The Last of the Mohicans *** (1936, Randolph Scott, Binnie Barnes, Bruce Cabot, Henry Wilcoxon, Heather Angel, Hugh Buckler, Philip Reed, Robert Barrat) – Classic Movie Review 4663

Randolph Scott makes a sterling hero as the noble frontiersman Hawkeye in director George B Seitz’s exciting, lovingly crafted 1936 adventure movie based on James Fenimore Cooper’s classic tale of the French-Native American battles in the 19th century.

The exciting historical adventure is set during the French and Native American war of 1757 in America, where the settling British colonists are subject to attacks. Gathered at a colonial fort in upper New York state are Colonel Munro (Hugh Buckler) and his daughters Alice (Binnie Barnes) and Cora (Heather Angel). An officer, Major Heyward (Henry Wilcoxon), arrives at the base with orders to attack the French. Robert Barrat plays the Mohican Indian Chingachgook.

The movie is a little faded now, but the story’s entertainment value and director Seitz’s craftsmanship still shine through.

Also in the cast are Philip Reed as Uncas, Willard Robertson as Captain Winthrop, Lumsden Hare as General Abercrombie, Frank McGlynn Sr as Gamut, Will Stanton, William V Mong and Art Dupuis.

Scott was reluctant to tackle the ‘flowery Cooper dialogue’, but relented after he was allowed to change some of his lines. The screenplay is credited to Philip Dunne, with John L Balderston, Paul Perez and Daniel Moore credited for the adaptation.

It was previously a 1920 silent with Wallace Beery, and it was remade as a Sixties TV series, a TV-movie in 1977 and a feature film in 1992 with Daniel Day Lewis, which credited Dunne’s screenplay as its basis.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4663

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