Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK is a full-colour, full-blooded settler western made by the iconic John Ford. It's one of the favourites movies I've seen from him. The story sees a youthful and handsome Henry Fonda playing a settler who must protect his family against various frontier challenges, from political revolt and turmoil to attacks by local Native Americans. DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK is a well-paced production with superlative production values and real depth to the story. Fonda is excellent as the protagonist driven to the edge while the likes of John Carradine prove up to the challenge in support. For a film made in 1939, this one feels surprisingly modern, with a tough edge that really pays off.

Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)is one of three films John Ford directed in 1939. The two others were Stagecoach and Young Mr. Lincoln. Drums Along the Mohawk is the one out of the three most overlooked according to scholars. This was also John Fords first film in color, and had excellent cinematography that captures mountains and scenery extremely well while at the same time capturing the harsh life in the west. It was certainly deserving of its Oscar nomination for best color cinematography. The film staged action scenes extremely well especially the long chase involving Gil and the Indians. Although this film is not Fords most famous, it still shows his skill in cinematography, and film.

The biggest star here is the cinematography. The daylight exteriors are as luscious as it gets. Someone really had a feel for time and place in this one. Sets and set dressing are exquisite as well, with a real colonial feel, gritty and rough-hewn. Superb Technicolor. Of the stars, a youthful, gangly Henry Fonda is exuberant and innocent. Claudette Colbert is a little old for this role, but she pulls it off magnificently, giving a little touch of "robbing the cradle". A troupe of great character actors, including Ward Bond and Edna Oliver, round out the subtext. The result is an engaging, rollicking Technicolor romp that delivers the entertainment goods.

I first saw "Drums" dubbed in French at age 7 in front of an old small-screen black and white early TV set in the fifties in my native Quebec. In spite of the bad quality of the print and the primitive technology, it struck me – even then - as elaborately engrossing. But its depictions of Indian attacks warped me for life. For all the political correctness talk of Aboriginal-sensitive commentaries that bemoan the fact that Indians are portrayed like the flying monkeys from "The Wizard of Oz", the fact remains that of the more than 300 native cultures in North America, Mohawks were the most violent and troublesome. They were s.o.b.'s then and they are s.o.b.'s now and forever getting into trouble with the laws of my native Quebec (which offered them asylum after the war and to this day), neighbouring Ontario and New York State. They may have fought against the Revolution but we were stuck with them for 250 years.It was quite a revelation to see the film again in the wondrous 2005 DVD restoration with its sound spatialised for stereo equipment. I saw the colours and the detail and heard the original English dialogue for the first time. The film has acquired a lot of new qualities to my eyes and ears during that viewing - even though the Mohawks were still the blood-thirsty bastards I remembered. I will try to name a few reasons for loving that film.THE RESTORATION AND PHOTOGRAPHY: The restorers worked from a well preserved early interpositive that they cleaned up electronically. Although the results can't compare with the wonders of the expensive ultra-resolution process where all three colour layers of Technicolor are realigned electronically, the image is still for the most part stunning and showing very little misregistration. The day-for-night scenes may be a little wanting in the contrast department, but, all in all, the DVD shows the viewer examples of what made Technicolor such a fascinating novelty. The director of photography takes loving care in giving the viewer his money's worth by showing landscapes, sunrises, sunsets, high noon, cloudy skies, clear skies, forest trails, interiors, thunderstorms, moonlight and candlelight in a way that black and white photography could only suggest. And everything gives the illusion of having been shot on location and mostly outdoors even when logic dictates that this is impossible.THE HISTORICAL INTEREST: There are very few films showing the reality (and the horror) of the Revolutionary War and its impact on frontier people. This film is a magnificent reconstruction. The Black servant Daisy and the good Indian Blue Back may be given short shrift all through the film but they are counted among the characters who proudly salute the new flag of the United States in the final scene when Gil says to his wife that there is still "a heap of work to do" to make this a real country. I also liked Alfred Newman using "Country Gardens" as a musical theme representing the gentility of the lifestyle – and the home country - the pioneers left behind.THE MUSIC: Alfred Newman is a rustic melodist but a very sophisticated musicologist and orchestrator. His music, while never calling attention to itself, does a wonderful job of underlining the numerous suspense scenes with intelligent commentary that has nothing to do with today's "fear music", which is all about percussion, electronic effects and high noise level. His work gives the film its soul through its drama, comedy, suspense and pathos.THE ACTORS: Henry Fonda – perfectly cast (his family actually founded the village of Fonda on the Mohawk River) - gives one of the best speeches of his career. Claudette Colbert, whom it can be suspected was offered the part for her box-office appeal and as a consolation prize for not doing "Gone With The Wind", renounces all mannerisms and compensates for bad casting by acting in a purely visceral and physical way. She succeeds in portraying a subservient and modest wife – which is quite a stretch for her. Edna May Oliver is also given a meaty part of a woman of courage and expression, which she manages to underplay and make real. All the other John Ford regulars (with special kudos to Ward Bond)are equally memorable in making the sometimes quirky and era-specific characters come to life.For all those reasons, this is a film worth preserving and seeing over and over again when one wants to get in touch with the real spirit of the American Revolution, the sacrifices it cost and what it was supposed to accomplish.