Best movie of this year hands down!

A different way of telling a story

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The 1992 version is great, with Daniel Day Lewis and Madeleine Stowe in full swing and establishing an impressive and sensual chemistry as the romantic pair of the movie, the best that has ever been seen in the movies. But this 1920 version is also very good and was a surprise to me, as there are several changes in the final part of the film compared to 1992, being the much more tragic outcome in this 1920 version (but equally powerful and realistic, maybe even more) than in the latest version. Silent movies continue to be a constant (good) surprise to me. The actress Barbara Bedford is fantastic, I think she is the great star of the movie. The 1920s are undoubtedly one of the richest and most creative decades in film history.

The year is 1757 during the French & Indian War in the New World. The British fort of Fort Edward is being targeted by the French & their Native American allies the Hurons. Captain Randolph, a cowardly British officer decides to defect to the French after discovering that the fort is fitted with weapons that are basically useless & after his girlfriend Cora Munro, the eldest daughter of the fort's colonel, rebuffs his advances & instead falls for Uncas, the last of the Mohican tribe. The Hurons' chief runner Magua, who also desires Cora, leads the Hurons to massacre the inhabitants of the fort & kidnaps Cora & her younger sister Alice for himself. Uncas challenges Magua to a duel for the sisters' freedom.This 1920 silent film was the first of four adaptations of the novel by Fenimore Cooper & by far the best of the bunch. It is also the most faithful of the adaptations & correctly depicts the nasty side of the war at the time. The film was originally directed by Maurice Tourneur but when he became too ill to continue, Clarence Brown stepped in to finish the production.The film, like most other silent features of the era, is filled with pioneering shots, although it is still technically crude in some respects (this was 1920, after all – the cinema was still in its infancy at the time). The film is a bit stagy in some parts but there are no superfluous shots to be found. The acting is good & the film is reasonably exciting. The film is also watchable for the fact that it correctly depicts the New World (later to become the USA) as filled with good Indians, bad Indians, bigoted whites, romance between white women & Indians & the simple message that war is indeed a form of hell.

Good retelling of the James Fenimore Cooper story thats a pretty fine spectacle. Focusing more on the relationship between Cora Munroe and Uncas as well as the treachery of Magua this is different enough from the 1992 Michael Mann version and other versions to be not a simple retread. Great looking with a wonderful sense of place this feels like up state New York and three hundred years back in a way that no other version has matched. A huge plus is the treachery of Magua. If you thought Wes Studi was evil, you have to see Wallace Beery who is as vile as they come (Hey he throws a woman's baby in the air and doesn't catch it). This is 70 minutes well spent.

This review is not about the inaccuracies of the film, nor in the original novel; but, it is about the film music. A new edition of this film is available now with an entirely new film music score. The film itself has been remastered from a french nitrate master copy, by George Eastman House. The Slingshot and Miramax releases added a rather poor film score, with flute and synthesizer. A new version exists now, however, with an entirely new film score by a Mohican Composer, "The 1920 Classic Myth: The Last of the Mohicans" (2003) in 5.1 surround sound, re-scored for full orchestra, and American Indian instruments. Search for the newer version, and definitely check out this film!