Last of the Redmen (1947)

Director:

George Sherman

Writers:

James Fenimore Cooper (story)
Herbert Dalmas (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 August 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Romance | Western

Tagline:

TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS! (original ad - all caps)

Plot Keywords:

Hostage | Forest | Soldier | Mohican | Son

Cast

Jon Hall	...	Major Duncan Heyward
Michael O'Shea	...	Hawk-Eye aka Natty Bumpo
Evelyn Ankers	...	Alice Munro
Julie Bishop	...	Cora Munro
Buster Crabbe	...	Magua
Robert 'Buzz' Henry	...	Davy Munro (as Buzz Henry)
Rick Vallin	...	Uncas

Also Known As:

Last of the Redskins (UK)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Cinecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

Version of "Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans" (1957)

hawkeye attempts to save some settlers during French and Indian war.

One more version of the oft-filmed LAST OF THE MOHICANS, this one was shot in color and has what might be described as an 'interesting' cast. The big surprise, perhaps, is the Jon Hall does not play the scout Hawkeye, though at about the same time he attempted to make the changeover from sarong-star, most often opposite Dorothy Lamour, into a western hero, having played the legendary scout Kit Carson in a relatively big budget production from Edward Small. Instead, he's Duncan, the up-tight British officer who vies with Hawkeye during the French and Indian war. Michael O'Shea plays Hawkeye, and what's most intriguing about the film is that he does it as a character role, coming much closer to the "Natty Bumppo" of James Fenimore Cooper's books than is usually the case with Hollywood, where Hawkeye almost invariably is turned into a conventional hero figure, tall, dark and handsome. The pace is sometimes sluggish, though the film remains of interest in terms of the way in which it sometimes closely follows and at other moments departs from the source. Most offbeat of all is the casting of Buster Crabbe, usually a hero of outer space (Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers) or the old west (Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp in B movies) as the evil Magua, a Huron who betrays Alice and Cora Munro - certainly the biggest stretch of Crabbe's career.