MovieChat Forums > Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) Discussion > If this was a British or Canadian movie....

If this was a British or Canadian movie...

posted 16 years ago by Sillyhuron
8 replies | jump to latest

Then John Carradine would be the hero! Isn't he the coolest bad guy you've ever seen? All he has to do is smile around that eye patch and let those mid-Atlantic, classically trained vowels fall out of his mouth...
Incidentally, the cruelty of the Indians in this film is historically correct. At the massacre of Cherry Valley in 1778 every man woman and child was killed.
What the film dosn't explain is that Indians had been massacred at Gnadenhutten the same way, and that Indian wafare simply was different than the White way. (But this is a movie after all, not a lecture). John Carradine's character dosn't like the Indians either ("filthy beggars" ), but then neither did Britsh General Burgoyne. The "real" Loyalists - the whites who fought and died alongside His Majesty's Native Allies, and helped settle my home province of Ontario - still need a good movie. Maybe Keith or David Carradine to star?

[–] normantater 16 years ago

I thought the old innkeeper was funny when he commented about Carradines' eyepatch saying something like "He musta got it lookin' at somethin that wuddin none a his business"..LOL

[–] stephenguenther 16 years ago

Gnadenhutten was in 1782. It was revenge for the massacre's at Wyoming, Cherry Valley, and others. The Indians way of warfare was not only different, it was brutal and they wer just as cruel (if not more so) than the white settlers were - they just leave out the part where they committed the maasacre's and murders first....

[–] b-rad 16 years ago

We mustn't forget that this is the film version of a historical novel, not a documentary.

[–] Sillyhuron 15 years ago

Sorry to take so long, but I've been reading my old schoolbooks (& some US ones). I've come to a rather shocking realization... Canadian schoolbooks (back in the 70's anyway) tried to whitewash history just as much as American ones did. When I grew up it all about Loyalists, Rangers, & His Majesty's Native Allies. The massacres were (conveniently) blamed on the Indians, whom we were gallantly aiding, and Gnadenhutten was THE cause of everything. Sorry to drone on, but you'll hear lots more about this... THE WAR OF 1812 BICENTENNIAL IS COMING! Any good 1812 films to reccomend?

[–] midwestmike9 15 years ago

The Buccaneer (1958)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051436/

"I'm just a big, hairy American winning machine."

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 14 years ago

Aside from Charlton Heston's fine portrayal of Andrew Jackson and a reasonably good depiction of the Battle of New Orleans, I didn't get much out of that movie. Filming it entirely on the soundstage really took me out of it.

"PLEASE DON'T DATE ME! I PROMISE I'LL WORK HARDER!"

[–] andrewwjohnson 12 years ago

.........Maybe when the History Channel gets done with Ancient Aliens and the Mayan calendar they will do a series about the War of 1812. I'm not holding my breath.
TAG LINE: True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.

[–] chicago85 8 years ago

Its a massacre only if the Indians win.

I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else