Drums in the Deep South (1951)

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

"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!

Another treasure from the America One library of public domain movies! "Drums in the Deep South" looks like a good movie, but it lacks something a good movie must have: characters the audience can care about. I looked carefully for such characters, and couldn't find one. In fact, I hardly cared what happened to any of them, even when the would-be adulterous couple was blown up at the end of the movie! I really thought the Vile Yankee Devil was going to throw himself on the fuse wire to save his buddy; he looked ready to cry. But, no; the mountain blew up--where will the aliens land now? Curiously, though this tale is supposed to be in part about a love triangle, the husband-angle goes off to war and is NEVER seen again, but is mentioned briefly to be still alive! We're never ever given a reason why Kathy REALLY preferred Clay to Braxton; Brax used complete sentences, seemed to genuinely care for Kathy, appeared to have a practical attitude towards running pseudo-Tara, and there wasn't the faintest suggestion that Brax so much as ever said a cross word to Kathy. But off he goes and she forgets him, telling Clay to learn Spanish for California, implying that that is their next stop in life.This is exceeding strange for a movie made in 1951.If ONLY Kathy had known how KEWEL Brax was going to be in a few years when he morphed into Peter Gunn! Imagine Braxton returning home to Devastation, and lurid tales of fickle Kathy...but the movie was already too long...

You'll have to be patient for this film to get going, the early set up involves former West Point classmates reuniting at the Georgia home of Colonel Braxton Summers (Craig Stevens) and his wife Kathy (Barbara Payton). News of the arrivals sends the Mrs. into a mild panic - she and Clay Clayburn (James Craig) had a serious fling four years earlier and it's reignited when the husband Colonel takes care of some off screen business. There's the hint of another side to this romantic triangle (quadrangle?) with the appearance of Will Denning (Guy Madison), but that one doesn't go very far.As a kid I watched Madison's TV Western "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" and always found him to be a cool actor. He looked very young to me here in a film released the same year in which his TV program aired, which means it's been quite some time since I've seen any of those episodes. I'll have to get my hands on some.Once the initial set up is developed, the story seems to bog down a bit. Union forces led by Denning are assigned to blow up a mountain fortress from which the Rebs, commanded by his buddy Clay, are tasked with the job of destroying the rail line below, preventing supplies from reaching General Sheridan's army. Payton's character, under house arrest, manages to get information and some supplies to her lover Clay. Neither opposing commander is aware of each other's presence until close to the final denouement.What I had trouble with throughout was the logistics of the tunnels and caves of the mountain fortress resembling Devil's Tower. Even a demolition expert would have trouble explaining to me how mining the base of the tower would eventually wind up blowing it's top off. There's that, and the inconclusive ending that suggested the film's odd couple and the remaining Confederates didn't make it out alive. The Major it seems, didn't seem too upset about all that.

The film deals with an old rivalry between two former West Point Academy roommates , under the present circumstances are on opposite sides in Georgia 1861 during the American Civil War (1861-1865) . War breaks outs , both of whom are Officers from Union (Guy Madison) and Confederation (James Craig) , besides they compete for the same woman (a gorgeous and blue-eyes Barbara Payton) and wind up in a military showdown . The film is a historical drama based on true facts which narrate the Sherman campaign over Georgia . The general established his reputation as a successful and relentless ruler , an advocate of total war he believed in bringing hostilities to a quick end inflicting the hell of war on the civil population , destroying goods , crops , public buildings and factories . On his 'March to the Sea' through Georgia , Sherman burned and destroyed on a sixty-mile-wide front . In the movie , Confederates put cannons in the Mountain of the Devil for attack supplies trains lead towards Atlanta and the Union soldiers use a big naval cannon .This historic drama takes parts from ¨Gone with the wind¨ , it packs a loving triangle with action , shootouts and suspense . The film is starred by Guy Madison , an usual Western actor as American as Spaghetti Western . Principal protagonist is Barbara Payton (she formerly acted in important films as ¨Dallas¨, ¨Only the valiant¨) as one of the saddest stories from dark chronicle Hollywood . Attractive blonde sexpot and her life eventually disintegrated , mostly for her own doings . She was the subject of a spread in Confidential Magazine in the early 1950s when then fiancé Franchot Tone allegedly caught in bed with Guy Madison . Tone later married her , despite of the indiscretion , in addition she had a tempestuous relationship with Tom Neal . But happened the downfall , her once enticing countenance now blotchy and once sensational figure now bloated , Barbara sank deeper into the bottle and had several brushes with law , among them public boozy , bad checks and ultimate prostitution . The 39 years former star was found on the bathroom floor . The picture is rightly directed by William Cameron Menzies , rather known as production designer such as ¨The thief of Bagdad¨ and ¨Gone with the wind¨ , and realized two Sci-fi classics as ¨Invasors of Mars¨ and ¨Things to come¨ .