The Squaw Man (1914)

A chivalrous British officer takes the blame for his cousin's embezzlement and journeys to the American West to start a new life on a cattle ranch.

Directors:

Oscar Apfel, Cecil B. DeMille

Writers:

Edwin Milton Royle, Cecil B. DeMille (picturized by),

Stars:

Dustin Farnum, Monroe Salisbury, Winifred Kingston

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dustin Farnum	...	Capt. James Wynnegate - aka Jim Carston
Monroe Salisbury	...	Sir Henry - Earl of Kerhill
Winifred Kingston	...	Lady Diana - Countess of Kerhill
Mrs. A.W. Filson	...	The Dowager Lady Elizabeth Kerhill
Haidee Fuller	...	Lady Mabel Wynnegate
Red Wing	...	Nat-U-Ritch (as Princess Red Wing)
Foster Knox	...	Sir John
Fred Montague	...	Mr. Petrie
'Baby' Carmen De Rue	...	Hal (as Baby de Rue)
Fernando Gálvez	...	Sir John Applegate (as F.O. Galvez)
Eugene De Rue	...	Lt. Henry George
H.R. Macy	...	Lt. Alexander Leslie
H.L. Swisher	...	Lt. Charles McGrath
Michael J. Kilpatrick	...	Lt. Cecil Harrison (as M.J. Kilpatrick)
Sydney Deane	...	Dean of Trenton

Storyline

Captain Wynnegate leaves England, accepting the blame for embezzling charity funds though knowing that his cousin Sir Henry is guilty. Out West he and the Indian girl Nat-U-Rich save each other from the evil cattle rustler Cash Hawkins and marry. Lady Diana shows up to announce Sir Henry's death. After Nat-U-Rich's suicide Wynnegate takes his half-breed son and Lady Diana back to England as the new Earl of Kerhill.

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Plot Keywords:

earl | england | mountain climbing | ranch | embezzlement | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Romance | Western

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 February 1914 (USA)

Also Known As:

Az asszonyember

Filming Locations:

Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$244,700 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min 74 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Motion Picture Patents Trust, headed by Thomas A. Edison, was at that time engaged in an attempt to control all motion picture production in the U.S., and went to great lengths - often including destruction of property and physical violence - to do so. The Trust was based on the East Coast, which is why many independent producers, such as Cecil B. DeMille, began shooting their films in California. The Trust's intimidation tactics probably explain why DeMille - who was one of their most vocal opponents - put no cast or crew credits on this film.

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Goofs

When he is in his hotel room in New York, Captain Wynnegate looks out of his window. This is followed by a cut to an obvious still photograph of the Broadway/Times Square district by night, meant to represent the view from the Captain's window.

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Quotes

Captain James Wynnegate: [on death of Nat-U-Rich] Poor little mother!

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Connections

Featured in 100 Years of the Hollywood Western (1994)

User Reviews

The first Hollywood feature?

History seems to consider The Squaw Man to be Hollywood's first feature-length film. However, Custer's Last Fight (Francis Ford, 1912*) runs at just under an hour. I'd consider that feature-length. And it was made in Hollywood. So, I dunno.

In any event, this is a really important film, historically, and Cecil B. DeMille's first feature--and his first film, period. Supposedly, he hadn't even seen a film until shortly before he made this. It totally shows.

It's kind of a clumsy jumble of scenes taken from a book. There's no real cinematic logic or flow. There are lots of scenes of people just standing around talking--which doesn't really work in a silent film, especially without many intertitles. Characters were hard to tell apart, because they were mostly filmed in long shot. I found it all somewhat difficult to follow, although I guess I got the gist.

Still, some of the individual scenes are interesting. I suppose the theme of interracial marriage was probably notable for the time (and its outcome predictable). And the film ws mostly filmed on location, which made it a bit easier to watch. I don't imagine I'll ever feel a burning desire to see this again, but it was worthwhile seeing once as an historical document.

C. B. DeMille did learn his craft quickly. By 1915, he was doing vastly better work than this (Carmen, The Cheat).

5.5/10

* Although the version I saw was a 1920s reissue, and it's possible it had some footage added, but it seems unlikely, because that almost certainly would have been jarringly obvious.