The Drum (1938): Cast & Plot

During the British Raj, Captain Carruthers, Roger Livesey, operates undercover to track smuggled arms shipments along the restless Northwest Frontier of India, near the Durand Line that roughly marks the modern border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He senses a potential full-scale rebellion brewing and, to forestall trouble, the regional governor signs a treaty with Tokot, a peaceable king who stands four days’ march north of Peshawar. The account notes that, in real life, the British held a fort at Abazai not far from Takht Bhai ruins. Carruthers’ mission unfolds against this backdrop of shifting loyalties, tense border politics, and a fragile balance of power, where every ally could become a liability and every informant could be a target.