Drums Along The Mohawk

 
This morning I was sitting in front of the tube with a cup of coffee, trying to wake up, when I happened upon the 1939 John Ford film, Drums Along the Mohawk, with Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert. The setting is upstate New York in 1776. Fonda marries Colbert and they travel by covered wagon to his farm near the Mohawk River. As the story unfolds, Colbert alternates between hysterics and courage, growing into her full self on the Revolutionary frontier. Fonda is a farmer who becomes a hero (naturally) in a battle with the British. Despite the predictability it's a fun film, especially if you like the classics.

At one point, all of the neighbors gather to help Fonda clear the trees from a plot of ground and I couldn't help but imagine that must have been what it was like here, just about 230 years ago, with the founders of this Maine farm. I may be wrong, but I doubt the hayfield was open ground ringed by trees as it is today. My guess is, they cleared it tree by tree, pulling stumps one by one with a team of horses or oxen. Hollywood may have gotten this one right.

I like history and the Revolutionary period in America is one of my favorite subjects. A wise relative, most likely my childless maternal aunt, gave me a copy of the Golden Book of the American Revolution when I was about seven and I've been hooked ever since. She used to call me "Sport," and she was the kind of aunt every boy should have.

Film is a chronicle of American History. Now, it can be argued that it's really a chronicle of the filmmaker's view of American History and that's true. But filmmakers are products of their time and they can demonstrate prevailing trends in thought and perspective. In 1939 Germany was driving into Poland and America generally wished to avoid becoming embroiled in another European war. It was the same year James Stewart as Mr. Smith, went to Washington, John Wayne galloped across Monument Valley in Stagecoach, and Clark Gable's Rhett Butler uttered the first swear word on film, telling Scarlet, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." And, of course, Dorothy visited the Land of Oz. We were looking back and our eyes were fixed on home.

Maybe our tastes have become more sophisticated and technology more tantalizing with the advent of CGI, but those older films show us something about the way we were (no pun intended, for fans of Robert Redford and Barbara Streisand). Tempting as it may be to find the newest release on Redbox, a little time spent on Turner Classic Movies instead can be an eye-opener. Since you've already paid for cable, why not?

Photograph by the author, copyright 2013, all rights reserved.