The Last of the Mohicans

Overview

Maurice Tourneur was the original director on the 1920 silent version of James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans, but he fell ill during production, obliging his talented assistant Clarence Brown to finish the job. Though contractually Tourneur could have taken full credit for the finished film, he generously shared that credit with Brown, permitting the younger man to take top billing. The story is taken virtually verbatim from the Cooper original: During the Canadian wars between the French and the English in the 18th century, Huron Indian Magua (Wallace Beery) casts his lot with the French, while Mohicans Uncas (Albert Roscoe) and Chingachgook (Tod Lorch) are loyal to the English. The film's action highlight is the massacre of Fort Henry (we are spared nothing, not even the bayonetting of babies), but its emotional peak occurs when Cora Munro (Barbara Bedford), daughter of the Fort Henry commander, threatens to fling herself off a high cliff rather than fall into the hands of the lecherous Magua. Uncas, who loves Cora from afar, is too late to effect a rescue, and the sense of genuine loss pervades the thrill-packed climax, injecting a strong sense of humanity into what otherwise might have been a straightforward adventure tale. Both the 1936 and 1990 remakes of Last of the Mohicans owe a great deal to this impressive silent version.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/15/2015
UPC:	0644827201921
Original Release:	1920
Source:	Reel Vault
Language:	English
Sales rank:	53,099

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Wallace Beery	Magua
Barbara Bedford	Cora Munro
Henry Woodward	Maj. Heyward
George Hackathorne	Capt. Randolph
Nelson McDowell	David
Lillian Hall	Alice Munro
James Gordon	Col. Munro
Harry Lorraine	Hawkeye
Jack McDonald	Tamenund
Sydney Deane	Gen. Webb
Boris Karloff	Actor
Theodore Lorch	Chingachgook

Technical Credits

Robert Dillon

Maurice Tourneur	Director,Producer
Clarence Brown	Director
Robert Dillon	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

The first of many feature film versions of the James Fenimore Cooper novel about the travails of the American Mohican Indians during the French and Indian Wars was characterized by its innovative use of color and its brutal battle scenes. The Native American parts are all played by Caucasians, as was the custom in those days. The great silent film star Wallace Beery plays a traitor to his own people, the villain Magua. Barbara Bedford is the fetching female lead. Director Maurice Tourneur was incapacitated after three months on the set and turned over the reins to the younger Clarence Brown. Color tints enhanced the film's photographic quality, especially during the bloody, unflinching scenes from the climactic fight at Fort McHenry. Though the film has its share of stereotypes, it's generally sympathetic to the plight of the Native Americans, who were used by both sides in the war. This American classic was filmed again in 1932, 1936, 1960, 1977, and 1992.