''The Last of the Mohicans'' is a 1936 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film based on the 1826 novel ''

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. It is the second book of the ''Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinder ...

'' by

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

. It was directed by George B. Seitz and stars Randolph Scott,

Binnie Barnes Gertrude Maud Barnes (25 March 1903 – 27 July 1998), known professionally as Binnie Barnes, was an English actress whose career in films spanned from 1923 to 1973. Early life Barnes was born in Islington, London, the daughter of Rosa Enoy ...

and

Henry Wilcoxon Harry Frederick Wilcoxon (8 September 1905 – 6 March 1984), known as Henry Wilcoxon, was an actor born in Roseau, Dominica, British West Indies, and who was a leading man in many of Cecil B. DeMille's films, also serving as DeMille's associ ...

Plot

During the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

, Alice and Cora, the two daughters of Colonel Munro, commander of a British fort, set out from Albany to join their father. They are escorted by Major Duncan Heyward, who has loved Alice for a long time, and by the Huron Indian Magua. Magua is secretly an enemy of the British. Magua betrays them, but they are rescued by a colonial scout named Hawkeye and his friends, the last two members of the

Mohican The Mohican ( or , alternate spelling: Mahican) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, who ...

tribe, Chingachgook and his son Uncas. On their way to the fort, Uncas falls in love with Cora, while Hawkeye and Alice are attracted to each other. The fort is besieged by the French, under General Montcalm, and their Indian allies. Hawkeye sneaks out at night and overhears Magua's treacherous plans to raid the unprotected colonial settlements. Colonel Munro refuses to accept Hawkeye's unsupported word, and forbids the colonials to leave to protect their loved ones. Hawkeye arranges for the men to depart, but remains behind. Munro has no choice but to pronounce a death sentence on him for his actions. Magua incites his men to attack the fort to forestall an agreement between Montcalm and Munro that would allow the British to surrender the fort peacefully in exchange for their lives. Before Montcalm can stop the fighting, Munro is fatally wounded and his daughters are carried off by Magua and a small band of his supporters. Magua tells the women that Cora will become his squaw, and Alice will be burned alive. Hawkeye and his friends break out of the stockade and set out in pursuit, as does Heyward. When they reach a stream, they are forced to split up. Hawkeye and Chingachgook search downstream, Heyward and Uncas upstream. Uncas picks up the trail and, unwilling to wait for the others, hurries ahead by himself. He manages to free Cora, but they are trapped on top of a cliff. Uncas kills one man, but Magua sends him plummeting to the bottom of the cliff. Rather than become Magua's woman, Cora chooses to jump to her death. The dying Uncas drags himself over to her lifeless body and takes her hand in his before succumbing. Chingachgook arrives and challenges Magua to fight one-on-one. Hawkeye prevents Heyward from interfering. Chingachgook drowns Magua in the river. Meanwhile, Alice is taken to a large enemy settlement to be burned at the stake. Hawkeye sends Chingachgook to stand guard, then tells Heyward he will offer himself in exchange for Alice. Heyward offers his life instead, but Hawkeye tells him that the Indians would not trade Alice for a British officer they do not know. It must be an enemy warrior they respect highly, and Hawkeye meets that description. Heyward knocks out Hawkeye and takes his clothes, because the enemy does not know what Hawkeye looks like. Heyward enters the armed camp and bargains for Alice's release. Hawkeye awakens and follows him. Faced with two men claiming to be Hawkeye, the enemy chief decides the winner of a shooting contest must be the real one, and he is proved right. Before she leaves, Alice kisses Hawkeye. Then he is tied to a stake and the wood around him set on fire. Alice and the others encounter a British relief force led by General Abercrombie. They storm the camp and free Hawkeye. Hawkeye faces a court-martial, but Heyward has the charges dismissed. Hawkeye enlists in the British Army and sets out with them to attack Canada. Alice tells him she will be waiting for him at Albany.

Cast

* Randolph Scott as Hawkeye *

as Alice Munro *

as Major Duncan Heyward * Bruce Cabot as

Magua Magua is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1826 novel ''The Last of the Mohicans'' by James Fenimore Cooper. This historical novel is set at the time of the French and Indian War. A Huron Indian chief, he is also known by the F ...

* Heather Angel as Cora Munro *

Phillip Reed Phillip Reed (born Milton LeRoy; March 25, 1908 – December 7, 1996) was an American actor. He played Steve Wilson in a series of four films (1947–1948) based on the '' Big Town'' radio series. Early years Reed was a star athlete at Er ...

as Uncas *

Robert Barrat Robert Harriot Barrat (July 10, 1891 – January 7, 1970) was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor. Early years Barratt was born on July 10, 1891, in New York City and was educated in the public schools there. He ...

Chingachgook Chingachgook is a fictional character in four of James Fenimore Cooper's five ''Leatherstocking Tales'', including his 1826 novel ''The Last of the Mohicans''. Chingachgook was a lone Mohican chief and companion of the series' hero, Natty Bumppo. ...

* Hugh Buckler as Colonel Munro *

Willard Robertson Willard Robertson (January 1, 1886 – April 5, 1948) was an American actor and writer. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1924 and 1948. He was born in Runnels, Texas, and died in Hollywood, California. Biography Robertson first w ...

as Captain Winthrop *

William Stack William Stack (March 5, 1882 – January 15, 1949) was an American actor who began his acting career in Great Britain. Over the course of his career he appeared in over 50 films in the U.S. and the U.K, including such notable films as Mary of S ...

as General Montcalm *

Lumsden Hare Francis Lumsden Hare (17 October 1874 – 28 August 1964) was an Irish-born film and theatre actor. He was also a theatre director and theatrical producer. Early years Hare studied at St. Dunstan's College in London. Career Hare appeare ...

as General Abercrombie * Frank McGlynn Sr. as Gamut * Will Stanton as Jenkins *

William V. Mong William V. Mong (June 25, 1875 – December 10, 1940) was an American film actor, screenwriter and director. He appeared in almost 200 films between 1910 and 1939. His directing (1911–1918) and screenwriting (1911–1922) were mostly for ...

as Sacham * Art Dupuis as De Levis *

Ian MacLaren John Watson (3 November 1850 – 6 May 1907), was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. He is remembered as an author of fiction, known by his pen name Ian Maclaren. Life The son of John Watson, a civil servant, he was born in Manningtre ...

as William Pitt *

Reginald Barlow Reginald Harry Barlow (June 17, 1866 – July 6, 1943) was an American stage and screen character actor, author, and film director. He was a busy performer in Hollywood films of the 1930s. Early life A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts ...

Duke of Newcastle Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle ...

Olaf Hytten Olaf Hytten (3 March 1888 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish actor. He appeared in more than 280 films between 1921 and 1955. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack, while sitting in his car ...

as King George II *

Lionel Belmore Lionel Belmore (12 May 1867 – 30 January 1953) was an English character actor and director on stage for more than a quarter of a century. Life and career Onstage, Belmore appeared with Wilson Barrett, Sir Henry Irving, William Faversham, ...

as Patroon *

Claude King Claude King (February 5, 1923 – March 7, 2013) was an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for his million selling 1962 hit, "Wolverton Mountain". Biography King was born in Keithville in southern Caddo Parish south ...

Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...

Harry Cording Hector William "Harry" Cording (26 April 1891 – 1 September 1954) was an English-American actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his roles in the films '' The Black Cat'' (1934) and ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938). Life and career ...

as Trapper (uncredited) *

Ethan Laidlaw Ethan Allen Laidlaw (November 25, 1899 – May 25, 1963) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 350 films and made more than 500 appearances on television, mainly uncredited in Westerns, between 1923 and 1962. Laidlaw was bor ...

as Colonialist (uncredited)

Production

The movie was the last of several producer

Edward Small Edward Small (born Edward Schmalheiser, February 1, 1891, Brooklyn, New York – January 25, 1977, Los Angeles) was a film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movi ...

's Reliance Picture Corporation made for United Artists.

Merle Oberon Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson; 19 February 191123 November 1979) was a British actress who began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933). After her success in ''The Scarle ...

was originally announced as the female lead. There were plans to make the movie in colour but Small decided it was too expensive. Philip Dunne worked on the script with John L. Balderston. Dunne later claimed that the final film:

Is only a pallid ghost of what John and I originally wrote. Ours was a full-blooded screenplay, combining adventure and excitement with what we considered some respectable poetry in the love story between the patrician English girl and the young Mohican brave. Above all we painted an authentic picture of colonial American in the eighteenth century.Philip Dunne, ''Take Two: A Life in Movies and Politics'', Limelight, 1992 p 35

Dunne said that production of the film was postponed due to casting problems; he and Balderstone went away and by the time they came back shooting had started.

The film was appalling. In our absence, Eddie apparently had succumbed to the itch many producers have to tamper with inactive scripts. I don't know what writers he had hired, but they had succeeded in turning our authentic eighteenth century period piece into a third-rate Western. The characters even spoke to each other in twentieth century colloquialisms, and each had been rendered banal beyond belief.

Small then hired Dunne to rewrite the dialogue on set, although he says the structure of his original script remained altered.

Filming locations

Big Bear Lake Big Bear Lake is a reservoir in the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is a snow and rain fed lake, having no other means of tributaries or mechanical replenishment. At a surface elevation of , it ...

, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA * Cedar Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA * Smith River, near the community of Hiouchi, Del Norte County, California, USA * Iverson Ranch, 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA *

Kern River The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfiel ...

, Bakersfield, California, USA *

Lake Earl Lake Earl is a lagoon on the extreme northern California coast, just south of the Oregon border. A navigable body of water, it lies partly within Tolowa Dunes State Park and partly within Lake Earl Wildlife Area in Del Norte County, California a ...

, near Crescent City, Del Norte County, California, USA * Lake Sherwood, California, USA * RKO-Pathé Studios – 9336 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA (studio) *

San Bernardino National Forest The San Bernardino National Forest is a United States National Forest in Southern California encompassing of which are federal. The forest is made up of two main divisions, the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernard ...

, California, USA

Reception

In his review for AllMovie, Paul Brenner wrote that Randolph Scott had "one of his best roles as Hawkeye in this exciting film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's often filmed novel."

Clem Beauchamp Clement Hoyt "Clem" Beauchamp (August 26, 1898 – November 14, 1992), also known as Jerry Drew in his acting career during the 1920s and 1930s, first worked as a second unit director in 1935, netting the Academy Award for Best Assistant Director ...

was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Assistant Director The Academy Award for Best Assistant Director was awarded from 1933 through 1937. In the first year of this award, it referred to no specific film. * 1933: ** Charles Barton (Paramount) - winner ** Scott Beal (Universal) - winner **Charles Dorian ( ...

Influence on future adaptations

The film served as the basis for a subsequent 1992 adaptation written and directed by

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television who is best known for his distinctive style of crime drama. His most acclaimed works include the films ''Thief'' (1981), ' ...

and starring

Daniel Day-Lewis Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English retired actor. Often described as one of the preeminent actors of his generation, he received numerous accolades throughout his career which spanned over four decades, incl ...

as Hawkeye,

Madeleine Stowe Madeleine Marie Stowe Mora (born August 18, 1958) is an American actress. She appeared mostly on television before her role in the 1987 crime-comedy film ''Stakeout''. She went on to star in the films ''Revenge'' (1990), ''Unlawful Entry'' (199 ...

as Cora,

Wes Studi Wesley Studi ( chr, ᏪᏌ ᏍᏚᏗ; born December 17, 1947) is a Native American ( Cherokee Nation) actor and film producer. He has garnered critical acclaim and awards throughout his career, particularly for his portrayal of Native American ...

Russell Means Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, musician, and writer. He became a prominent member of the American In ...

, and Steven Waddington as Duncan. Writers John L. Balderston, Daniel Moore, and Paul Perez were given a "Story by" credit on the film, which carries over several changes made in the 1936 film. These include Hawkeye's characterisation as a younger, romantic lead who develops a relationship with Cora after she rejects the proposal of Duncan.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Last of the Mohicans (1936 film), The 1936 Western (genre) films 1936 films American black-and-white films Films based on The Last of the Mohicans Films directed by George B. Seitz Films with screenplays by Philip Dunne Films produced by Edward Small American Western (genre) films Films shot in Big Bear Lake, California 1930s English-language films 1930s American films Films with screenplays by John L. Balderston