Palmerstown, U.S.A.

I can't imagine that Randolph Scott was an obvious choice for "Hawkeye" in this fast-moving adaptation of the famous Fenimore Cooper tale of the early colonial history of North America, but he works well. Henry Wilcoxson ("Maj. Hayward") is charged with escorting the daughters of his commanding officer to a fort. En route their guide "Magua" (Bruce Cabot) betrays them and tries to take the ladies hostage; enter "Hawkeye" who was already suspicious and in a timely fashion saves them from a fate worse than death. We now embark on a series of fun mini-adventures involving the British and French soldiers and the indigenous Mohican and Huron warriors fighting for control of the territory. It's a good, solid screenplay with a workmanlike cast and steady direction from George B. Seitz that does a fair degree of justice to the original book in an entertaining fashion.