Drums Along The Mohawk (1939)

I’m never 100% clear whether US War of Independence films (like this one) should quite be considered Westerns. However.... Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert play a young couple whole move to the Mohawk valley to set up a farm. The valley is soon heavily raided by Indians under the pay of the British Tories.

It’s quite an interesting and satisfying film. It feels a lot more modern than its 1939 release date would suggest. In the first three quarters of the film there’s the interesting choice not to show much of the action – instead Fonda’s character (and the other men) leaves to go off to war and we largely see it from the perspective of the women waiting for then. Similarly the birth of the couple’s child is seen from the perspective of Fonda waiting (although showing the actual birth would be very unusual choice, I’m pretty sure the comparison of the two is deliberate).

John Ford’s typical humour is present, although in a more toned-down form that I think works better than in some of his later films. I quite enjoyed the joke of Arthur Shields’ preacher character slipping advertisement for a local store into his sermon in full religious tone, for example.

Recommended, even if not quite a Western.