Le trappeur des grands lacs

George Montgomery stars in a minor western matinée feature that is a takeoff of "The Last of the Mohicans". Here, the plot angle has the Pathfinder and his Indian sidekick on a mission to divine French plans for an attack on the U.S. colonies in the Great Lakes region. The French have enlisted hostile Mingo Indians to enlist them in ousting the colonists during the French and Indian War. The two heroes path is fraught with danger as they trek through the wilderness with a pretty French interpreter who supplies the romantic interest for the Pathfinder. The technicolor is good and in spite of a thin story line, the film is worth watching for the nostalgia the fine supporting cast offers.

James Fenimore Cooper's The Pathfinder has George Montgomery playing a defector after Montgomery in the title role and Jay Silverheels as Chingachgook find the Mohican tribe completely wiped out with only young Uncas left to tell the tale.

It was the Delaware tribe who have lined up with the French as the French and Indian War has started.

With Silverheels as a contact, Montgomery goes to the French and offers to be a guide. His mission is to determine their strength. He also has along with him Helena Carter who speaks French because he does not speak a word.

Routine action/adventure from Sam Katzman who was getting a bit more budget to work with since leaving Monogram.

"The Pathfinder" is a film based on the James Fenimore Cooper novel. A different famous novel is his "Last of the Mohicans"....both of which have been made into films many times...partly, I am sure, due to the stories being in the public domain. However, like too many stories, the Hollywood versions often play fast and loose with the plots and little of the original ends up in the film. Such is the case with this movie. It is good...but not a lot like the original source material. Just once I'd love to see a version where Pathfinder is referred to by his real name, Natty Bumppo!

In this version, George Montgomery plays Pathfinder and his best friend, Chingachgook, is played by Jay Silverheels (of "The Lone Ranger" fame). The film must have been seen as a prestige picture, as uncharacteristic of 1950s westerns and action films, it's in vivid color...especially since it was from Columbia Pictures...a studio which at the time was famous more for making cheap B-westerns. In many ways, the film plays like a western...set in the mid-west/eastern United States in the 1750s-60s...before the even was a United States.

So is the film any good? Yes. The acting is very good and the production values likewise. A good action/adventure film that held my interest througout. Had they stuck to the original story, no doubt I would have rated it a bit higher.

By the way, this is not a serious complaint, but when the British attacked the French with cannon fire, you see cannonballs hit and large groups of men all around it falling to the ground, dead. Well, in the 1700s, cannonballs did NOT explode and send shrapnel everywhere...this was developed around 1800. Instead, the cannonball would bash into people and kill them that way...far less effective and totally unlike the deaths in the film. This is the sort of thing you learn when you are a history teacher like I used to be.

I suppose all films adapted from Fenimore Cooper can be considered as westerns.... They are, actually, and this one is very pleasant, despite the Sam Katzman's production. Sidney Salkwow was directing and I suppose that compensated the Katzman's disability to provide enough budget and care in a costume and action movie, which gives the audiences the feeling to be taken as dumb people. Here, I did not have this feeling, or maaybe a bit less than in other Sam Katzman's productions. It is colorful, good paced, very pleasant to enjoy. Yes, I don't dislike this little film. Despite Sam Katzman's presence as the producer. Very rare indeed.

Jay Silverheels makes a far less unlikely Chingachgook than Lon Chaney in the later TV series, but gets a fraction of the screen time.

At least this perfunctory Sam Katzman production boasts Technicolor, attractive locations and the handsome Helena Carter; not that leading man George Montgomery deserves her since he's so boorish towards her, even after he's supposedly fallen in love with her.