The Last of the Mohicans: Hybrid Cut
by Captain KhajiitThis is an extended edition of the theatrical release of The Last Of The Mohicans. It combines footage from both the theatrical and director’s cut to produce an enjoyable extended cut of The Last of the Mohicans.
member ratings: 
(5 votes, average: 9.40 out of 10, rated)
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tagline: More feathers in your war-bonnet!
original film name: The Last of the Mohicans
new film name : The Last of the Mohicans: Hybrid Cut
original film studio name : Morgan Creek, Twentieth Century-Fox
edit crew name : Captain Khajiit
Date Original Film Was Released : 1992
Date Edit Was Released on FE : October 2009
Original Runtime : 112 min (theatrical) 117 min (director’s cut)
New Runtime : 117 min
Cuts removed/added/extended : see below
Fanedit details : double-pass XVID AVI with AC3-5.1 48 kHz 484 kbps audio and 23.976 fps video 720×320 (borders cropped)
Intention for this fanedit: to combine footage from both the theatrical and director’s cut to produce an enjoyable extended cut of The Last of the Mohicans. Although the best release of the theatrical version known to the editor was used, the material from the theatrical cut DVD has its problems and cannot quite match the quality of the excellent “Enhanced Widescreen” Director’s Expanded Edition, which served as the basis for this fanedit. Nonetheless both versions used were anamorphic true NTSC, and the theatrical version material has been slightly recropped and “color corrected” to match the director’s cut as far as was possible. In spite of my best efforts, the video quality is not 100% consistent throughout.
Hardware and software information :
- * DVD Decrypter, DVD Fab, AnyDVD, CloneDVD
- * PGCDemux
- * Virtualdubmod MPEG-2 and assorted filters
- * CCE
- * Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD
- * Auto Gordian Knot
Time needed for the edition: about eight weeks
persons involved: one; however, thanks must be given to a number of people: White43, for previewing the edit and for his support since I arrived; Throwgncpr, for his endless patience when dealing with my questions about cropping; killbillme (Jorge), for displying his customary technical wizardry in using After Effects to correct some nasty color glitches in one difficult scene from the theatrical DVD; and also to Boon23, Gaith and Tranzor for their ongoing help and support.
How intention was achieved:
* Retained the extended approach to Cameron’s cabin.
* Retained the extended footage of Major Heyward’s entry into Albany from the director’s cut, and the slightly extended “tea scene” that followed.
* Restored the missing line in the director’s cut dialogue at the raising of the County Levy using the theatrical version.
* Added both Hawkeye’s “Clear it up any?” retort to the Major from the waterfall scene and the “I think one day you and I are gonna have a serious disagreement” line at the fort.
* Added all Cora’s missing lines in the “breed apart” conversation with Hawkeye.
* In the parley scene, the lines added in the director’s cut were retained, and the deleted line about one British oficer helping another was restored. The latter was an annoying deletion from the director’s cut in my view, as the other officers are obviously looking to Munro for a comment that never comes, and to cut to Heyward’s line, as the director’s cut does, seems most unnatural to me.
* Retained the extended footage of the assault on the fort, Major Heyward’s diversion, the extra lines between Magua and Montcalm, and the extra shots of redcoats and Huron fighting in the battle in the forest.
* Added Cora’s missing lines at the waterfall and retained the tiny bit of extra footage of the war party.
* Added the Hawkeye’s missing line in the boat chase, but retained the extra chase footage from the director’s cut.
* Added the Clannad theme to the ascent of the mountain to the Huron village. Added some shots of Chingachgook to those of Hawkeye and Uncas, but removed the sunset shots as they could not readily be incorporated. They seemed to involve a slight discontinuity error in respect of the time of day, as the faneditor always had the impression that the entry into the village immediately followed the ascent; although, in a film as notorious for its changes in atmospheric conditions as this, they were admittedly not too serious.
* Retained the extra shots of Cora and Hawkeye walking backwards out of the Huron village.
* Added Major Heyward’s second scream just before his death: it had been deleted in the director’s cut.
* Added the shot of Chingachgook’s war-club impaling Magua through the back.
* Added the original theatrical cut sounds made by Magua’s knife as he kills Uncas, as I thought the “improved” director’s cut ones were over the top.
* Added the footage of Hawkeye comforting Cora after Alice’s death.
* Retained Chingachgook’s long speech at the end.
* “Color corrected” some shots from the theatrical version as far as I was able, so they matched the warmer color palette of the director’s cut. Many many thanks to Jorge for his work on one particularly difficult shot.
* The volume level of the director’s cut DVD – annoyingly – varied a great deal, so an attempt has been made to keep the volume consistent throughout the film.
* A number of other minor changes and fixes.
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Images:
cover art by AvP (download here):
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manny manny thanks for this version……..this site has the best .. skilled gifted people
…..this is one of the best epic movies .i ever saw……and now i can have your version….awesome….thanks for all your effort 
Review by clockwork — October 30, 2009 @ 7:49 pm
Well done. I think the editing choices were good (though I understand the reasoning for retaining the Clannad piece, I think I actually prefer the director’s cut decision to remove it here), the video and audio were fine for me (I have a stereo setup on a CRT TV, so to me it was perfect). I didn’t experience any issues with aspect ratio. Well done.
Anyone like me, who loves this movie, will want to add this to their collection. It was a great excuse to watch the film again, and the editing was well done. The DVD is bare bones, so there is always some room for improvement there, but I talked to Captain about this prior, and I am very happy to have a bare bones DVD as opposed to not having one at all.
Thanks for the cool edit Captain
Review by ThrowgnCpr — October 31, 2009 @ 5:23 pm
Thank you both for the positive comments. The fanedit is now a single-layer NTSC DVD. The AVI has now been taken down.
Review by Captain Khajiit — November 2, 2009 @ 9:02 pm
Great, great stuff. This is the only special edition in which I felt that the director truly wrecked his original great movie. Michael Mann cut out many of the moments that made this what it should be– an unapologetically larger-than-life romanticized historical drama. When Hawkeye’s action hero lines “you and I are going to have a serious disagreement” and the Clannad piece were taken out, it suddenly became a more “realistic” version, that is, it became the same bland stuff we’ve seen a hundred times. Or maybe I was simply too close to the original version of this movie……. ;o) In any case, I might make one suggestion. I would ask that you cut Chingachgook’s end dialog and restore it to the original cut. His pious meanderings about the wilderness disappearing bit by bit is not at all what this film is about. AND we’ve experienced that sentiment a thousand times before in other films. It was the final insult, I felt, to a very wrong-headed “official” special edition edit. On a personal note, I would very much like to introduce this film to my wife (she’s never seen it), but I want it to be PERFECT, and I don’t want to suddenly stop the movie just before the Ching-meister gets going, AND I lack the necessary skills to alter the film further. So, Mr. Khajiit, What do you say? =o)
Review by slice2188 — November 4, 2009 @ 2:33 am
Thank you for your kind comment, slice 2188. I shall think about restoring the theatrical ending, but I had a computer failure recently, and I am still restoring some of my programs and settings.
I do not quite agree with your view of Chingachgook’s speech; however, I do understand why some people prefer the theatrical ending. I like both endings equally, and as this is technically an extended edition, I went with the longer one. I am willing to restore the original ending, but it will take a little while, and I would like to hear some more comments from other people too. Watch this spot!
P.S. You could always visit the forum to discuss your ideas in more detail.
Review by Captain Khajiit — November 4, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
Fantastic! I already have your 1st version burned to DVD right now. The wife’s just going to have to wait, though!
The other “official” special edition footage I loved by the way. Especially Major Heyward’s diversion during the battle. I just hated what got cut. And I REALLY hated the restored end speech.
Review by slice2188 — November 5, 2009 @ 3:29 am