The Last of the Mohicans (BBC Masterpiece Theatre)

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The definitive adaptation of the James Fenimore Cooper novel, this eight-part BBC production stars John Abineri, in an Emmy-nominated performance as the Mohican Indian Chingachgook, and Kenneth Ives as the intrepid frontier scout Hawkeye. In 1757, during the French and Indian War, half-sisters Cora and Alice Munro set out to join their father, the British Commander of Fort William Henry. After they are betrayed by the villainous Huron Magua, the sisters are rescued by Hawkeye, whose efforts to lead them to safety are aided by Chingachgook and his son Uncas. ...Read more

Not to be confused with the 1992 Michael Mann feature of the same name, nor with any of the many other adaptations on screens big and small, this version of The Last of the Mohicans, produced by the BBC and originally aired in the U.S. on Masterpiece Theater in the early 1970s, is widely considered the most faithful to James Fenimore Cooper's novel. That's a mixed blessing, to say the least. On the one hand, this Mohicans, with eight episodes (offered here on two discs) totaling some six hours, is undeniably thorough. Cooper's tale, taking place in 1757 and set in upstate New York during Britain's so-called French and Indian War, concerns the heroic adventures of Natty Bumppo, called Hawkeye (portrayed by Kenneth Ives), and his Indian companions Chingachgook (John Abineri) and Uncas (Richard Warwick), Chingachgook's son and the true last of the Mohican tribe. While the French and their Indian allies battle the British for control of Canada and northeastern America, Hawkeye and friends are preoccupied with Cora and Alice Munro (Patricia Maynard and Joanna David), the daughters of a Scottish colonel who commands Ft. William Henry and the prey of the evil Magua (Philip Madoc), a Huron who seeks Cora as his squaw and revenge against her father for past wrongs. The girls' quest to reach their father makes Homer's Odyssey look like a three-hour tour; there are constant captures and rescues, heroic and dastardly deeds by the bucketful, and a good deal of detail about a conflict that set both Euro against Euro and Indian against Indian. What's more, Cooper's sympathy toward the Native Americans, who even then could see that their way of life was being obliterated by the palefaces and their smooth-tongued treacheries, comes through loud and clear.

The downside, however, is also considerable. The production values are laughable by today's standards: while some outdoor footage was shot on 16mm film in the Scottish highlands, all interior and some exterior scenes were shot on soundstages, and on video, and the contrast is jarring. The pacing is slower than a two-legged wolf, and other than the climactic showdown between the Huron and Delaware warriors, the several battle sequences are less than riveting. Director David Maloney relies on scenes that play more like a staged drama than a movie, featuring static two-shots in which characters exchange expository dialogue at great length. And speaking of dialogue, in addition to the fact that listening to Indians with British accents takes some getting used to, Madoc's tendency to spit out every line as if he were delivering a pugnacious proclamation is wearisome, and it won't take viewers long to tire of stilted lines like "What has brought the white chief to the camp of the people of the turtle?", to quote just one. Yet surprisingly, The Last of the Mohicans somehow manages to transcend these flaws; in the end, those with a little patience are likely to find it very entertaining. --Sam Graham ...Read more