Best friends Clay Clayburn and Will Denning graduate from West Point and visit their friend and fellow graduate Braxton Summers at his Georgia plantation in 1861. Clay is in love with Braxton's wife Kathy and has for many years. When war is declared, they soon find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the Civil War.
By 1864, Clay, now a field artillery major in the Confederate States Army, is renowned for accepting and surviving suicide missions. In order to delay General Sherman's March to the Sea, Clay is ordered to lead a party of men and their disassembled cannon inside caves that lead to the top of Devil's Mountain. From there, the plan is to employ a battery of guns to destroy a railroad and the Union troop and supply trains that travel it, buying time for the Confederacy. Devil's Mountain is near Braxton's old plantation, where Kathy remains with her uncle Albert while Braxton is fighting with another unit. Kathy agrees to monitor the activities of the Union troops and to signal Clay's men from her window through a mirror by day and a lantern by night. At one point, having been caught signaling to Clay by one of the Union soldiers, Albert mortally wounds him before being shot dead himself. Because of Kathy's actions, Clay's men are notified of the arrival of two supply trains and destroy both of them.
Will, now a major, arrives on the field, but the Union artillery cannot achieve the elevation or range with their cannon to clear the Confederate guns at the top of the mountain. Inside the mountain, the Union infantry cannot find the path to the top and are delayed by Confederate snipers, as the railroad line has been blocked by two destroyed trains, Union headquarters sends a Dahlgren gun manned by sailors and mounted on a flat car to defeat the Confederates. Kathy supplies Clay with wire from her piano to reinforce the barrel of one of his guns that, with a double charge and the maximum elevation, is able to destroy the naval gun and further block the railroad line.
Will has Union engineers mine the inside of the mountain with explosives that will destroy the mountain. However, Clay calculates that the explosion will send the cliff down over the railway line, further blocking the Union's supplies. Wills allow Kathy to act as a mediator to convince Clay and his men to surrender. As she traverses the caverns on the way to the top, Kathy is mistaken for a Union soldier and shot by one of Clay's soldiers. She repeats the Union offer of surrender as Clay nurses her wound. Ordering his men to escape Devil's Mountain, Clay begins to carry Kathy down the mountain, but the gunpowder is lit and the mountain explodes, seemingly killing Clay and Kathy.
Drums in the Deep South was the first film produced by King Brothers Productions that was financed through selling shares. A total of 300,000 shares worth $300,000 were issued to more than 700 investors.[3][4] The film ultimately cost $450,000.[5]
King Brothers Productions signed a distribution deal for Drums in the Deep South with RKO Pictures. King Brothers later sued RKO Pictures for mismanaging the distribution and sale of the film, claiming $10,000 in damages.[8]
The film's world premiere was held at the Rialto Theater in Atlanta on October 16, 1951. The city organized a multiday event that included a beauty pageant featuring entrants from each of the 13 states of the Confederacy. The prize was a seven-year film contract with King Brothers Productions and a tour of the United States and Europe.[2] The winner of the pageant, Barbara Bracewell of Memphis, toured Europe but did not pursue a career in Hollywood, choosing instead to marry and raise a family.[9] Mayor William B. Hartsfield acted as host for the festivities, as he had done for all Atlanta premieres since that of Gone with the Wind in 1939.[2]
Reception
In a contemporary review for the Los Angeles Times, critic Philip K. Scheuer wrote: "The action saves 'Drums in the Deep South' and makes it a pretty fair little picture. Menzies' direction rates much higher in these scenes than in the more intimate sequences."[10]
Reviewer Mildred Martin of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote: "What passes for Southern accents in this one is astonishing to fans on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. But, for that matter, so is the dialogue, the direction and the performance as a whole. ... Not content with just designing the production, William Cameron Menzies also directed. He should have stopped when he was ahead."[11]
Legacy
King Brothers Productions announced plans to reunite James Craig, Guy Madison and Barbara Payton in a sequel film titled Murder March about Sherman's March to the Sea, but the film was never produced.[12]
123Moon, Fred D. (1951-10-05). "Atlanta's Premiere Mayor To Fete 'Drums' Belles". The Atlanta Journal. p.33.
12Brady, Thomas. "Hollywood agenda: Capra and Stevens will leave Paramount In production policy change; Addenda poor starts turning point stock dealings more color." The New York Times, April 8, 1951, p. 101.
↑Scheuer, Philip K (1950-09-05). "Tim Holt Leatherneck; Directors Pick Huston; King Bros. Celebrating". Los Angeles Times. p.11, Part II.
↑Graham, Sheilah (1951-10-24). "Hollywood Camera: Payton's Tour Howling Success". The Boston Globe. p.17.
↑Schallert, Edwin (1950-09-20). "McCarey's 'Born in Trunk' Activated; Nancy Davis Likely as Tracy's Wife". Los Angeles Times. pp.11, Part III.
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