In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Edward S. Curtis

Writer:

Edward S. Curtis (story)

Release Date:

7 December 1914 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Drama

Plot:

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Maggie Frank

...

Princess (uncredited)

Also Known As:

In the Land of the War Canoes

Runtime:

47 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Seattle Film Co.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Black Widow (1987)

Film and Subject

Edwin S. Curtis' primary medium was still photography; he took pictures of aborigines. This documentary about the Kwakiutls of British Columbia contains some nice images, especially those from a buoyant camera within a canoe. The animal costumes and collecting of heads is worth looking at. The story that Curtis attached to his ethnographic record is uninteresting and untrustworthy, though. The films of Robert Flaherty to the films of Michael Moore have been accused of fictionalization, but at least those narratives, true to documentary film-making or not, are entertaining. As far as making the subject interesting to me, Curtis has failed. The documentary itself, however, is very old--the earliest feature-length documentary I've seen. The medium rather than the subject has become the record I find interesting.