Search - Drums in the Deep South on DVD

A B-movie epic worth seeing.

Lee Hartsfeld | Central Ohio, United States | 01/07/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Director William Cameron Menzies, set designer for "Gone with the Wind" and the original "Invaders from Mars" (1953, which he also directed), keeps this modest Civil War story moving along nicely and with sufficient human-interest details. Guy Madison (TV's "Wild Bill Hickock") and James Craig are close friends who end up on the North and South sides, respectively, and who, not surprisingly, must fight one another in the movie's final reels, though they do so out of sight to one another. Come to think of it, we only see them together some two or three minutes at the start of this reasonably exciting B-epic that belies its budget, courtesy of Menzie's set designs, in spite of harsh early-fifties color and a less than liberal budget. Nothing profound, but this notable picture does convey some of the tragedy of friends and loved ones torn apart by the most horribly personal war in our history."

Good Civil War Movie

Bill711 | 01/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are amazingly few movies dealing with the Civil War that are not either soap operas (such as Gone With the Wind) or just Westerns with Southern and Northern characters (such as Escape From Fort Bravo). Drums in the Deep South is one of a few movies about the Civil War (along with The Red Badge of Courage for example) that actually have battle scenes that take place in the South (rather than out West)."

This movie has that illusive something

bernie | Arlington, Texas | 06/18/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The story of how a hand full of heroes who blocked Sherman's march to the sea. Two friends from West Point find themselves on opposite sides in the war. The conflicts are not as cut and dry, as it would appear as two things come to mind while watching this movie. One is the basic conflict between friendship and loyalty to a cause; many times this is mistaken resulting in the balance of power changing. The second is a little more superficial but just as intriguing; both sides in the conflict must come up with ways to out gun the other side by using technology outside of its intended purpose. The use of a navel gun on a rail car is one. You will have to watch the movie to see the solution to extending the range of the smaller cannon. Other conditions call for more radical action.
Does the mission succeed and is it worth the price paid on both sides?

I can say the movie is worth the price of repeated viewing.

"