Massacre (1934)

Director:

Alan Crosland

Writers:

Robert Gessner (story), Ralph Block (screenplay),

Stars:

Richard Barthelmess, Ann Dvorak, Dudley Digges

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Barthelmess	...	Chief Joe Thunderhorse
Ann Dvorak	...	Lydia
Dudley Digges	...	Elihu P. Quissenberry
Claire Dodd	...	Norma
Henry O'Neill	...	J.R. Dickinson
Robert Barrat	...	Dawson
Arthur Hohl	...	Dr. Turner
Sidney Toler	...	Thomas Shanks
Clarence Muse	...	Sam
Charles Middleton	...	Sheriff Scatters
Tully Marshall	...	Jake
Wallis Clark	...	Cochran
William V. Mong	...	Grandy
DeWitt Jennings	...	Sheriff Jennings
Juliet Ware	...	Mrs. Trevor

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

native american | social problem | discrimination | eroticism | miscegenation | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 January 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

Masacre

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers First National Studio - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Chief Joe Thunderhorse: You used to shoot the Indian down. Now you cheat him and starve him and kill him off by dirt and disease. It's a massacre, any way you take it!

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Soundtracks

"The Sun Dance"
(uncredited)
Music by Leo Friedman
Played when Chief Thunderhorse is introduced

User Reviews

Excellent Film

Richard Barthelmess stars as Joe Thunderhorse, a Sioux Indian who has grown up in white schools and is the star of a traveling "Old West" show. He goes back to "the reservation" when he gets a telegram that his father is dying. Once there he runs up against a trio of crooked white men, Dudley Digges as the Indian Agaent, Arthur Hohl as the incompetent doctor, and Sidney Toler as the henchman. He also meets Lydia (Ann Dvorak) who knows the realities of life on the reservation.

The whites treat Joe like any other Indian, but Joe has lived in the white world for 30 years and fights back. After he he convicted of attempted murder in an amazingly crooked court run by Digges, Joe breaks from the reservation and heads to Washington, where the case turns into a national event with a national network of graft and corruption exposed.

This is an highly entertaining film that publicizes the Indians' plight and (as of 1934) lack of civil rights.

Barthelmess is excellent as the crusading Joe. Dvorak is solid as the heroine. Digges, Hohl, and Toler are appropriately slimy. Co-stars include Claire Dodd, Tully Marshall, Clarence Muse, Henry O'Neill, Charles Middleton, and Robert Barrat.