denis888 Poor quality of the film is one aspect that it is almost impossible to watch. Copies made of copies are just a hissing track with mono sound, glitches and low level music. The plot caoud have been great - Cofederates staying on Devil's Mountain and hindering Union train supply to General Sherman attacking Atlanta in 1864. Union army is trying to get them out of there and finally, there is the only drastic measure they can take to achieve it. Yeah, but execution is poor - low budget brings us to poorly panted back-ups instead of real nature, low level of effects brings us very funny artillery shots. Actors? Nothing memorable - rather average performance, not so deep or really exciting. A period piece, with several goofs this is a curio to watch once and let it slip off your memory for ever

zardoz-13 Although the South lost the war, the Confederates win the battle in "Drums in the Deep South!" Oscar-winning art designer William Cameron Menzies helmed this Civil War yarn based on a screenplay by "Whistle Stop" scribe Philip Yordan and Sidney Harmon from a story by Hollister Noble. Later, Yordan collaborated with "Talk of the Town" writer Harmon on "Battle of the Bulge," but Harmon was now a producer. One of the best B-movie directors in the business, B. Reeves Eason of "The Phantom Empire" handled the second-unit action. Menzies treats us to a glimpse of slaves in the fields and those who worked in the houses. As many commentators have written, movies about the Civil War are few in number and the good ones even fewer. Guy Wilkerson has a bit part as a Confederate sentry and Denver Pyle is cast as a antagonistic Union guard.The explosive action unfolds in Georgia in 1861. The first scene occurs at an antebellum mansion. Colonel Braxton Summers (Craig Stevens of "Peter Gunn") has returned from Atlanta. According to Summers, the South has been planting too much cotton. Uncle Albert cannot believe Braxton's news. "Cotton is king. The whole south is built on it. And the world is knocking down our doors for more." Braxton tells his beautiful wife, Kathy (Barbara Payton), Atlanta is a powder keg. Furthermore, the militia has been called up. He adds all West Pointers are being summoned for duty. Like Uncle Albert, Kathy believes the storm over succession will abate. Brax lacks her confidence. Meantime, he shows Kathy a black scarf he purchased for her. She isn't overjoyed when he tells her about encountering two of his former West Point roommates. The soap opera component of "Drums" rears its amorous head. Kathy refuses to see Clay Clayburn (James Craig of "Flying G-Men") who has never stopped loving her. She assures Brax anything she felt for Clay has passed. Brax tells Kathy that Clay has changed. As it turns out, Clay and Will Deming (Guy Madison of "Seven Winchesters for a Massacre"), lie about their thriving shipping business. They ship cotton from New Orleans to Liverpool and then take wool to Boston. At dinner, Brax reveals he is experimenting with a new cotton seed for export. After Brax and Will excuse themselves to discuss his experiment, Clay confronts Kathy. He admits he is not a ship captain but a common seaman. Moreover, he has neither repaid his father's debts nor bought back the family plantation. Outside the mansion roars a storm that possesses all the fury of Armageddon. Later, Albert forsakes his chair and proclaims amid thunder and lightning that the South has bombarded Fort Sumter. Menzies stages a time line as the years march past to an artillery barrage. By 1864, the Union Army has compelled the Confederacy to retreat. General Sherman's Army is threatening Atlanta. General Joseph Johnston (Lewis Martin of "Operation Pacific") selects Major Clayburn for the mission. Johnston orders Clayburn to sneak twenty men with four cannon through occupied lines and position them atop Devil's Mountain to blunt the Federal advance. Johnston's closest officers have doubts about Clayburn's qualifications. "Clayburn is reckless beyond all risk. He exposes himself to enemy fire on all occasions. How he has come through this war and still be alive . . ., one officer cannot understand Clayburn's incredible luck. Another officer observes, "The man seems to be seeking death." "A good soldier," Johnston points out, "dies only once. And death is someone he knows."When Clayburn enters the headquarters tent, Johnston informs him he has "a difficult job for him." Johnston explains, "Sherman's whole army poured out of Chattanooga three weeks ago. They are moving straight along this single railroad and heading for Atlanta. If he takes Atlanta, we're doomed. Our only chance is to draw him deep in Georgia, cut off his supply lines and destroy his army bit by bit. The bulk of his supplies are pouring through this same railroad and as fast as we destroy it, his men rebuild it. What we've got to do is find a weak link in this railroad so we can keep destroying it faster than Sherman's men can repair it."Clayburn is familiar with the terrain since he grew up there. Johnston indicates Devil's Mountain dominates the railway where it swings through Snake Gap. The General believes this constitutes "the weak link in Sherman's supply line." Johnston wants Clayburn to blast the railroad until the Confederate Army can regroup and counter-attack. "General, Devil's Mountain is a sheer cliff," Clayburn warns. "I might be able to get twenty men up there, but four cannon that's another question." Johnston relieves him when he tells him about a scout who can guide them from inside the cave to the top. "General, if I can get the cannon on top of Devil's Mountain, I could fight there until doomsday," Clayburn vows with a gleam in his eyes. "You may have to, Major," they warn him. No sooner have they embarked on their mission than things turn sour. When our protagonists rendezvous with their guide, they find him dangling from a noose. Menzies never shows the Confederates whistling Dixie as they trundle their cannons across rugged terrain through enemy country to Devils' Mountain. Once they get inside the mountain, it's quite a chore getting the artillery up to the top. Menzies does a competent job of driving the action along without sacrificing momentum. It takes him approximately 26 minutes to get the Southerners to their objective. Devils Mountain resembles the "Close Encounters of a Third Kind" mountain. This is a rare Civil War epic with an interesting premise that anticipates the blockbuster 1961 World War II mission movie "The Guns of Navarone." The music is excellent! Composer Dimitri Tiomkin provides an atmospheric orchestral soundtrack. "Drums in the Deep South" is an entertaining epic.

wes-connors During the US Civil War, Confederate Major James Craig (as Clay Clayburn) finds himself fighting Union Major Guy Madison (as Will Denning). As is the case in most Civil War stories, the opposing soldiers once had a close relationship; in this case, they were West Point buddies. Mr. Craig is also in love with a beautiful woman, Barbara Payton (as Kathy Summers). This is a fairly predictable Civil War story. The dramatics are enhanced by Ms. Payton in the feminine lead. Payton is the most interesting player in the middling "Drums in the Deep South"; with a better part, and direction, Payton might have been a much bigger star. Her biography is sad, and typical. **** Drums in the Deep South (9/51) William Cameron Menzies ~ James Craig, Barbara Payton, Guy Madison

ark30inf I had a really hard time figuring out whether to give this a 5 or a 6. The film has a few things going for it but on the other hand it has some definite problems. I finally settled on a 6. I gave it a point for quirkiness.The casting of James Craig was obviously intended to evoke Clark Gable and Rhett Butler. Too obviously. Craig's vocal performance seemed to indicate that he also wanted to play up the Clark Gable angle. It was a bit distracting during the love scenes but he seemed to, thankfully, drift away from it during the action sequences.Guy Madison was cast because he was easy to look at. But his performance was anything but easy to look at. His character gyrated wildly from manic damnyankee enemy to soft hearted friend of the family. I couldn't tell if he was possessed or just in serious need of some mood stabilizing drugs.I never developed an empathy with the leading male and female characters. Every time they passionately kissed I kept thinking about her poor naive husband off surrounded by Sherman's Army while she played footsie with his alleged old best West Point friend.The special effects were very interesting and quite well done. But its hard to imagine that anybody ever grew any cotton in the rocky scrub that looked remarkably like Southern California during wildfire season. If you are going to spend the special effects money to matte in a giant plantation house you can at least matte it into a rich green landscape rather than a rocky gulch.I won't even mention (well actually I will) the fact that the main geographical feature of the movie is a hollowed out, honeycombed, Devil's Tower from Close Encounters. Only this one is smack dab in the middle of Georgia! The makers of this movie would have had better luck just using the real Stone Mountain and pretended it was hollow. I kept expecting the mother ship to hover over the mountain.The explosive ending seemed to be the result of the writer suddenly realizing that he had to finish his script in the next two sentences. I can't say I've seen a film that only needs 2 seconds to wrap everything up and turn off the lights.But there are a few good things that made this movie appealing. Your generic Civil War movie has a smashing good Cavalry charge in it and lots of dashing guys on horses waving swords and flags. You know they do. This film went WAY off the beaten path. The heroes of this film are the artillery.....yes....you heard it right.....the heroes are exclusively the Confederate Artillery. That deserves a rating point right there. They even got the Confederate artillery uniform colors right. Its not often you see a Civil War film where the difference between a Dahlgren gun and a Brooke's Rifle is essential to the plot. The artillery battles were handled quite skillfully.This is essentially a fifties matinee action picture. But the makers did manage to insert a couple of quite beautiful moments into the film. For a moment, a hard-hearted, oppressive, damnyankee skulker becomes human when he presents a photograph of his two babies and thinks wistfully of his family and his farm. More than one character mentions that he didn't start the war, that he was just playing the role assigned to him on the great stage. A few quiet moments about the war's real meaning and effect in this odd little shoot 'em up.