Last of the Redmen

Plot synopsis:
During the French and Indian War in 1757, the family of Colonel Munro, daughters Alice and Cora and son Davy come from England to visit their father who is commanding Fort William Henry in the American colonies. The French are masters of the military intelligence situation as they have their loyal Indian allies masquerading as scouts for the English and are able to interecept and kill all runners from the British outposts.
General Webb, the commander of Fort Edward where the Munros have arrived has fallen for French ruses by believing that General Montcalm's French and Indian forces are advancing from the South. General Webb's Indian Scout Magua testifies to the truth of this information convincing General Webb to send his forces South and send the Munro family to the believed safety of their father General Munro to the north at Fort William Henry. The only person who does not believe Magua is the Colonial Scout Hawkeye and his Indian companion Uncas. Hawkeye's rough ways, honesty, and vocal common sense has alienated him from the British military command.
In reality, Magua was once flogged by General Munro for being drunk and sees the chance to torture and murder the Munro children as a pinnacle of revenge. Leading the Munros accompanied by Major Duncan Heyward and a small British military escort into an Iroquois ambush, Magua is thwarted by the arrival of Hawkeye and Uncas who rescue the Major and the Munros. The Major wins Hawkeye over by declaring that he would be placing his pride over the lives of the party if he didn't give command of the evasion party to the experienced Hawkeye. The group manages to evade Magua's pursuing Indians for a brief period, but Hawkeye arranges for a better chance for escape by having Heyward and the Munros captured then rescued by Hawkeye and Uncas.
On their escape from the camp the party runs across the garrison of Fort William Henry who declare that they gave an honourable surrender of the fort to the French and were allowed to keep their arms but not their ammunition. Hawkeye suspects the Indians will massacre the party and organises a defence.

Tags: revenge

Review:
hawkeye attempts to save some settlers during French and Indian war.. One more version of the oft-filmed LAST OF THE MOHICANS, this one was shot in color and has what might be described as an 'interesting' cast. The big surprise, perhaps, is the Jon Hall does not play the scout Hawkeye, though at about the same time he attempted to make the changeover from sarong-star, most often opposite Dorothy Lamour, into a western hero, having played the legendary scout Kit Carson in a relatively big budget production from Edward Small. Instead, he's Duncan, the up-tight British officer who vies with Hawkeye during the French and Indian war. Michael O'Shea plays Hawkeye, and what's most intriguing about the film is that he does it as a character role, coming much closer to the "Natty Bumppo" of James Fenimore Cooper's books than is usually the case with Hollywood, where Hawkeye almost invariably is turned into a conventional hero figure, tall, dark and handsome. The pace is sometimes sluggish, though the film remains of interest in terms of the way in which it sometimes closely follows and at other moments departs from the source. Most offbeat of all is the casting of Buster Crabbe, usually a hero of outer space (Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers) or the old west (Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp in B movies) as the evil Magua, a Huron who betrays Alice and Cora Munro - certainly the biggest stretch of Crabbe's career.. Curious ReMake.... L.O.T.R. (Redmen) aka 'Last Of The Redskins' was a postwar effort in 'B' adventure by Columbia Pictures. Featuring Cinecolor, a alternative to the more expensive (and beautiful) 3-Strip Technicolor. The plot was the reworking and simplification of 'The Last Of The Mohicans'. Eliminating several Action Sequences, Characters and Plot Elements. In other words, emasculating some of the best parts of the Film/Novel.The most positive thing could be said about the Film is the curious casting. Columbia borrowing from other Studios, Jon Hall, Evelyn Ankers, Julie Bishop and Buster Crabbe with the quality Director Vincent Sherman. With the short running time of 79" being the films only other merit. Unfortunately being a Columbia feature and Produced by Sam Katzman you know it would be done on the cheap. The cheapness would continue in further Adventure Epics, but the leads would evolve to Paul Henreid, Cornel Wilde and John Derek.A better watch would be 'The Last Of The Mohicans' (1936) a Edward Small Production or the 1992 version featuring Daniel Day-Lewis as HAWKEYE. The most complete version of T.L.O.T.M. was a BBC T.V. Serial in 1971 shown in the U.S.A. on Masterpiece Theater. Though largely Studio bound it was a dedicated and sincere production. So take a pass on L.O.T.R. and view the suggested three (3).