''The Vanishing American'' is a 1925 American silent
Western
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film produced by
Famous Players-Lasky
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and ...
Richard Dix
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
and Lois Wilson, recently paired in several screen dramas by Paramount. The film is based on the 1925 novel ''The Vanishing American'' by
Zane Grey
Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American fronti ...
Scott Brady
Scott Brady (born Gerard Kenneth Tierney; September 13, 1924 – April 16, 1985) was an American film and television actor best known for his roles in Western films and as a ubiquitous television presence. He played the title role in the televi ...
and
Audrey Totter
Audrey Mary Totter (December 20, 1917 – December 12, 2013) was an American radio, film, and television actress and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s.
Early life
Audrey – some sources indicate "Audra" – Totter w ...
.
The story first appeared in November 1922 as a serial in '' Ladies' Home Journal''.
Harper & Brothers
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
planned the book's publication to coincide with the film's release but Christian missionaries feared public criticism. Harper editors thus altered the story before publication, ultimately causing a delay between the release of the two different pieces
History of adaptation
Grey's serialized novel, published in ''Ladies’ Home Journal'' in 1922–1923, was one of the first pieces of literature produced which offered a harsh portrayal of American government agencies towards Native Americans Grey depicted the white settlers as missionaries who preyed upon the subordinate race, forcefully converting them into Christianity and altering their way of life. This depiction sparked a lot of backlash in the form of angry letters from readers once the novels were published. According to
Zane Grey
Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American fronti ...
's biographer, Thomas Pauly, “The magazine was deluged with angry letters from religious groups, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs vehemently denounced his depiction of their efforts.”
In response to critics of the novel, Lasky persuaded Grey to dilute the negative portrayal of the American government in the film. Grey agreed, and instead of Americans monolithically demonstrating contempt towards Native Americans, the script instead placed most of the blame on the corrupt choices of an individual character, Booker.
According to an interview with Lasky in September 1925, the idea for adapting Grey's novel into a feature film originated in 1922 when he and
Lucien Hubbard
Lucien Hubbard (December 22, 1888 – December 31, 1971) was a film producer and screenwriter.
Biography
Hubbard is best known for producing the 1927 film ''Wings (1927 film), Wings'', for which he received the first Academy Award for Best Pic ...
, the editorial supervisor for Zane Grey Productions, received an invitation from Grey to visit Navajo Mountain and Rainbow Bridge in northern Arizona. The reservation's stark and boundless desert scenery captivated Lasky and after spending nearly two months there, he suggested they use the vast ranges as the background for a motion picture.
Plot
The film opens long ago in Monument Valley, after tribes of Native Americans have defeated other ancient cliff dwellers; afterwards, Europeans arrived to conquer the Native Americans. Later, in the early 20th century, a tribe of Navajo are living on a reservation overseen by an individual who hates Native Americans, named Booker. He and his men steal the best Native American's horses for their own profit. Nophaie, a tribal leader, complains to Booker's superiors, but he is unable to gain fair treatment from the whites. When
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
breaks out, Army Captain Earl Ramsdale comes west in search of the horses that Booker was supposed to have bought from the Natives for a fair price. Marian Warner, the teacher at the Native American School, befriended Nophaie, teaching him to read; she convinces him that the Great War is a fight for a more just world, and that, when that world comes, the Native Americans will be treated better. Nophaie, not only brings horses for the Army, he and many others enlist, and distinguish themselves in battle. But when they come back after the war is over, they find life for the Native Americans even worse than when had they left. When they go on the warpath, Nophaie rides to warn the Whites. Nophaie and Booker die in the fighting, and Nophaie's sole comfort is dying in the arms of Marion, whom he loved. The film is a mixture of contradictory stereotypes that aims to show its viewers the subjugation of the Native American people during the time of World War I. Nophaie and his people ultimately come to realize that their traditional ways of life may be coming to an end. They also note that there is an equal place for them within White America.
Cast
*
Richard Dix
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
Noah Beery
Noah Nicholas Beery (January 17, 1882 – April 1, 1946) was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of prominen ...
as Booker
* Malcolm McGregor as Earl Ramsdale
* Nocki as Indian Boy
*
Shannon Day
Shannon Day (born Sylvia Day; August 5, 1896 – February 24, 1977) was an American silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative ...
as Gekin Yashi
*
Charles Crockett
Charles Crockett (December 29, 1870 – June 12, 1934) was an American character actor known for his roles in films such as ''Guilty Hands'', '' The Gingham Girl'', and ''The Princess from Hoboken''.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 29, 1 ...
as Amos Halliday
*
Bert Woodruff
William Herbert "Bert" Woodruff (April 29, 1856 – June 14, 1934) was an American actor of the silent era.
Woodruff was born in Peoria, Illinois, and was the son of Mrs. Hannah Woodruff. He performed on stage before he began acting on fi ...
John Webb Dillon
John Webb Dillion (6 February 1877 – 20 December 1949) was an English actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1911 and 1947. He was born in London and died in Hollywood, California, USA. He was married to Catherine Urlau.
Selected fi ...
as Naylor
*
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...
, ''unbilled''
Production
''The Vanishing American'' was produced by Famous Player-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures, and it is considered to be one of the most ambitious productions of the Twenties. The film began production in June 1925 and finished that September. The majority of the film was shot on the Navajo Nation, including locations in Monument Valley, Rainbow Bridge and Tsegi Canyon. According to newspaper publicity at the time, 500 cast and crew members were brought in from Hollywood and over 1,000 Native American were used for extras. Filming in a remote location created difficulties for the film crew and they often had to stop due to sandstorms, summer rainstorms, and because of the road conditions, the trucks being used for filming frequently blew tires. The film is timed at 110 minutes long.
Parts of the film were shot in Monument Valley and
Rainbow Bridge National Monument
Rainbow Bridge National Monument is administered by Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, southern Utah, United States. Rainbow Bridge is often described as the world's highest natural bridge. The span of Rainbow Bridge was reported in 1974 ...
in Utah, and in
Tuba City
Tuba City ( nv, ) is an unincorporated town in Coconino County, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, United States. It is the second-largest community in Coconino County. The population of the census-designated place (CDP) was 8,611 at the 2010 cen ...
and Sagi Canyon in Arizona.
During filming, 14 bison were brought onto Catalina Island. While unused in the film, the bison remain there to this day.
Reviews
Audiences and critics responded positively to the film, and it earned critical acclaim as one of the first films of its type to address the mistreatment of indigenous peoples by white settlers. A review by ''The Motion Picture News'' in 1925 stated, “It is an epic of the Indian, his beginnings, his rise to power and glory, his fall and the tragic qualities of his existence today.” ''The Motion Picture News'' continued, saying, “''The Vanishing American'' is destined to general popularity and ranks with the best of its type. It depicts beautiful scenes which picture the coming of the Redman as we know him.” Film historian
Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...
has praised the film noting that "The problem of the Indian and his betrayal by the government was more clearly etched in this picture than in any other silent film."
Mordaunt Hall
Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934. He also praised
Hugo Riesenfeld
Hugo Riesenfeld (January 26, 1879 – September 10, 1939) was an Austrian-American composer. As a film director, he began to write his own orchestral compositions for silent films in 1917, and co-created modern production techniques where film ...
's score, which the composer himself conducted for the film's premiere at the Criterion Theatre.
Status
This film survives at several restoration archives such as the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
The House That Shadows Built
''The House That Shadows Built'' (1931) is a feature compilation film from Paramount Pictures, made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio's founding in 1912. The film was a promotional film for exhibitors and never had a regular thea ...
'' (1931) promotional film released by Paramount with excerpt of this film