Her Own People (1917) User Reviews

Fights and gory scalps are not in evidence

[deickemeyer · 7 February 2015]

In "'Her Own People," the Pallas release for February 8, Lenore Ulrich is seen in one of her best roles. The story is of outdoors, of mountains, pines and lakes; of Indians, as well as white men. Real red men they are, and to the subject they lend the color of the west. They are shown at their best, in their dances and sports. Fights and gory scalps are not in evidence. The Indians and their country provide an admirable background for the story, which has for its principal a girl who is the daughter of a wealthy father gone to the woods out of sorts with civilization, and of an Indian mother. Miss Ulrich gives a good, a convincing portrayal of the girl of mixed blood, wooed by men of white skin and of red. Her heart favors one of the former, but through the cupidity of a white man she is inclined to condemn the whole race and take up with the Indian. It is a good character delineation. John Kemp has the role of Howard Davies, the man of means and position, who, when crossed in love, quits the world he has known. Davies holds fast to his resolution until the daughter of his union with a squaw grows to young womanhood. Then, through fear of her marrying an Indian, he takes her to the east and educates her. Mr. Kemp has a good role and plays it well. Colin Chase is Frank Colvin, the young prospector, who falls in love with Alona and eventually wins her when she is convinced he wants her for herself and not for the money of her father. William Jefferson is Agnew, the son of the woman who discarded Davies in earlier years and who seeks to win Alona for the sake of the money involved. Others in the cast are Adelaide Woods, Jack Stark, Gail Brooks and Joy Lewis. "Her Own People'' is a good picture. There are a number of strong situations, cleverly developed, and none of these is quite as strong, even as it is tender, as the final. – The Moving Picture World, February 24, 1917