An Indian Love Story

An Indian Love Story is a silent black and white film about personal relationships in a Native American community. The film is about two married couples, each of the partners of which are involved with the spouse of the other couple, a former lover. It is a western drama directed by Fred J. Balshofer and was produced by Bison Films and released in 1911.

This film is the first film that had utilized Native American actors rather than white actors, and was designed to provide an authentic background showing the way of life of Native Americans and their communities rather than a stereotyped outsider view.

Plot

An Indian Love Story is surrounds two couples who are in unhappy in their relationships. Two main characters, Deerheart and Mona (played by Mona Darkfeather), are partners. Another character, Dove Eye, is in love with Deerheart, even though the character Eagle Wing is hopelessly in love with her. A quadrangle is formed between the characters that are unhappy and dissatisfied with their relationships. The men fight for the women they desire through a series of events. Deerheart almost gets executed at the stake due to a misunderstanding by Dove Eye's father. Dove Eye decides that because of the encounter with her father, she was never fit for Deerheart's love. She then turns to Eagle Wing for a lover. Deerheart is released and is returned to Mona.[1][2]

Cast

Production

An Indian Love Story was requested to be released early by the educational films corporation. The film is a western drama produced by Bison Company which was released on August 18, 1911. The romantic film is integration of story, scenery, and fascinating characters. The Native Americans who were of Crow Indian descent resided on their Wyoming reservation. Bison Company wanted to make their film as natural as possible by filming the film in the locations of Indian communities and having real Indian actors. The film producers requested that the actors duplicate their own life and be as realistic as much as possible and to be aware of the customs. The cast consisted of only Indians actors and no white actors.The film is one of the Bison romantic film which is about two couples swapping partners.

Casting

Before An Indian Love Story, white actors were cast to play the roles and represent Native Americans in films like Chief Blackfoot's Vindication in 1910.[4] Indians did not believe that the white actors reproduced the Indian lifestyle accurately and accused the films of false portrayal of Indians. Indians did not believe that the white actors represented them well. Native Americans protested and were furious for the false portrayal of Indians. They proclaimed that only Indians should play the roles of Indians. Their views on the matter of Indian representation resulted to Indians being cast for Indian roles and onsite filming in Indian communities. Directors chose the cast members by going into Indian communities entered and locals for their roles. Bison Indian films consisted of the wild Indian cowboys and used romance, “noble savage and condemned the hostile warrior.[4]”

References

  1. ↑ Balshofer, Fred J. (1911-08-18), An Indian Love Story, retrieved 2016-10-04
  2. ↑ "IMDb". IMDb.
  3. ↑ Balshofer, Fred J.; Eye, Dove; Wing, Chief Eagle (1911-08-18), An Indian Love Story, retrieved 2016-12-20
  4. 1 2 Aleiss, Angela (2005). Making the White Man's Indian: Native American and Hollywood Movies. Westport:An Imprint of Greenwood. p. 11.
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