White Fawn's Devotion: A Play Acted by a Tribe of Red Indians in America (1910) User Reviews

Historically important but not all that good

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 24 October 2006]

This is an early film included on the TREASURES FROM American FILM ARCHIVES DVD set. It's a film about a family made up of a Native American, a pioneer and their son. Despite having some interesting elements (the unusual story and some Indians that really look like Indians), the film itself is extremely melodramatic and old-fashioned--definitely a product of the times in which it was made.

The film begins with the man getting a letter saying that some long-lost relative in England died and left him a fortune. He tells his wife, who refuses to go to England with him. In fact, out of the blue, she pulls out a knife and stabs herself in a most unconvincing fashion (it looked really fake and over-done). Their child comes along and assumes Dad killed her, so she tells the Indian tribe nearby and they spend much of the film trying to kill him! But, just as they are about to force the kid to cut the robe and thereby dropping a big rock on Dad that surely would have hurt him a little, Mom reappears! She looks just fine--not even wounded!! And, apparently, everyone lives happily ever after--except the audience who is REALLY confused that Mom is back and none the worse for wear!! Oh, and the Indian chief orders Dad to leave and never return--even though he did absolutely NOTHING wrong!! The film just doesn't make any sense and is rather sloppy. However, given when it was made, I'll cut it some slack. Plus, seeing what looked like real Indians was a nice touch. The film is pretty skip-able, but for film historians it's worth a look.

Totally devoted to you

[JohnSeal · 6/10 · 7 November 2010]

What a bizarre little film this is. When an old west settler (actor unknown) learns that he has inherited a vast fortune, he excitedly tells his wife and child of the family's good fortune. Spouse White Fawn (Native American screen regular Red Wing) responds poorly to the news and attempts to kill herself. So successful is her suicide attempt that both father and child think she is dead, the child fleeing to White Fawn's tribe for support and revenge. The settler flees, with tribal warriors in pursuit--four of whom he guns down before he is finally captured by the Chief, who returns him to the village. Seconds before his execution at the reluctant hands of his own child (the poor thing gets cuffed around the head several times as encouragement), White Fawn--unscathed and none the worse for wear--reappears and saves him. Though the final scene of the film is missing, the surviving scenario assures us they live happily ever after! Perhaps they made it back to England and claimed the cash after all--and then spent the money on therapy for all concerned.

First Movie Directed by a Native American

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 21 February 2021]

Early film Westerns were often criticized for not being authentic. About twenty percent of the movies in the 1910's were cowboy and Indian-related pictures. Pathe Studios, a French film company that had opened a small production branch in Ft. Lee, N.J., wanted to correct that perception. Pathe hired actor and part-time film hand, James Young Deer, who claimed he had ancestors from the Nanticoke people of Delaware, to write and direct its Westerns. One of his first works, his earliest that exists, was "White Fawn's Devotion." This June 1910-released film is the first existing movie directed by a Native American.

Many Westerns filmed Indians as hostile warriors, attacking wagon trains and solitary farmsteads. There were many other movies at that time, however, that looked upon Native Americans in a more positive light, reflecting their stoicism and integrity, where they were constantly harassed by land grabbing whites. D.W. Griffith's early films on this subject dealt humanely with his native portrayal. In "White Fawn's Devotion," Deer develops a story in which an Indian wife is fearful that her white husband, inheriting riches back East, will take her and their daughter into the white's civilization and leave the life she loves. After seemingly committing suicide, the wife appears to have been killed by her husband after the spat, and their daughter tells the neighboring tribe of the killing, eliciting a knuckle gripping chase scene.

There is only a handful of existing Deer-directed films available for today's viewers; the remainder are considered lost. As a Spanish-American War veteran, he is buried in the Long Island National Cemetary under the name James Young Johnson.

Worthwhile For the Director & the Cast

[Snow Leopard · 30 August 2005]

The short drama "White Fawn's Devotion" is primarily of interest for its director, James Young Deer, and its cast of Native Americans, who enact a drama of an interracial family that falls victim to a misunderstanding. The actual story has obvious similarities to many other short dramas of the era, but its frontier setting adds a dimension that a similar drama set in a city or suburb, without the cross-cultural interactions, would not have.

The story features a white settler, his Native American wife White Fawn, and their daughter. A conflict arises when the settler learns that he has inherited a large fortune, but must go east to claim it. White Fawn immediately foresees that this will force him to choose between two entirely different ways of life, and her reaction soon leads to a serious misunderstanding.

As this feature illustrates, in 1910 there were still some good opportunities in film-making for minorities. As a result, although much of the story is just a variant of a well-worn plot premise, the movie is still interesting to watch because it offers a worthwhile perspective on the cultural issues involved, rather than limiting itself to one family's problems.

Surprisingly solid

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 14 May 2016]

The 105-year-old "White Fawn's Devotion: A Play Acted by a Tribe of Red Indians in America" must have one of the longest titles from the silent era and actually this could just be named "White Fawn's Devotion", but this way they went for, it also describes what this film actually is, so I will not elaborate on that. The "surprisingly" in the title is a reference to the fact that almost all of the people that worked on this film were rookies and not experienced at all in movies. The story has 1 or 2 not so realistic moments, but overall it's an interesting plot with good dramatic storytelling and many people who made films around 1910 certainly could have learned something from it. Oh well, even today, there are more than enough who still could. I thought this Pathé film was a good watch and I recommend it. The intertitles are frequent enough and definitely help a lot in understanding the story. Costumes, sets and cinematography are also quite good for its era. I recommend the watch.

Not a Bad Little Film

[gavin6942 · 8/10 · 21 January 2016]

A frantic child reports to the tribal chief that her father killed her mother. The tribe chases and captures the man, dragging him back for tribal justice.

"White Fawn's Devotion" is the earliest surviving film directed by a Native American. James Young Deer's ancestors were members of the Nanticoke people of Delaware. It was one of the earlier films shot in America by the French company Pathé.

This short film deserves recognition simply for its native roots, but also happens to be a pretty decent story with interesting sets and costumes. With no one credited, I do not know if the actors were native or not, but it seems quite possible they were (at least partially).