established writer. You know by 1939 this book had gone through 31 printings. It was
an enormous bestseller not only in England, in America, but also in England and in Australia
as well. Such a good book. And you know I think some of you are going to remember tonight's
film for different reasons and two things I never forgot in this film. One of them was
the horrible death suffered by one of the principal characters and the other is one
of the most frightening moments that I ever experienced when I was very young watching
movies. I wonder if you'll get the shot tonight. I hope you do. You won't forget it. Right.
Let's do a couple of shots from Drums Along the Motorhawk as I speak about John Ford who
directed the film. He directed this wonderful film between Stagecoach and of course The
Grapes of Roth and he took everyone out on location and this is one of those films in
which the Indians, Mohawk Indians, are the bad guys. Now don't get yourself in a knot
about how it's unfair to the Indians. I mean we're talking about another time, another
place and this is a film where the Indians are the bad guys. It was traditional and also
was based on historical truth anyway. Our two central characters are played by Henry
Fonda and Claudette Colbert. Now there's an unusual teaming and just think, Claudette
Colbert did not appear very often in films that didn't have contemporary settings. Now
the two of them work well together. Two people who have to change in the course of the story
and change they do and change they must through hard work, through endurance, through loving
each other and for loving other people too. See Ward Bond, John Ford regular. There are
a few others in the cast. Let's pursue a few more of these people in some of these interesting
graphics. These are authentic pictures dating right back to 1939. There's Ward Bond again.
You've seen this actor, that's Francis Ford, the brother of the director John Ford. Watch
out for him. In our next shot, let's have a look at a few more people. There's Russell
Simpson there and Edna Mae Oliver. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance
in this film and you see Ward Bond. Russell Simpson, a wonderful actor, one of his greatest
moments in the history of motion pictures would have to be in They Were Expendable,
which I hope to present for you either at the end of this year or next year. Now a couple
of people here. I'm not going to name everybody but look at that lovely little old lady. I
can never remember her name but I adore her. And there's Jessie Ralph to the right of Claudette
Colbert. Oh this is such a good picture. Wait till it gets underway. You'll be wrapped in
it I think. And there's Eddie Collins. He's wonderful, rather a jovial man. Let me tell
you who he plays in the film. Eddie Collins appears as Christian Rial and he's a real
scene stealer. Well they're some of the people of Drums Along the Mohawk. These people live
in the film. It's a John Ford film when John Ford did everything better than anybody else.
And this film won't change your life but it will change your movie memory just a little.
It will stay there I'm sure. I hope you love this picture. I adore it. Drums Along the
Mohawk, very special event.