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1757, the French and Indian War: Major Heyward (Jon Hall) is to escort
the two daughters (Evelyn Ankers, Julie Bishop) and one son of General
Munro (Guy Hedlund) to Fort William Henry, but they are lured into an
ambush by their native guide Maguas (Buster Crabbe), an Iroquois secretly
in league with the French - but luckily they are saved by Hawkeye (Michael
O'Shea) and his sidekick, the Mohican Uncas (Rick Vallin). From now on
though, Heyward, the young Munros, Hawkeye and Uncas are on the run from
the Iroquois, who are not likely to give up their would-be captives
easily. First, our heroes hide out on an island and manage to fend off the
Iroquois for the longest time, but then Heyward is wounded, and Hawkeye
considers it best to let the Iroquois capture him and the Munros, with
Hawkeye and Uncas waiting in the wings to save them at a later date. This
succeeds because the Iroquois are apparently tricked by the simplest of
tricks. Hawkeye, Uncas, Heyward and the Munro kids then meet up
with General Munro and his troops, who were forced to give up Fort William
Henry, and together they manage to ward off the Iroquois until Uncas
returns with reinforcements - which he can only do after battling Magua to
death. Ultimately, Uncas returns with the reinforcements, but dies doing
so ...
One of the lesser adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's novel,
and maybe the most childish and sanitized one, as this one doesn't even
try to offer an authentic picture of the period it's set in, instead it
offers a decisive war in American history as a sort of adventure park, where good is good, evil
is evil, a man is a man, a boy is a boyscout, and a woman is ... something
irritable that cannot be trusted with the simplest of tasks, but they'll
always fall to a man's feet in the end. Also, when characters are on a run
for their lives, it feels like a stroll through the woods with plenty of
time for banter, and Indians always fall for the simplest tricks even a
schoolboy can think of. Overall, the thing is also so boiled down from its
original content (and not only for budgetary reasons) that the French and
Indian war does hardly factor in its basic narrative, and the
actual fate of the Indians seems to be totally removed from the story (as
is one of the novel's main Indian characters, Chingachgook), making the
whole movie, yes, basically a stroll through the woods ... errr, a chase
from here to there with no real purpose. And even the very sporadic (and
very mild) moments of sexual tension are so toned down it's almost
embarrassing (even for a kiddie movie). Instead way too much emphasis is
put on the schoolboy co-hero, who's apparently supposed to be an
identification figure for the kid audience but who's rather annoying
throughout. The sanitized version of the West is mirrored in the film's
directorial effort, that shows a squeaky-clean image of the frontier,
where all uniforms remain white as can be throughout, death scenes are
always faded out or they look so awkward they could be anything, and the
whole thing remains disappointingly flat, even considering the film's
obvious low budget. Acting-wise, Jon Hall at least lives up to his
expectations (which is not saying very much), Michael O'Shea is doing
quite alright by giving Hawkeye an unmistakable Irish accent, and Buster
Crabbe does surprisingly well as evil Indian - while Rick Vallin just
looks ridiculous as Uncas. As for Julie Bishop and Evelyn Ankers - their
roles are just too bland to breath any life into them - in other words,
they didn't have a fighting chance. In all, this is best described as a
disappointment - but at least a disappointment that's forgotten in a day
or two ...
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