subject matter about Sherman's advance through Georgia, and the reign of terror that occurs for southerners who come into direct contact with the northern general and his men. Another important connection, from a technical standpoint, is the fact that GWTW's art designer is the director of this film. It wasn't the first time William Cameron Menzies had moved into the director's chair, and his previous experience in this genre makes DRUMS all the richer. The mansion scenes and the Georgia countryside are photographed in sepia, and there's a balmy almost lazy sort of feel to the opening scenes.All that rural idyllic charm gets jolted out of complacency eleven minutes into the story when war has been declared. And there's an incredible shot where leading lady Barbara Payton watches her husband see his West Point buddies off (now on opposite sides), and she closes the door to everything simple and sweet and innocent they've ever known.At this point the story follows James Craig, one of the husband's buddies fighting for the south. There are some army camp scenes, where his regiment strategizes how they will defeat or at least stall Sherman's advance through the territory. It all involves a place called Devil Mountain which looks out on to a valley, and down in the valley Payton and her genteel uncle have stayed on at the mansion. But the mansion is fraught with tension, because while her husband is off in battle, Payton's home has been taken over by Sherman's men and one of them has developed a strange attachment to her.What happens next is something you've never seen before, not even in GONE WITH THE WIND. She tricks the man to go outside to get a picture of his children from his knapsack. Then she hurries upstairs, grabs a mirror and signals Craig's men over at the Devil Mountain lookout. The northern soldier finds her upstairs, and catches her in the act. They engage in a fierce struggle. The uncle enters the room with a revolver. As he gets off a shot, the Union soldier fires back. The uncle is killed instantly, but the soldier is still alive. Payton doesn't want to help him, but when she sees the picture of his children that he brought in from his knapsack, she can't help but feel overwhelmed and decides to save the life of a man she considers the enemy.There are more twists and turns, and Menzies keeps it moving. The men at the lookout try to blow up not one but two trains bringing supplies through for Sherman. Also, the other West Point buddy (Guy Madison) who takes orders from Sherman returns to the area and is reunited with Payton at the mansion. She is definitely caught in the middle-- she remains friendly to the north so they will not destroy her home, but her loyalties are divided, and she continues to work as a spy to help her southern compatriots. As I said, it operates on many levels. But no matter what direction it goes, Menzies is always careful to show the south in a compassionate light. He shows that the Confederates still have compassion for their northern brothers. I think that's an important point to keep in mind, because this story really has no villains.

Poor quality of the film is one aspect that it is almost impossible to watch. Copies made of copies are just a hissing track with mono sound, glitches and low level music. The plot caoud have been great - Cofederates staying on Devil's Mountain and hindering Union train supply to General Sherman attacking Atlanta in 1864. Union army is trying to get them out of there and finally, there is the only drastic measure they can take to achieve it. Yeah, but execution is poor - low budget brings us to poorly panted back-ups instead of real nature, low level of effects brings us very funny artillery shots. Actors? Nothing memorable - rather average performance, not so deep or really exciting. A period piece, with several goofs this is a curio to watch once and let it slip off your memory for ever

I watched DRUMS OF THE DEEP SOUTH for two reasons: because it's directed by visual genius William Cameron Menzies and it stars Guy Williams. Well, I wasn't disappointed by it. Even though it started slowly and this is basically a B-movie, the film eventually overcame those weaknesses because it contains one of the coolest things I've seen in a movie in a long time: a battle, with cannons, in and on Devil's Tower! The bulk of the film is about this battle and I was giddy as a kid on Christmas' Eve. Visually, the whole battle is effen brilliant! The story's setting is not in Wyoming, where Devil's Tower is actually located, but in Georgia and, like your typical B-movie, the script is filled with easy coincidences. Many will object to these things but I didn't care because the battle sequence is already up there as one of my favorite cinematic moments ever. Besides, historical and geographical inaccuracies in movies such as THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY never prevented them from being regarded as great. The score by Dimitri Tiomkin is excellent and provides the right amount of omph to the many battle or suspense scenes. Make no mistake about it, this is more of an action movie than a drama set in the South. The start of the movie is all drama and set-up but the last hour is all action and tension. The actors are serviceable with Guy Williams being the stand-out. What a dashing actor. Unfortunately, his role is almost an afterthought. The story concentrates mainly on James Craig and Barbara Payton's love affair. The (spectacular) resolution of their love affair is surprisingly sad, and nearly elevates the movie from a standard B-movie to a grade-A one. Had the friendship between James, Barbara and Guy's characters been a bit more fleshed out, the human aspect of the story could have been as riveting as the visual aspects, which is what really makes this little gem shine. It's obvious that Steven Spielberg saw DRUMS OF THE DEEP SOUTH and was "inspired" to use the Devil's Tower as a setting for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND.The image & sound quality of the DVD was pretty bad. Hopefully, this movie will be released with a pristine transfer so we can finally see this cool William Cameron Menzies film as it was meant to be seen and heard.