Review of The Squaw Man (1914) by Bernard A — 26 May 2010

THE SQUAW MAN not only is the first film directed by Cecil B. DeMille (he's called the "visualizer" according to the credits)...but also has the distinction of being the first "feature film" to be made in what is now Hollywood. That's a lot of history right there and possibly a good reason for a film fan to seek this one out. But, whether it's a "great" film - well, that may be another story. Only because this one really shows it's age and is a good example of how much "film" (and especially "film technology") has changed since the beginning of the film industry.

I'd say I'm a fan of DeMille. I suppose I like his films for the exact reasons that others hate them. They are usually over-the-top melodramas and he directs his actors as if the silent era never ended. His very last film - THE TEN COMMANDMENTS is a perfect example of what I mean. I just get a lot of entertainment value (or possibly kitschy value) from a lot of them (even though I may often roll my eyes more often than not)...

I think as crude a film as THE SQUAW MAN seems to be - It certainly has that over-the-top quality (story-wise) of DeMille's more polished later films. If you are looking for "logic" in this story - well, you might want to look elsewhere. If some of the plot points don't have you scratching your head...then maybe the editing will. Some of the scene changes in this are just so jarringly abrupt.

The film begins in England where cousins Henry (Monroe Salisbury) and James Wynnegate (Dustin Farnum) are made trustees of an Orphan's Fund. They are charged for caring for the money until it can be presented formally to the War Department. Unfortunately, cousin Henry is a gambler and just lost £5,000 at the horse races. So Henry decides to dip into the fund - to the tune of £10,000 - in order to pay off his gambling debts. When the shortage in the cash is discovered, since Henry is an Earl, the family matriarch (A.W. Filson) secretly asks James to take the blame for the embezzlement and flee to New York in order to "save" the "family name" (this does not compute to me because, well - doesn't Henry and James HAVE the SAME NAME - duh)???

Well, James decides he will take the fall for cousin Henry and flees to the United States on a sailing vessel. He is pursued by a detective investigating the theft of the funds. There is a fight onboard the ship between James and the detective...then there is a fire which the inter-title refers to as an "accident" (when it is anything but - maybe DeMille being humorous, I guess). The passengers have to abandon ship and are picked up by a passing vessel and all of a sudden we are in New York and James all of a sudden has lost his mustache which threw me off since I kinda lost track on which guy onscreen was supposed to be James. I told you this film was crude. I needed to rewind back a few scenes to get my bearings again and I finally figured out that James must have shaved his mustache when he arrived in New York - duh!

Anyway...James eats at a posh restaurant and saves this guy, "Big" Bill (Dick La Reno) from being pick-pocketed. The grateful Bill invites James to his hometown out west - "where folks keep their hands in their own pockets" and just-like-that they are all of a sudden in Maverick (in Wyoming, I reckon) where James buys a ranch...has a feud with the local baddie, "Cash" Hawkins (William Elmer) and falls in love with a native girl, Nat-U-Ritch (Princess Red Wing - she of the Winnebago tribe in real life). James and Nat-U-Ritch gets married (the preacher man balks at marrying them at first - due to his miscegenation - and must be persuaded to perform the ceremony at gunpoint lol)!!! Before James and Nat-U-Ritch can say "I do" they have a 5 year old kid.

Didn't I tell ya the scene edits in this are JARRINGLY SUDDEN? I'm not kidding!!!

Even the ending to THE SQUAW MAN is jarringly sudden...just like this review.

4.