Not what I expected

greenegg:
"I would agree that anyone born after 1980 or so would probably find this BBC version disappointing, but for those of us old enough to remember seeing this version on Masterpiece Theatre, it is a joy to behold again."

Well, I was born in 1956, and I remember all from my early teens how BBC versions of classics such as Sherlock Holmes, Ivanhoe, The Three Musketeers and War and Peace seemed extremely stagey and unreal. All the indoor action was clearly filmed on a stage and the outdoor action was kept to a minimum. And the fight sequenses were lame, to say the least. It all prevented the suspension of disbelief for me.

I must say, my view has not changed over the years.

I agree with greenegg - plus it did have loads of scenery, just the Scottish Highlands rather than the Adirondacks or wherever it was supposed to be :). Things have indeed changed in terms of British TV productions in the last four decades (gulp!): back then, even "big budget" productions weren't nearly on the same scale, comparatively speaking, as they are now, when multinational collaborations are far more common and you can also probably bank on DVD rights and so on bringing in more money. In fact, I wonder what the BBC would do now if they were making a new production of it: after all, there still aren't loads of Native American actors in the UK, but probably they'd just do it as a US or Canadian co-production, film it over there and use local actors.

It's funny, though, that everyone says this production is so true to the novel. I always thought it was until I rewatched and read the novel more or less alongside it, but it does take the odd liberty of its own, although they're generally at least in keeping with the novel rather than directly contradicting it like the film does. Yet there's a whole scene where Hawkeye and the Mohicans get captured by the Hurons - I think it was - after they delivered the sisters to the fort which seems to be totally made up, as is Lt. Grant, I think. Plus they have a few exposition-y bits which aren't in the novel: Uncas makes it clear that he knows he can never take a squaw because there are no Mohican women left for him to marry (so obviously any relationship with a white woman would be totally beyond the pale, so to speak), and earlier Hawkeye explains that the practice of scalping is done to release the spirit of the dead person into the afterlife, which rather changes people's view from the the usual "bloodthirsty savages" idea. Then there's the killing of Magua, which in the novel is done by Hawkeye, not Chingachgook, and quite a few other bits which seem to have been done for no particularly good reason.

BTW, does anyone know of a similar site to this where I could discuss the novel? Re-reading it has made me wonder a lot of things about the author as well as the book, and it would be interesting to discuss it further.