The Eyes of the Totem

Name: The Eyes of the Totem
Genre: Drama
Released: 1927-05-15
Duration: 1 h 21 min
Rating: 6.7
Cast: Wanda Hawley, Tom Santschi, Anne Cornwall

1927
Passed
1h 21m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

YOUR RATING

Wanda Hawley, Gareth Hughes, and Tom Santschi in The Eyes of the Totem (1927)

Drama

After selling out a mining claim in the desolate and frigid north, Miriam Hardy moves to Tacoma with her husband and young daughter to start a new life. Things don't go as planned when her h... Read allAfter selling out a mining claim in the desolate and frigid north, Miriam Hardy moves to Tacoma with her husband and young daughter to start a new life. Things don't go as planned when her husband is murdered by a mysterious sinister eyed stranger, leaving Ms. Hardy a destitute w... Read allAfter selling out a mining claim in the desolate and frigid north, Miriam Hardy moves to Tacoma with her husband and young daughter to start a new life. Things don't go as planned when her husband is murdered by a mysterious sinister eyed stranger, leaving Ms. Hardy a destitute widow. With the police unable to help find the murderer, Ms. Hardy is rescued by a kindly e... Read all

Director
- W.S. Van Dyke
Writers
- W.W. Dickson
- Everett C. Maxwell
Stars

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IMDb RATING

6.7/10

YOUR RATING

See production, box office & company info

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Photos9

Wanda Hawley in The Eyes of the Totem (1927)

Anne Cornwall, Wanda Hawley, and Bert Woodruff in The Eyes of the Totem (1927)

Anne Cornwall, Tom Santschi, W.S. Van Dyke, and Bert Woodruff in The Eyes of the Totem (1927)

W.S. Van Dyke and Bert Woodruff in The Eyes of the Totem (1927)

Wanda Hawley, Tom Santschi, and Peggy Ann Sessoms at an event for The Eyes of the Totem (1927)

Anne Cornwall, Wanda Hawley, Gareth Hughes, Tom Santschi, W.S. Van Dyke, and Bert Woodruff in The Eyes of the Totem (1927)

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Shortly after Totem's initial run in 1927, the movie studio went bankrupt and the movie was thought lost, until re-discovered in good quality in 2014. As of 2015 it is being restored, digitized, and re-scored and slated for festival release.

User reviews3

Review

Featured review

8/10

One of the best fight scenes in film history

This long lost film shows many iconic Takoma landmarks, including the Totem of the title. The bulk of the film is a melodrama of a single mother surviving the best she can. Making the hardest decision of placing her young daughter in a private boarding school. Destitute, homeless, this woman lives by the only option available to her as a begger. Her predicament resonants today, as so many cross into poverty and homelessness through no fault of their own. Her daughter grows into a lively teen befriended by a wealthy family. The film villian is a predatory club owner who entices respectable young women into sex trafficking. One scene is very much like Ghislane Maxwell, as the daughter is tricked by one of these women into the predators office. As the teen attempts to fights off her rapist the wealthy son comes to her rescue. That begins one of the best shot fight scenes in films. This is no slapstick fight. This is a brutal, no hold barred fight. With stunning film shots and camera angles. This fight scene reminded me that the Directors of the Silents pushed the boundaries of composition and cinamatography. The film drags a bit in the middle of the melodrama, but stick it out. The last 15 minutes more than makes up for it.

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