A Romance of the Western Hills

Plot

A young Native American girl is taken in by a compassionate white couple who raise her as their own daughter, providing her with education and affection. The girl grows up happy and falls deeply in love with the couple's nephew, who appears to return her feelings. However, her world shatters when she discovers the young man with his white fiancée, revealing his duplicity and the racial barriers of the time. Heartbroken and betrayed, she returns to her people, while her former lover seeks revenge on the white boy. The story concludes with the white fiancée learning of her betrothed's two-timing behavior and breaking off their engagement, highlighting themes of racial prejudice, loyalty, and the consequences of deception.

Historical Background

This film was produced during a pivotal moment in American cinema history, as the industry was transitioning from short novelty films to more sophisticated narrative storytelling. 1910 was the year the motion picture industry began consolidating in Hollywood, though this film was likely made on the East Coast before the full migration west. The Progressive Era was in full swing, with America grappling with issues of race, immigration, and social change - themes reflected in the film's interracial romance plot. The film emerged just three years after the first narrative feature film, and during a period when D.W. Griffith was essentially inventing cinematic techniques like close-ups, cross-cutting, and sophisticated editing that would become standard in filmmaking.

Making Of

The film was made during D.W. Griffith's transformative period at Biograph, where he was developing the language of cinema as we know it today. Working with Mary Pickford, Griffith was discovering how to elicit naturalistic performances from his actors, a rarity in the highly theatrical style of early cinema. The production would have been challenging due to the primitive conditions of filmmaking in 1910 - cameras were hand-cranked, lighting was natural or basic, and outdoor shooting meant dealing with weather and location issues. The film's interracial romance theme was daring for its time, and Griffith's handling of such sensitive subjects would evolve throughout his career, sometimes controversially. Pickford's performance demonstrates the star quality that would soon make her the most famous actress in the world.

Visual Style

The cinematography was typical of Biograph productions of 1910, utilizing stationary cameras with occasional movement through panning or tracking. The film was shot in black and white on 35mm film, with natural lighting for outdoor scenes and basic artificial lighting for interiors. G.W. Bitzer, Griffith's regular cinematographer at Biograph, likely handled the camera work. The visual style emphasized clear compositions and medium shots, though Griffith was beginning to experiment with closer shots for emotional emphasis. The Western setting would have provided opportunities for scenic exteriors, which were becoming increasingly popular with audiences.

Innovations

While not technically groundbreaking, this film benefited from D.W. Griffith's ongoing experiments with cinematic language during his Biograph period. The film likely employed cross-cutting between parallel actions, a technique Griffith was refining during this era. The use of location shooting for Western scenes was becoming more common but still represented an advancement over purely studio-bound productions. The film's narrative structure, with its emotional complexity and moral resolution, showed the increasing sophistication of short-form storytelling in early cinema.

Music

Like all films of 1910, this was a silent film accompanied by live musical performance. Theaters would typically employ pianists or small orchestras to provide musical accompaniment, often using cue sheets provided by the studio or improvising based on the action on screen. The music would have ranged from popular songs of the era to classical pieces, with dramatic moments heightened by appropriate musical selections. No original score was composed specifically for this film, as was standard practice until the late 1920s.

Memorable Scenes

• The emotional moment when the young Native American girl discovers her lover with his white fiancée, leading to her heartbreak and decision to return to her people
• The confrontation scene where the Native American character seeks revenge on her former lover, demonstrating the film's dramatic tension
• The final scene where the white fiancée breaks off her engagement upon learning of her betrothed's duplicity, providing moral resolution

What Critics Said

Contemporary reviews of this specific film are scarce, as film criticism was still in its infancy in 1910. However, Biograph films of this period were generally well-regarded for their technical quality and storytelling sophistication. The Moving Picture World, a major trade publication of the era, typically praised Griffith's Biograph productions for their narrative clarity and emotional impact. Modern film historians view this film as an important example of Griffith's early development as a director and Pickford's emergence as a major screen presence, though it's often overshadowed by Griffith's more famous later works.

What Audiences Thought

Audiences in 1910 would have viewed this film as part of a program of short subjects, typically shown alongside other films, live acts, or musical performances. The combination of Western action and romantic drama would have appealed to the diverse audiences of nickelodeons and early movie theaters. Mary Pickford's growing popularity would have been a significant draw, and the film's emotional story and moral resolution would have satisfied contemporary audience expectations. The film's themes of romance and betrayal were universally understood, making it accessible to the increasingly diverse immigrant audiences of early American cinema.

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