In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914)
** (out of 4)
Director Edward S. Curtis took his cameras to Vancouver Island where he wanted to film the Kwakiutl Indian tribe. This film isn't a documentary but an attempt to take their beliefs and turn them into a fictional film. The story centers around Motana, a man sent off to do a spiritual dance when he sees a vision of his future wife. He eventually runs into this woman but she's been offered to an evil sorcerer.
IN THE LAND OF THE HEAD HUNTERS was at one point in the 70s re-released with altered scenes, an added vocal soundtrack and other trimmings but thankfully the folks at Milestone attempted to get the movie back to its original version or at least as close to it as possible. The film is fairly hard to judge because they had two incomplete and very badly damaged prints to work with and sadly a lot of the film is still missing and has been replaced with title cards.
Overall the film isn't all that good but it's an interesting one to watch. I say this because it is fascinating to see the various Kwakiutl beliefs including the stuff dealing with the man going out to do his spiritual thing. This of course leads to how women are bought and sold. These things are rather interesting and it's really too bad that these things weren't presented in a documentary instead of a feature. As a film this thing really doesn't offer us anything fresh or original for the time. The performances aren't memorable or very good either.
If you're a silent film buff it's certainly worth watching this once but there's really not too much here.