The U.S. Army and the Indians sign a peace treaty. However, a group of surveyors trespass on the Indians' land and violate the treaty. The Army refuses to listen to the Indians' complaints, ... Read allThe U.S. Army and the Indians sign a peace treaty. However, a group of surveyors trespass on the Indians' land and violate the treaty. The Army refuses to listen to the Indians' complaints, and the surveyors are killed by the Indians. A vicious Indian war ensues, culminating in a... Read allThe U.S. Army and the Indians sign a peace treaty. However, a group of surveyors trespass on the Indians' land and violate the treaty. The Army refuses to listen to the Indians' complaints, and the surveyors are killed by the Indians. A vicious Indian war ensues, culminating in an Indian attack on an army fort.
- Directors
- Francis Ford(uncredited)
- Thomas H. Ince(uncredited)
- Writer
- C. Gardner Sullivan(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaOne of the films in the 3-disk boxed DVD set called "More Treasures from American Film Archives (2004)", compiled by the National Film Preservation Foundation from 5 American film archives. This film is preserved by the Library of Congress (from the AFI/Blackhawk collection), has a running time of 41 minutes and an added piano score.
This film was produced at the famous Thomas Ince ranch, one of Hollywood's first great studios, then still in its first year of operation. It was directed either by Ince himself or by Francis Ford, John's older brother, who plays the prominent role of the cavalry commandant Colonel Bryson. Bryson's daughter is courted by a handsome young soldier, and this subplot is presented in direct correlation with the courtship of the Sioux Chief's daughter by a young brave: a parallel that humanizes the Indians for contemporary audiences who may have been accustomed to seeing them typically portrayed as blood-thirsty savages played by white actors in "red-face." This, plus the film's emphasis on treaties signed and then broken by the whites, shows a sympathy for the Indians' cause that may come as a surprise to latter-day viewers, although sympathy for the Indians and indignation over the injustices they suffered seems to have been more common in the silent days than it would be later on. Significantly, the "invaders" of the title are white surveyors sent by the railroad onto Indian land, in violation of a recently signed treaty. Early on, one of the surveyors spots the Chief's daughter and engages in a flirtation with her. It's a sweet scene for a moment or two, but we quickly feel a sense of dread, a premonition that this courtship can only lead to trouble, and soon enough that premonition is fulfilled.
The Invaders has recently been made available as part of an excellent box set of DVDs called "More Treasures from American Film Archives." It's offered with a commentary track by a history professor named Rennard Strickland, and while his remarks were interesting I question his conclusion that the ending is a happy one. He was referring to the finale in which some of the cavalry fort's defenders are rescued, so it's certainly a happy ending for them, but in a broader sense the conflict between the Native Americans of the plains states and the U. S. Government did not end happily for all parties, and anyone with any feeling for the fate of the Oglala Sioux will be saddened by the time this movie is over. Still, we can be grateful The Invaders survives: it stands as the cinema's first great Western epic as well as a fascinating historical time capsule that captures a way of life in its final stages.
- wmorrow59
- Aug 9, 2006
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
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- Also known as
- The Empire Builders
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime41 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1