This thrilling and witty 1936 version of The Last of the Mohicans is based on James Fennimore Cooper’s novel of love, heroism, war, and tragedy set against the backdrop of the worldwide struggle for control of the newly discovered Americas.  Randolph Scott plays Cooper’s famous scout and trailblazer hero, the wilderness-savvy and plain-spoken Hawkeye.     

The year is 1757, and the British under the command of Colonel Munro (Hugh Buckler), are fighting the French and Indian War against French General Montcalm (William Stack). Munro marches to protect Fort William Henry from Montcalm’s advance.  Believing himself and Montcalm to be fighting a gentleman’s war, Munro sends his two daughters, Alice (Binnie Barnes) and Cora (Heather Angel) to the fort under the protection of Major Duncan Hayward (Henry Wilcoxon), who is in love with Alice.  Magua (Bruce Cabot), a member of the Huron Indian tribe allied with the French, acts as guide.  Munro believes Magua poses no threat, but frontier scout Hawkeye and his Mohegan friend Chingachgook (Robert Barrat) know better.  They follow the party, rescuing the Colonel’s daughters and Major Hayward when Magua’s Huron braves ambush them.

Hawkeye guides everyone to Fort William Henry safely to find it has fallen under siege. He sees the war as a British and French conflict—not his fight—and plans to leave after getting his charges safely into the fort. Alice, now in love with him, persuades him to stay, but an argument with the British commanders lands Hawkeye and his Mohegan friends in jail. 

Munro is finally forced to admit defeat.  He and Montcalm strike a deal for Munro to make an honorable surrender. But the surrender enrages Magua, who attacks the fort himself.  The French soldiers quell the uprising, but not before Magua kidnaps Cora and Alice.  Colonel Hayward, Chingachgook and Uncas, Hawkeye track the treacherous Magua to his village.  Despite Hawkeye’s best attempts, he’s unable to guide everyone safely through the perils of war, and tragedy strikes Cora and Uncas.  In an act of self-sacrifice, he decides to trade his own life for Alice’s.  But as Hayward and Hawkeye vie for the honor of rescuing Alice, it takes a sharp-shooting match to finally settle the matter.

As the cool and manly Hawkeye, Scott’s performance is solid.  He easily commands every scene in the film where he appears.  As his love interest, Binnie Barnes is a modern woman, speaking her mind in ways that make her more than a match for straight-shooting Hawkeye.   Great lines abound in this movie, many of them delivered by the actors portraying the Chingachgook and Uncas.

This special DVD also includes the 1920 silent film version of Last of the Mohicans, directed by Maurice Tourneur.