Bringing a film classic back to life for the 21st century

A rarely-seen silent film adaptation of The Last of the Mohicans is to be shown at a festival in Scotland next year.

The Hippodrome Silent Film Festival (HippFest) will open its 2018 programme with a rare screening of The Last of the Mohicans – the 1920 original adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s classic novel accompanied by a new score composed and performed by multi-instrumentalist David Allison.

Tickets for the opening night screening on Wednesday, 21 March, went on sale yesterday (Tuesday, 12 December).

The Last of the Mohicans is a thrill-packed adventure centred around two British sisters who are caught up in a war for colonial control of North America, and find protection under the care of the dwindling Mohican tribe.

Later film versions – including that featuring Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance in the 1990s – owe much to this exciting silent, filled with high-adventure and swoon-inducing romance.

Direction was begun by acclaimed French screenwriter Maurice Tourneur but he became ill during production, making way for his talented assistant Clarence Brown who went on to finish the job and launch a successful career in his own right, directing over 50 widely acclaimed full length films, including The Goose Woman (HippFest 2013) and National Velvet.

The Last of the Mohicans from 1920 is coming to Bo’ness

Festival director (Falkirk Community Trust) Alison Strauss said: ‘We are delighted to be opening the 2018 Festival with this action-packed silent from 1920. The Last of the Mohicans is an early cinema classic and is rich in adventure and historical reference as well as emotional depth. The film portrays a time-period when Native Americans were being besieged by white Americans but also reminds us of the racial divides that existed at this time.

‘Both Hawkeye and Uncas who are central to the film are non-Native actors, a practice entirely accepted by cinema audiences at that time. But, it is chastening to remember that, even up until the seventies, the major speaking roles for American Indians would still go to non-Native actors like Burt Lancaster and Charles Bronson. This film set the tone for Hollywood’s portrayal of ‘Indians’ for years to come…’

Despite this casting – which includes a small uncredited cameo appearance from horror legend Boris Karloff – throughout the film good and bad characters are dispersed amongst Native Americans, British and French alike.

Musician David Allison said: ‘I’m really looking forward to coming back to this wonderful festival in an extraordinary venue.

‘In 2011 I really enjoyed doing a live soundtrack to Murnau’s 1922 vampire film Nosferatu at HippFest. This time it’s the turn of the well known story drama and passion in The Last of the Mohicans” in a wonderful but rarely shown film from 1920.’

The Hippodrome in Bo’ness will host the festival. (Picture: Falkirk Community Trust)

The Hippodrome Silent Film Festival was launched in 2011 and has since become a key annual event in the cultural calendar, drawing audiences from across Scotland and beyond, and generating significant UK-wide media coverage. The event is organised by Falkirk Community Trust with key funding from Creative Scotland, Falkirk Council and the British Film Institute.

The 2017 programme was its most ambitious festival yet – with over 2000 tickets sold, six shows completely sold out, and two HippFest commissions By the Law and Together, touring Scotland and the UK. It featured international musicians from Germany, China, The Netherlands and Italy performing live, and films from China, the Soviet Union and Russia, Germany and the USA, as well as the National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive and the BFI National Archive.

The Hippodrome in Bo’ness is an independent pre-art deco picture palace dating back to 1912. In 2009, following a major restoration, it was reopened with digital and 35mm projectors and a state-of-the-art sound system, a café and licensed bar, and is a four-star Visit Scotland attraction.

The cinema screens a range of new and recent releases, as well as archive and silent movie classics. The venue is run by Falkirk Community Trust, a charitable company set up by Falkirk Council to deliver culture, library, recreation, and sport services on its behalf.

Tickets for The Last of the Mohicans (1920) are available from the Falkirk Community Trust’s Box Office on 01324 506850, or via www.hippfest.co.uk. or https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/216994.
The full programme for the 2018 Festival will be announced on 6 February.