Jon Mirsalis on Piano Tourneur's adaptations of Conrad (Victory) and Stevenson (Treasure Island) in 1919 and 1920 established him as a master of rugged adventure and outdoor spectacle. Perhaps his most impressive spectacle is this version of Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans, shot on location at Big Bear Lake and Yosemite Valley (and stunningly preserved in Eastman House's newly restored 35mm print). While on location Tourneur suffered several personal mishaps, including an attack of ptomaine poisoning and a serious fall from a scaffold. His assistant, Clarence Brown, took over the bulk of the location shooting. Brown confided to Kevin Brownlow (The Parade's Gone By) some of his experiences directing The Last of the Mohicans, including these revelations on the film's most enduring quality, its expressive use of natural lighting: "We made much use of lighting effects and weather atmosphere. We used smokepots to create the suggestion of sunrays striking through woodland mist. The rainstorm in the forest was simply a fire engine and a hose. We got clouds because we waited for them, and used filters. Clouds normally did not register on the old ortho film. When the girls are escaping from the Indian ambush, I put the camera on a perambulator. We built it from a Ford axle, with Ford wheels, a platform, and a handle to pull it down the road. We follow the girls running away; suddenly, two Indians block their path. The camera stops-the perambulator stops-and this accentuates the girls' surprise." The kind of inventiveness Brown describes was typical of the vitality of filmmaking in the formative period of American cinema. Seen today, The Last of the Mohicans still registers the excitement of its story and the spontaneity of its making. On its release in 1920, it was immediately hailed a masterpiece...though the New York Times noted one flaw (the likes of which) Hollywood has not corrected to this day: "Why did Mr. Tourneur try to make an Indian out of Wallace Beery?" Treasures from the Eastman House (PFA, 1972)