| The Pathfinder | |
| Director: | Sidney Salkow |
| Producer: | Sam Katzman |
| Screenplay: | Robert E. Kent |
| Based On: | The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper |
| Starring: | George Montgomery Helena Carter Jay Silverheels |
| Narrator: | Michael Fox |
| Cinematography: | Henry Freulich |
| Editing: | Jerome Thoms |
| Color Process: | Technicolor |
| Studio: | Sam Katzman Productions |
| Distributor: | Columbia Pictures |
| Runtime: | 78 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
The Pathfinder is a 1952 American adventure historical western film directed by Sidney Salkow and starring George Montgomery, Helena Carter and Jay Silverheels.[1] It is based on the 1840 novel The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper and was produced by Sam Katzman for Columbia Pictures.
At the beginning of the French and Indian War in 1754, the Mingo Indians allied to the French massacre the Mohican tribe allied to British. Pathfinder and Chingachgook discover the only survivor, a child named Uncas. Angered that the British did not protect their allies the Mohicans, Pathfinder gains entry to the British fort and threatens the Scottish commander Colonel Duncannon until it is discovered that the British were unaware due to a Mohican messenger being killed before he could bring the news.
Colonel Duncannon enlists Pathfinder and Chingachgook to spy for the British by posing as French sympathisers. When Pathfinder says they would not be able to discover the plans of the French as they do not speak their language the Colonel assigns Alison, a fluent French speaker to them. Pathfinder is dismayed that Alison is a woman but she earns her place by killing a Mingo with a pistol and infiltrating French society when they arrive at the French fort. Alison discovers that the French have built a road along a mountain pass bringing supplies to the main French port that has a harbour for ships. Blowing up the mountain road with black powder would deny supplies to the French fort meaning all their smaller outposts would fall to the British due to a scarcity of provisions.
Alison came to the North American colonies to marry an English Captain who disgraced himself through alcoholism. She unexpectedly meets him again as he has turned renegade, married a Mingo princess and has a commission in the French army.
Helena Carter had just made The Golden Horde for Katzman.[2]