THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
A summer afternoon in
the Year of Grace 1757...
...- on a hilltop overlooking
the valley of the Hudson River.
Two tragic figures, remmants
of a once huge Indian tribe...
...Chief Great Serpent
and his son, Uncas.
"The pale faces are our friends.
Go to the Fort yonder...
...and tell them of the
danger that threatens."
FORT EDWARD
One of the few English...
...outposts not yet attacked...
...by the invading armies of France.
Even in a wilderness,
gently-bred women...
...somehow maintain the grace
and dignity of life.
Cora Munro, a soldier's daughter
on a visit to Fort Edward.
Alice, her light-hearted sister...
...whom Cora has mothered
from childhood.
Captain Randolph,
more interested in...
...women than in warfare.
Major Heyward - in love
with capricious Alice.
The eternal spirit of youth,
joying while it may - heed-...
...less of the gathering storm.
"Do tell us a story,
General Webb."
"The Hurons are on the
warpath. They have drunk...
...the firewater of the French...
...and have listened to
lying tongues."
Her girlish fancy investing...
...the young Chief with a
halo of romance.
"Surely among his own
people he is a prince."
"You! - The daughter of
Colonel Munro! - ...
...Admiring a filthy savage!"
Two days' march from Fort
Edward - Colonel Munro,...
...father of the girls, stoutly
resisting the French assault...
...upon Fort William Henry.
"Three French divisions
under Montcalm...
...have crossed the lake!
Men - horses - guns!"
Magua - an Indian runner in
the service of the British.
"God grant my messenger
has reached Fort Edward - ...
...else I may never see my
daughters again!"
General Webb and his staff,
summoned to hear...
...the message of
Colonel Munro.
"Montcalm and his...
...Indian allies advancing...
...to attack Fort William...
...Henry. 3.000 men no lesscan...
...save us." MUNRO.
"A good opportunity to...
...rejoin your father. But you...
...need not ride all the way...
...with the troops, as the...
...Indian, Magua, knows a...
...short-cut through the forest."
Bedtime - with Alice unable
to sleep for excitement.
"There is nothing to fear -
we shall soon be with father."
Haunted by a premonition
of evil - a vague dread...
...which Cora's reassurance
fails to banish.
"Promise me - whatever
happens - ...
...you will never
desert me!"
Dawn
"Are you the guide?"
"Perhaps Captain Randolph...
...will aid Major Heyward in
protecting the ladies?"
"With your permission, sir,...
...I will ride with my men -
my duty lies with them."
The forest - and the
parting of ways.
A secret path, which only
Indian eyes can find.
"I'm David Gamut, a servant...
...of the Lord. Permit me to...
...ride with you to William...
...Henry whither I am going...
...to sing psalms for our...
...brave soldiers."
Hours later - drench and...
...discouraged in a
blinding rainstorm.
Storm-bound woodsmen -
Uncas, his father, and their...
...friend, Hawkeye, the scout.
"In which direction lies
Fort William Henry?...
...Our Indian guide has
lost his way!"
"An Indian lost in the woods?
Impossible! Were he blind,...
...he would nose the earth -...
...and every blade of grass
would tell the way!"
"He's gone!"
"I suspect the varmint
covets your scalps!
Come - these woods
are no longer safe!"
In a cave near Glenn's
Falls - a hiding place...
...known only to Hawkeye
and the Mohicans.
"Uncas watches."
The bond of a common danger
drawing together these two,
...so widely separated by
the mystery of birth.
Simple words of a
savage - yet revealing...
...depths of thought
and imagination.
"You will not be afraid?"
"Our last shot!
Don't waste it!"
A deed of mercy.
"What the Great Spirit
wills shall happen."
Within the cave, as minutes
pass - the growing...
...conviction that the
stratagem has succeeded.
"Magua does not kill his
prisoners - ...
...he tortures them."
Keen eyes have watched
the failure of the ruse.
An abandoned blockhouse.
"If you would save the
Yellow Hair,
consent to be my squaw!"
"No, No! Rather let us
die together!"
"'Tis but a short distance
to Fort William Henry
we shall be there
before sundown."
Arriving, after all, at the
same time as the troops.
Smarting under the rebuff,
Randolph...
...determines to have
it out with Cora.
Meekness, masking his
injured vanity.
Then a sudden burst
of pride and anger -
Munro's headquarters -
discussing...
...the critical
condition of the Fort.
"I know the guns on our...
...left rampart are useless -...
but Montcalm doesn't know it!
With God's help we yet...
...may save the day!"
"Is our condition really
so bad, Sir?"
"If Montcalm's Indians really
knew the truth, our scalps...
...would hang in their
wigwams before morning!"
The fear that grows in
the heart of a coward.
Within the enemy's lines -
the traitor.
Montcalm, Commander in
Chief of the armies of France.
Under a flag of truce,
Montcalm...
...summons Munro
to a conference.
"Colonel Munro, the fall of
your fortress is inevitable."
"I know the guns on your
left rampart are useless.
You would never be able
to resist my attack."
The very words which he
himself had spoken...
...concerning the condition
of the Fort.
"What about the women
and children?"
"They shall go unharmed."
The honor of Montcalm.
That night -to the everlasting..
...shame of our civilization -...
...covetous white men sold...
...firewater to the Hurons,...
...debauching the red men...
...with drunken orgies.
The war dance of
the flaming arrows -...
...overture to
the chant of Death.
Morning - under a leaden sky.
"I must stay until the
last man leaves.
Go with the rest
in safety."
Magua - inciting the Huron
braves to defy...
...the authority of
their chiefs.
"The day of Magua has Come!
Follow to my wigwam,
Dark Hair!"
Wounded British soldiers -
too weak to be removed -
Amid the smouldering ruins -
Magua - seeking hospitality...
...in the camp of the
peaceful Delawares -
"Here ends the trail!
When the wise men of the...
...Delawares hear our tale,...
...they will not believe
the lies of Magua."
Indian justice - the ancient
tribal law of the Delawares,
impartially administered by
a council of three wise men.
"According to the law
of Manitou,
Uncas will take
the Dark Hair."
"-but Yellow Hair is
Magua's lawful captive."
"Magua, the law of sanctuary
protects you until sundown."
"I will go with you, Magua -
in place of my sister."
"When the sun goes down
I will be on your trail!"
Afar in the wilderness -
a camp for the night.
Ever behind her - the
leering face of Magua.
"One step nearer
and I'll jump!"
Through the weary hours
of the night -
Waiting, with the Indian's
inexorable patience, for the...
...outcome of her struggle...
...against the overpowering
desire to sleep.
Across the trackless waste -
the cry of heart to heart.
In a beautiful sunlit valley -
And on a lonely crag -
"Woe, for the race of red...
...men! In the morning of...
...life I saw the sons of my...
...forefathers happy and...
...strong - and before night-...
...fall I have seen the passing...
...of the last of the Mohicans."
The End