Mohawk (1956)

Scott Brady plays Jonathan Adams, an 18th-century painter from Boston doing frontier landscapes for Massachusetts Society.

He makes sure to have a cow and trees in each painting; the lovely lady he adds in — Geta Jones (Allison Hayes), at present — is “the surprise.”

Adams gets a surprise of his own when he returns to the fort from one of his painting excursions with Greta to discover his fiancée Cynthia (Lori Nelson) and her sharp-tongued Aunt Agatha have arrived, determined to lure him back to Boston.

But things are about to get tense at Fort Alban.

One of the first whites to live in the area, a man named Butler, regards the Indians as savages and the settlers as trespassers. He’d like nothing better than to stir up trouble between the two.

And when Adams returns from a visit to the Mohawk village with the chief’s son by his side, Butler sees his chance. H

He shoots and kills young Keoga, knowing it will draw the Indians to the warpath.

Now Adams is torn, because he’s fallen for the chief’s pretty daughter, Onida (Rita Gam).

Scott Brady as Jonathan Adams, strapped to a tree and facing execution by the Indians in Mohawk (1956)

Rita Gam as Onida, spotting Jonathan Adams for the first time while her friends react ot him kissing Greta Jones in Mohawk (1956)

Review:

A beautiful looking film filled with beauties. Shame the script is littered with some of the most ridiculous lines you’ll ever find in a frontier film. If you enjoy watching a film to chuckle at the dialogue, Neumann and company have served up a real classic.

There’s also a silly scene in which a group of scantily clad Indian beauties are playing an 18th-century version of frisbee while Adams paints to his heart’s content, taking special notice when Onida has to fetch the frisbee from the water in her tight attire.

When the film turns serious and the Mohawks go on the attack, the footage gets a bit mismatched and might seem familiar. That’s because a large chunk of the battle scene was lifted from the 1939 film “Drums Along the Mohawk.”

Lori Nelson as Cynthia Stanhope, the woman who travels West to marry Jonathan Adams in Mohawk (1956)

Allison Hayes as Greta Jones, posting for one of Jonathan Adams’ landscapes in Mohawk (1956)

Directed by:
Kurt Neumann

Cast:
Scott Brady … Jonathan Adams
Rita Gam … Onida
Neville Brand .. Rokhawah
Lori Nelson … Cynthia Stanhope
Barbara Jo Allen … Aunt Agatha
Allison Hayes … Greta Jones
John Hoyt … Butler
Rhys Williams … Clem Jones
Ted de Corsia … Chief Kowanen
Tommy Cook … Keoga
Mae Clarke … Minikah
John Hudson … Capt. Langley

Runtime: 80 min.

Title tune: “Mohawk”

John Hoyt as Butler, a man who wouldn’t mind stirring up hostilities between the settlers and Indians in Mohawk (1956)

Neville Brand as Rokhawah, advocating the Mohawks declare war on the whites in Mohawk (1956)

Memorable lines:

Wagon driver: “When a woman puts on her warpaint, she’s more dangerous than any Mohawk.”
Aunt Agatha: “Except we like our scalps with something under them.”

Jonathan Adams: “Why do you laugh?”
Greta Jones: “I always laugh when someone else laughs. It is my disposition.”
Adams: “And if someone should cry?”
Greta: “Well, a woman enjoys to cry almost as she does to laugh.”

Adams to Greta: “You know, I should marry a girl like you.”
Greta: “You’re very sweet to say that. But you should not marry me. I’m too stupid for you.”
Adams: “May the lord protect me from a brainy women.”

Adams, indicating the shapely redhead: “That’s Greta. She models for me.”
Cynthia: “But you were commissioned by the Massachusetts Society to do 20 landscapes.”
Adams: “And I haven’t done a single painting without at least one tree in the background.”

John Hudson as Capt. Langley, commander of Fort Alban, wondering about Butler’s warning of Indian hostilities in Mohawk (1956)

Barbara Jo Allen as Aunt Agatha, the spinster who accompanies Cynthia on her trip West in Mohawk (1956)

Aunt Agatha, looking at one of Adams’ paintings: “Is that all you?”
Greta: “I’m very beautiful.”
Aunt Agatha: “Yes, altogether all too obviously.”

Capt. Langley, admiring Greta Jones: “The belle of Fort Alban.”
Aunt Agatha: “She should be rung every hour as a warning to all decent young people.”

Adams, engaged in a knife tussle with Onida: “Beautiful.”
Onida: “Let me go.”
Adams: “Oh, no.”
Onida: “Then kill me.”
Adams: “I like beautiful things. I like them alive. I’d rather paint you.”

Greta, to Cynthia: “Jonathan has gone to fetch the cow.”
Cynthia: “I wonder he bothers to paint the cow when he already has you in the picture.”
Greta: “The cow is expected by the Massachusetts Society. I am the surprise.”

Scott Brady as Jonathan Adams, trying to explain his painting process to Cynthia Stanhope (Lori Nelson) in Mohawk (1956)

Ted De Corsia as Mohawk Chief Kowanen, preferring to keep peace with the settlers in Mohawk (1956)

Mae Clarke as Minikah, wife of Mohawk Chief Kowanen in Mohawk (1956)

Allison Hayes as Jonathan Adams’ lovely model Greta Jones, spurring Cynthia’s jealousy in Mohawk (1956)

Rhys Williams as Clem Jones, Greta’s tavern-owning father, helping fend off an Indian attack in Mohawk (1956)

Michael Granger as a Mohawk priest, mourning the death of a chief’s son in Mohawk (1956)

Allison Hayes as Greta Jones and Lori Nelson as Cynthia Stanhope, wondering about Jonathan’s decision to leave them behind in Mohawk (1956)

Scott Brady as Jonathan Adams, being warned of pending trouble by Onida (Rita Gam) in Mohawk (1956)