In the Land of the Head Hunters
About In the Land of the Head Hunters
Motana, son of the chief Kenada, fasts for spirit power, sleeps on the Island of the Dead, kills a whale, and raids sea-lion rocks, then wins Naida. A sorcerer who wants Naida and her dowry pushes her father into promising her away, and the factions go to war. Motana's people attack the sorcerer's village in war canoes and kill him. After the wedding, Yaklus burns Motana's village, takes Naida, and is drowned in the gorge of Hyal when Motana gets her back.
Cast & crew
More about In the Land of the Head Hunters
Edward S. Curtis wrote and directed. World Film Company released the picture on December 7, 1914. The Kwakwaka'wakw cast performs rituals that Canada's potlatch prohibition, in force from 1884 to 1951, had outlawed. Most of the shooting was on Deer Island near Fort Rupert.
Themes
Background
Curtis staged a fictional Kwakwaka'wakw story on the central British Columbia coast in 1914, while the potlatch ban was still in force.
In film history
The National Film Registry added it in 1999. Writers on the film treat the all-Kwakwaka'wakw cast, and its status as the oldest surviving Canadian feature, as the points that matter.
Making
Bill Holm and George Quimby obtained a 16mm copy in 1965. The 1974 re-edit used a soundtrack performed by Kwakwaka'wakw musicians. In 2008 the surviving pieces, including clips at UCLA and a score at the Getty Research Institute, were brought together for a restoration.
Music
John J. Braham wrote the original score. The 1974 War Canoes re-edit replaced it with music performed by Kwakwaka'wakw musicians.
Preservation
Hugo Zeiter salvaged a damaged print and gave it to the Field Museum in Chicago in 1947. The 2008 restoration assembled the remaining materials. Milestone Films prepared a DVD of the restored film, announced for 2014. The Library of Congress named it to the National Film Registry in 1999.
Notes
- Stanley Hunt, Sarah Constance Smith Hunt, Mrs. George Walkus, Paddy 'Malid, Balutsa, and Kwagwanu are among the billed players. The cast is Kwakwaka'wakw throughout.
- Wikipedia calls it the first feature-length film with an all-Native North American cast, and names Nanook of the North, eight years later, as the second.
- The same article calls it the first feature made in British Columbia and the oldest surviving feature made in Canada.
- A 1974 re-edit carried the title In the Land of the War Canoes.
Scenes
- Motana sleeps on the Island of the Dead as part of the vigil.
- War canoes carry the attack on the sorcerer's village.
- Yaklus drowns in the gorge of Hyal after Motana takes Naida back.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914).webm)
- Milestone Films DVD (2014 restoration)
