The Last of the Mohicans

This adaptation of the Cooper classic had a tremendous impact upon me as a young boy. I saw it twice on "Masterpiece Theatre", and have since not seen it for thirty years. It was a sweepingly beautiful film, and the actors were absolutly compelling. It would be great to see this production released on video or DVD format.

I remember this miniseries on Masterpiece Theater during the early 70's . I was 11 or 12 yrs old. I have never seen it run again. Can someone tell me if it is available on VHS? I have a reel to reel tape of the chase seen where Hawkeye says "Chingachgook, lay an oar on the land and we will double on the dogs". There was a teriffic drum beat to this. I recall the indoor scenes being rather low budget. There was a lot of blood and cleavage.

I love BBC Historical Dramas, there historical accuracy is normally far greater than any other channel/studio. But the 1971 date shows, all the Indians are played by white actors with bad makeup and silly almost comical "Indian" accents. While the 1992 film version had many flaws, its portrayal of the natives was very well done(As well the time period in general). This miscasting is very distracting though out, Magua for example in the 92 film as played by Wes Studi was much better(than this version's) simply because his look was so convincing, he looked like a deadly Huron warrior while Philip Madoc looks like some dude in a silly Indian outfit going to a costume party. Beside the unrealistic Indians, all the sets are absurdly poor, for example Fort Henry is a joke. The poor hand to hand fighting scenes(which there are quite a few) are just as bad as the sets if not worse, clearly no one is being shot or cut or hurt in anyway. I understand that the budget for this production must have been limited(very limited), but that does not excuse the fact that the illusion is broken over and over again, we are constantly reminded that we are watching people play at being Indians,soldiers and scouts, not the real thing.

Even with all these flaws, I still found LOTM to be a solid production, as with any BBC production the writing was fairly good and I was reasonably entertained. This is the worst BBC Historical Drama I have seen, but still quite watchable(hard for anything to beat I,Claudius,Elizabeth R,Sharp,etc anyway).

For those others that gave LOTM such high ratings, I think nostalgia is the main reason not the merits of this series.

As a kid, I was moved by this version when it first aired in the 70's and again when I viewed it recently. The richness of dialog in the script and the quality of acting make this version my favorite by far. This is one for your bookshelf.

This is a superb version of this classic story. Well cast and well acted, its exteriors are highly evocative of the story's time and place: colonial-era northern New York. Although not as lush as the 1992 movie version, it is acted with more fidelity to the original Victorian tale. Hawkeye is more articulate, Magua more intelligent, the major and the girls, well... the major and the girls are more BRITISH! You'll enjoy it.

Originally aired in America as part of "Masterpiece Theatre" hosted by Alistair Cooke (sic).