The Drum

Fun little movie that depicts the British and Indians living in some sort of Utopia together, with an evil villain (Raymond Massey, hamming it up with a vengeance) planning to slaughter the British troops at a banquet. It's up to his prince nephew, Sabu--the greatest of all child actors--to stop him. Definitely politically incorrect (although not outright racist), but with a lot of heart and humor. The humor disappears at the end in place of heavy suspense, and it's all wrapped up with a rousing, drawn-out battle scene. Hey, any movie with Scottish highlanders singing around a campfire is worth watching if you ask me. And it's in Technicolor to boot. 7/10.

Great morale booster for the British people, with another World War looming. Shows the bonding between British and Indians that contributed to the long sojourn of the British in India. Definitely a boy's film with all the majesty that the Empire films of the thirties could muster for audiences suffering from economic depression and worries over the rise of fascism and its onward march. Roger Livesey's character brings to life the type of relationship that so many British civilians and civil servants enjoyed with Indians, so sadly ignored/forgotten in the interest of history revision and political correctness.

The British are trying to make peace treaties with numerous tribes in India to make sure there isn't an uprising among rebel tribes. Captain Carruthers makes a treaty with the prince, but when the prince's brother (Prince Ghul) murders the prince, he now has the tribes just where he wants him (in a spot to annihilate the British). The murdered prince's son (Prince Azul) reaches Carruthers and tells him of what happened, so Carruthers takes a troop to Ghul's fortress. Ghul welcomes Carruthers with a ceremony of a 5 day feast, but when the feast is over Ghul plans to kill all the British troops with their smuggled machine guns, unless Azim can lead a British battalion to Tokot to stop Ghul's mad plan. Despite being politically incorrect with the British superiority over the people of India, the film does contain a fair amount of action and thrills to entertain the film going audience, granted it is no Gunga Din or Four Feathers (the latter of which and this film share the same author). Massey oozes evil as Ghul, and their is decent support with Sabu, youthful as ever as Azim, Massey as the stuffed shirt Carruthers, and Hobson as his wife. The score is decent, but not that rousing and shooting in color limited the best chances to use lighting. Rating, 7.

Exactly what you would expect from the era in which it was produced and given the man behind its production. A rip-roaring adventure yarn which attempts to convince its audience it is set in (then-)modern times, (with radio transmitters strapped onto to pack mules and attempts to slip in 'contemporary' songs, (of which more below)), but whose heart is really in the 1890s or thereabouts, extolling the virtues of British rule of the Raj, the comradeship formed across races by jointly facing adversity and evil plotters aiming to overthrow British rule - all wrapped up in a Kiplingnesque atmosphere and with LOTS of bagpipe music, highland dancing and marching ranks of soldiers. The acting/screen presence of Sabu and Roger Livesey are very good and commanding, as is also the case with Raymond Massey, (always watchable in any case), as the scheming 'baddie'. Val Hobson appears suitably 'fragant' and stiff-lipped in the lead female role, BUT whoever was responsible for the idea of getting her to mime to the 'contemporary' love song inserted in one of the dinner party scenes should certainly have been handed over to the insurgents for a VERY slow and agonising end! Conclusion: switch off the PC monitor, go back seventy years and just go with the flow of an entertainment movie which will zip by rapidly and leave you feeling you have spent 90 minutes in a care-free manner, (especially if you can hit the mute button when 'that song' comes on!)

Plot-- British colonial rule in parts of India is imperiled by the murder of the local monarch by his sinister brother (Massey). Now the British contingent (Livesey, Hobson, et al.) must rely on the young pro-British nephew (Sabu) to rally against the usurper.

As a boy growing up in a small mid-western town, I never missed this epic and its companion feature Four Feathers (1939) in our theater. After all, where else in pre-TV middle America could all that scenic exotica be seen. The be-turbaned Indian natives, the be-skirted English soldiers, the high mountain passes, all in rich Technicolor, along with the rich pageantry of masses of people moving here and there. And shouldn't forget the crackling, if somewhat clichéd, storyline, along with a charmingly youthful Sabu, a gloweringly sinister Raymond Massey, and a slim, long-limbed Valerie Hobson. Then there's that thundering drum, along with slinky native girls and twirling British Highlanders. The Korda's certainly spared no expense and it shows, from spirited opening to satisfying close. Sure, the subtext amounts to British colonial propaganda that no longer wears well. Still, the lavish spectacle remains, a treat for the eye. Of course, I've changed in many ways from those earlier days, but the Korda production can still entertain and impress, if given half a chance.