The Drum (1938)

The Drum (released in the U.S. as Drums) is a 1938 British Technicolor film from the book The Drum by A. E. W. Mason. The film was directed by Zoltan Korda and produced by Alexander Korda. It starred Sabu Dastagir, Raymond Massey, Roger Livesey, and Valerie Hobson.

Korda’s company London Films made three films in the 1930s about the British Empire: Sanders of the River (1936), The Drum and The Four Feathers (1939). They are often known as the Empire trilogy, though they were not conceived as such. Even when they were released, their Victorian views of the empire and its peoples were already somewhat old-fashioned.

Synopsis

During the British Raj, Captain Carruthers (Roger Livesey) works under cover to track smuggled shipments of arms on the restless Northwest Frontier of "India" (the modern day Pakistan-Afghanistan border). He fears a full-scale rebellion is brewing. To forestall this, the British governor (Francis L. Sullivan) signs a treaty with the friendly, peace-loving ruler of Tokot, a key kingdom in the region, which is described as four days' march northward from Peshawar. (The British held a fort at Abazai near this location, not far from the famous Takht Bhai ruins) Meanwhile, the king's son, Prince Azim (Sabu), befriends Carruthers and a British drummer boy, Bill Holder (Desmond Tester), who teaches him how to play the instrument.

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