# The Last of the Mohicans (1920 film)
*The Last of the Mohicans* is a 1920 American silent adventure film directed by Maurice Tourneur and [Clarence Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/clarence-brown), the first feature-length adaptation of [James Fenimore Cooper](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-fenimore-cooper)'s 1826 novel *The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757*[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920). Set during the [French and Indian War](https://www.edgepedia.org/french-and-indian-war), the North American branch of the Seven Years War, it stars Harry Lorraine as the scout Hawkeye and Wallace Beery as the Huron villain Magua[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 21 November 1920; six reels, black and white, silent; copyright registered 16 November 1920 by Maurice Tourneur (LP15837)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/2084-THE-LASTOFTHEMOHICANS) |
| Direction | Maurice Tourneur and Clarence L. Brown; Brown, Tourneur's assistant, took over when Tourneur was injured during shooting[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/2084-THE-LASTOFTHEMOHICANS) |
| Principal cast | Wallace Beery (Magua), Barbara Bedford (Cora Munro), Albert Roscoe (Uncas), Lillian Hall (Alice), Harry Lorraine (Hawkeye), James Gordon (Colonel Munro)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/2084-THE-LASTOFTHEMOHICANS) |
| Key change from the novel | Chingachgook is renamed Great Serpent, apparently because filmmakers judged the original name too much of a mouthful[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920) |
| Screenplay and crew | Robert A. Dillon; cinematography by Philip R. Du Bois and Charles Van Enger; art direction by Floyd Mueller; music by Arthur Kay[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/2084-THE-LASTOFTHEMOHICANS) |
| Locations | Shot near Big Bear Lake and in Yosemite Valley, with panchromatic filmstock used for exterior photography[3](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/L/LastOfTheMohicans1920.html) |
| Survival | A print exists in the George Eastman Museum archive; the film is in the public domain in the United States[3](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/L/LastOfTheMohicans1920.html) |
## Spoilers
### Story and adaptation choices
The plot follows Cooper's novel in outline. During the French and Indian War, Cora Munro and her younger sister Alice travel toward Fort Henry, where their father Colonel Munro's garrison is besieged by Indians allied with the French. Magua, a Huron cast out from his tribe who is guiding the women, seizes them instead, and the rescue falls to Uncas, the last living Mohican warrior, his father, and the white scout Hawkeye[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/2084-THE-LASTOFTHEMOHICANS) • [1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920).
Two changes stand out. Hawkeye keeps his name, but Chingachgook, the novel's other main character, becomes Great Serpent in the film[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920). Robert A. Dillon's screenplay also makes Magua's evil the central driving force of the story, balanced by Uncas as a good and true Mohican brave; the film centers the interracial triangle of Cora, Uncas, and Magua, none of whom survive at the end, in line with the Hollywood rule that even a hint of miscegenation required punishment on screen[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920).
## Production
The film was Maurice Tourneur's first for Associated Producers, and he also produced and presented it[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/2084-THE-LASTOFTHEMOHICANS). Tourneur, a French-born director who had come to the United States in 1914 and built a reputation as a great pictorialist, was the original director, but his assistant Clarence Brown stepped in when Tourneur was injured during production[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/2084-THE-LASTOFTHEMOHICANS). According to the film historian Michal Peprník, Barker and Sabin hold that the film is mainly Brown's work, because Tourneur was confined to bed and could join the production only in its last stages[4](https://moravianjournal.upol.cz/files/MJLF0401Peprnik.pdf).
The exteriors were shot near Big Bear Lake and in [Yosemite Valley](https://www.edgepedia.org/yosemite-valley), and cinematographer Charles van Enger used panchromatic filmstock for the outdoor photography[3](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/L/LastOfTheMohicans1920.html). According to modern sources, [Boris Karloff](https://www.edgepedia.org/boris-karloff) had a small role as a marauding Indian; a pre-production news item had named Omar Whitehead to play Hawkeye, a part that went to Harry Lorraine[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/2084-THE-LASTOFTHEMOHICANS).
## Reception and style
Critics received the film warmly in 1920; *Motion Picture News* called it "the greatest Indian picture ever shown"[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920). David Sterritt, writing for [Turner Classic Movies](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-classic-movies), judges its most successful qualities cinematic rather than historical or psychological: the images are beautifully framed, crisply photographed, and gracefully edited, with strong performances from Barbara Bedford and Lillian Hall as Cora and Alice[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920). A later reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes calls the climactic scene on top of the cliff astonishing even by 21st-century standards[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1068787-last_of_the_mohicans).
The film's treatment of Native Americans carries the assumptions of its period. The most dramatic Indian character, Magua, is played by Beery, an actor Sterritt describes as highly un-Indian-like and covered in makeup, and the portrayal of Uncas leans on the "noble savage" stereotype[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920). A survey of Hollywood's Native Americans notes that Tourneur's film portrayed the Mohicans as the noble remnants of a "dying race" and set the peaceful nobility of Uncas against the unbridled savagery of Magua[6](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781440871573_A47050765/preview-9781440871573_A47050765.pdf).
## Place in the adaptation history
Cooper's story had reached the screen before 1920, with short films appearing as early as 1911, and further versions followed[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920). The 1936 [United Artists](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-artists) version directed by George B. Seitz, with [Randolph Scott](https://www.edgepedia.org/randolph-scott) as Hawkeye, shifted the emphasis to the triangle of Hawkeye, Alice, and Heyward, and [Michael Mann](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-mann)'s 1992 film pairs Hawkeye with Cora as a romantic couple[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920). Among these American adaptations, the 1920 silent is judged the most faithful to Cooper's novel[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1068787-last_of_the_mohicans), and the Library of America essay on Mann's film calls it the most faithful screen adaptation of Cooper and, next to Mann's, the most artful and compelling[7](https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/1115-michael-mann8217s-the-last-of-the-mohicans/). Sterritt concludes that for pure visual storytelling and a memorably filmed climax, the Tourneur and Brown silent has proven hard to beat[1](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920).
The film remains accessible: a 35mm positive print is held by the George Eastman Museum, the film is in the American public domain, and restored editions of about 72 to 73 minutes circulate on home video and streaming platforms[3](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/L/LastOfTheMohicans1920.html) • [8](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920).
## References
1. [The Last of the Mohicans (1920), by David Sterritt, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/480765/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920)
2. [The Last of the Mohicans (1920), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/2084-THE-LASTOFTHEMOHICANS)
3. [The Last of the Mohicans (1920), Progressive Silent Film List, Silent Era](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/L/LastOfTheMohicans1920.html)
4. [Michal Peprník, "Westernization in the 1920 Film Adaptation of The Last of the Mohicans," Moravian Journal of Literature and Film](https://moravianjournal.upol.cz/files/MJLF0401Peprnik.pdf)
5. [The Last of the Mohicans (1920), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1068787-last_of_the_mohicans)
6. [Hollywood's Native Americans (book preview)](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781440871573_A47050765/preview-9781440871573_A47050765.pdf)
7. [Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans, Library of America](https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/1115-michael-mann8217s-the-last-of-the-mohicans/)
8. [The Last of the Mohicans (1920) streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-last-of-the-mohicans-1920)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Early and silent cinema › Silent feature films › Released 1914 to 1926*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license