Drums in the Deep South (1951)

James Craig and Guy Madison are friends and West Point classmates who find themselves serving opposite armies during the Civil War. And they wind up back near Monrovia, the Georgia mansion owned by family of another old friend.

As Maj. Clay Clayburn, Craig is in charge of a small Confederate unit assigned the task of interrupting the Union supply line serving Gen. Sherman on his march to Atlanta.

Specifically, he’s asked to take 20 men and four cannon to the top of Devil Mountain through the network of caves and passages inside.

From atop the mountain, he and his cannoneers can blow the Union railroad to smithereens.

Madison is Maj. Will Denning, and he’s in charge of making sure the supplies get through. And that will mean finding some way to blast those Rebels off the mountain.

Caught in the middle is Southern belle Kathy Summers, who finds herself hosting the Union soldiers in her empty shell of a mansion while trying to sneak information about the Yankees to Clayburn and his men.

She might be married to an officer named Summers, but it’s Clayburn she loves and hopes to spend the future with.

James Craig as Maj. Clay Clayburn, given the mission of interrupting the Union supply line in Drums in the Death South (1951)

Barbara Payton as Kathy Summers, mistress of Monrovia, her life turned upside down by the Civil War in Drums in the Deep South (1951)

Review:

Better than average Civil War film if only for its subject matter. Craig and his men are basically sent on a suicide mission — a unique suicide misson — to slow the Union advance.

Such a mission suits Craig’s character just fine. He’s been flirting with death, not caring if he survives the war because his lady love is married to another man. He attitude changes once he’s reunited with Payton’s character, Kathy.

One of the more poignant scenes occurs when a Union sergeant, looking for Kathy so he can show her a photograph of his children, interrupts her flashing signals to the Confederate troops atop the mountain.

In the struggle that ensues, Kathy’s uncle is killed, the sergeant badly wounded. He pleads for help. She peers upon him coldy, until spying that photograph of his children. Then she starts tearing bandages.

In real life, it was Madison, not Craig, who apparently caught Payton’s eye. They were allegedly having an affair while filming this movie, though she was married to another actor. Payton died at 39 from liver and heart failure, after a number of run-ins with the law, including a prostitution charge.

Guy Madison as Maj. Will Denning, facing a surprise reunion with Kathy Summers at Monrovia in Drums in the Deep South (1951)

Taylor Holmes as Albert Monroe, the aging uncle who lives with Kathy Summers at Monrovia in Drums in the Deep South (1951)

Directed by:
William Menzies

Cast:
James Craig … Maj. Clay Clayburn
Barbara Payton … Kathy Summers
Guy Madison … Maj. Will Denning
Barton MacLane … Sgt. Mac McCardle
Robert Osterloh … Sgt. Harper
Tom Fadden … Purdy
Robert Easton … Jerry
Louis Jean Heydt … Col. House
Craig Stevens … Col. Braxton Summers
Taylor Holmes … (Uncle) Albert Monroe
Lewis Martin .. Gen. Johnston

Runtime: 87 min.

Craig Stevens as Col. Braxton Summers, Kathy’s husband, off fighting for the South when the war lands at his doorstep in Drums in the Deep South (1951)

Robert Osterloh as Sgt. Harper, the union officer ordered to keep watch over Kathy Summers in Drums in the Deep South (1951)

Memorable lines:

Clay Clayburn: “The world is a rich prize, but you’ve got to go out and grab your share. It doesn’t just come to you, sitting at home.”

Clay Clayburn: “General, if I could get cannon on top of Devil’s Mountain, I could fight there til doomsday.”

Purdy, after the Rebels find their contact, a Confederate spy, hanged: “Do we go on, major?”
Clayburn: “No, Purdy, we’re going back to Gen. Johnston. And I’ll let you tell him we saw a dead man and got scared. It was just too discouraging.”
Purdy: “I guess we’re going on, major.”

Clayburn: “It all boils down to 10 lives for a week’s delay. How does it strike you, Mike?”
Mike: “Just think, 10 men holding up Sherman’s whole army for a week. Sounds like a right fair bargain to me.”

Barton MacLane as Rebel Sgt. Mac McCardle, taking aim with one of the cannon on Devil Mountain in Drums in the Deep South (1951)

Barbara Payton as Kathy Summers, signaling the Confederate troops on Devil Mountain from her bedroom window in Drums in the Deep South (1951)

James Craig as Maj. Clay Clayburn and Robert Easton as Jerry, watching for signs from Kathy Summers in Drums in the Deep South (1951)

Guy Madison as Maj. Will Denning, complaining about not having the artillery needed to chase the Rebs off Devil Mountain in Drums in the Deep South (1951)