Drums in the Deep South
| Drums in the Deep South | |
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Original film poster
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| Directed by | William Cameron Menzies |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | |
| Based on |
Woman With a Sword by Hollister Noble |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| Cinematography | Lionel Lindon |
| Edited by | Richard V. Heermance |
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Production
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| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $300,000 |
Drums in the Deep South is an American Civil War war film designed and directed by William Cameron Menzies who was production designer of David O. Selznick's Gone With the Wind (1939) and also designed the cave sequences in Selznick's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938). Based on a story by Civil War author Hollister Noble, the film was produced by an independent company King Brothers Productions, filmed in SuperCineColor and released by RKO Pictures in September 1951. B. Reeves Eason directed the second unit.
Best friends Clay Clayburn (James Craig) and Will Denning (Guy Madison) graduate from West Point and visit their friend and fellow graduate Braxton at his Georgia plantation in 1861. Clay had once loved Braxton's wife Kathy (Barbara Payton) and still does. 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 Confederacy is renowned for accepting but surviving suicide missions. He is given another. To delay General Sherman's March to the Sea, a local guide can lead a party of men and their disassembled cannon inside caves that lead to the top of Devil's Mountain where a battery of guns can destroy the railroad and the Union troop and supply trains that travel it, buying time for the Confederacy. Devil's Mountain is coincidentally near Braxton (who is now fighting elsewhere for the Confederacy) and Kathy's old plantation where Kathy remains with her uncle. Kathy agrees to monitor the activities of the Northern invaders and signal Clay's outpost from her window through a mirror by day and a lantern by night. Through her activities, Clay's men are notified of the arrival two supply trains and destroy both of them.
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Wikipedia