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Saturday, May 29, 2021

The Last Of The Mohicans (1936)

Set during the French and Indian war (1754-1763), two Englishwomen (Binnie Barnes, Heather Angel) are on their way to join their father (Hugh Buckler), who is the commander of a British fort. But they are betrayed by their Huron guide (Bruce Cabot) and rescued by a Colonial scout (Randolph Scott). Based on the novel by James Fenimore Cooper and directed by George B. Seitz (LOVE FINDS ANDY HARDY). There are many changes from Cooper's source material: a major character (the singing teacher) is eliminated entirely, an interracial romance between the Colonel's daughter (Angel) and the Mohican warrior (Phillip Reed) is added, a character killed by the Hurons in the novel instead commits suicide in the movie, etc. That being said, it's a first rate western (although it takes place in the East) adventure with Scott giving his best performance until the Boetticher westerns he did in the 1950s. The film's screenwriter Philip Dunne hated the film because it changed his screenplay which had been more authentic to the time period but when Michael Mann made the 1992 version, he ignored Cooper's book and remade the 1936 film! With Henry Wilcoxon and Robert Barrat.

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