Leather stocking
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Leather stocking |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1909 |
| length | 11 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | David Wark Griffith |
| script | Stanner EV Taylor |
| production | David Wark Griffith |
| camera |
GW Bitzer , Arthur Marvin |
| occupation | |
| |
Leather Stocking ( German : Leatherstocking Tales ) is an American film drama of the director David Wark Griffith from the year 1909 . The screenplay was written by Stanner EV Taylor , based on motifs from the 1826 novel The Last of the Mohicans by the American writer James Fenimore Cooper . The silent film is a production by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company .
action
The script is a free adaptation of The Last of the Mohicans , a 1826 tape released from the cycle of novels Lederstrumpf the American writer James Fenimore Cooper . In their advertising for the film, the Biograph Company states that they were not striving for proximity to the plot of the novel, but a lively homage to Cooper's work.
Accompanied by his two nieces, a scout and led by the supposedly trustworthy Indian Big Serpent, the Colonel embarks on the journey to Fort George. But Big Serpent sees the trip as an opportunity to realize a long-cherished plan of revenge against the whites. To this end, he has posted accomplices along the way waiting for his call to attack. The tour company stops at a stream and the scout leads the horses into the shade. Meanwhile, Leather Stocking and Uncas watch the travelers arrive and are concerned that Big Serpent is leading them. Her concern that Big Serpent might be playing the wrong game is quickly fulfilled. The scout comes out of the forest and reports that he has been ambushed and all the horses have been killed.
Leather Stocking and Uncas offer themselves as new leaders, but after a short time they are attacked by an overwhelming force of Indians. The group withdraws behind a picket fence and defends themselves against the attacking Indians, but soon they run out of ammunition. Leather Stocking, camouflaged with a hide, plunges into a raging river behind the defensive position, since he assumes that the attackers will not waste precious ammunition on a supposed piece of game. The plan succeeds, Leather Stocking kills a pursuer in battle and alarms the fort. The rescuers are not a moment too early because the Indians have broken through the stockade and overpowered the defenders, tied them up and set up stakes for their cremation.
The reinforcements can quickly defeat the Indians and free the prisoners. Uncas accompanies the tour company up to a hill, where he says goodbye and remains as the last of the Mohicans.
Production notes
The exterior shots were taken in the hamlet Cuddebackville in Deerpark , Orange County in New York State . Cuddebackville was discovered by DW Griffith himself in search of suitable locations. Decades later, he still called Cuddebackville the perfect location for the scenes from Leather Stocking , the film has now been forgotten, but no one from the crew can ever forget Cuddebackville. When Griffith applied to the management of the Biograph Company for the exterior recordings in Cuddebackville, he was turned down: Go up above Harlem . Griffith paid the travel expenses for the entire film crew himself, knowing full well that he would never get it reimbursed.
The final scene contains a remarkable and innovative detail, the fade-out . Griffith wanted his cameraman Billy Bitzer that the shot of the lovers did not end abruptly, but rather slowly disappear in order to leave a lasting impression on the viewer. As on many other occasions, Griffith and Bitzer discussed the problem and decided to slowly slide a cover over the camera's lens while recording. They used a shoebox and covered the lens with a piece of gauze to introduce fading and blurring into the film technique.
Leather Stocking is 996 feet long and was released as a one-reeler on 35mm film . The film was registered with the United States Copyright Office on September 29, 1909 and was released in theaters on September 27, 1909.
criticism
The Moving Picture World published a brief review in its October 9, 1909 issue. The characters from James Fenimore Coppers The Last of the Mohicans are recognizable for the readers of the novel as well as the main features of the plot. The rest of the audience see a rapid succession of dramatic scenes, each developing the plot. Leather Stockings' dramatic escape from the siege captivates the audience and the preparations for the murder of the prisoners make their blood run cold. The film leaves the impression that it has shown a true excerpt from the life of the Indians. The adaptation of a novel by a company like the Biograph Company deserves the greatest attention.
The industry journal Variety described the escape of leather stockings through the rapids as one of the best movie scenes in a long time.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Leather Stocking , Silent Era website , March 25, 2012, accessed January 17, 2019.
- ↑ a b Leather Stocking . In: The Moving Picture World , Volume 5, No. 14, October 2, 1909, p. 457, digitized .
- ↑ Leather Stocking in the Internet Movie Database (English) , accessed on 17 January of 2019.
- ^ Henry Stephen Gordon: The Story of David Wark Griffith: Part Three . In: Photoplay , August 1916, pp. 82-84 and 86-88. Quoted from Anthony Slide (ed.): DW Griffith. Interviews . University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, ISBN 978-1-61703-298-1 , pp. 47-51 (Griffith mentions another title, but meant leather stocking ).
- ↑ Sara Redway: DW Griffith is Struggling to Pay His Debts . In: Motion Picture Classic , October 1925, pp. 39–40, 70, 77. Quoted from Anthony Slide (ed.): DW Griffith. Interviews . University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, ISBN 978-1-61703-298-1 , p. 163.
- ↑ Leather Stocking . In: The Moving Picture World , Volume 5, No. 15, October 9, 1909, p. 489, digitized .
- ↑ Leather Stocking . In: Variety , Volume 16, No. 4, October 2, 1909, p. 13, digitized .