Nomads of the North
About Nomads of the North
Nanette Roland (Betty Blythe) will not marry Buck McDougall (Francis McDonald) while Raoul Challoner (Lon Chaney) may still be alive. Buck fakes proof of Raoul's death, and she marries him for her father's sake. Raoul walks into the wedding with a dog and a bear cub. He and Nanette run. In the fight Raoul kills a man and is locked in a cabin cellar by Buck's father. Nanette frees him at gunpoint. Three years later Corporal O'Connor (Lewis Stone) of the North-West Mounted Police, with Buck's help, finds them in the woods with a baby. A forest fire traps the cabin. Raoul carries the injured O'Connor out. Buck dies in the fire. O'Connor agrees to report Raoul dead so the family can stay in the north.
Cast & crew
More about Nomads of the North
David Hartford and James Oliver Curwood co-directed and co-wrote it from Curwood's 1919 novel. Curwood also produced. Walter L. Griffin was the cinematographer. First National released it on 11 October 1920. The forest was built on the Universal lot from barked and painted trees mixed with real foliage. Spottiswoode Aitken plays Nanette's father and Melbourne MacDowell plays Duncan McDougall.
Themes
Background
A 1920 First National feature in the North Woods cycle that Curwood's stories fed, with a Mountie plot and a studio forest fire.
Making
Curwood, who wrote the novel, stayed on the picture as producer, co-writer, and co-director, and had the North Woods built on the Universal lot rather than shot in Canada.
Reviews
Photoplay praised the forest fire, said Chaney and Blythe carried the drama, and liked the bear and the dog. Variety thought Chaney was less convincing because he lacked a romantic bearing. Moving Picture World valued the northern scenery, the cast, and the direction. Wid's Film Daily said the picture held attention through a satisfying climax, and singled out Chaney and Lewis Stone.
Audiences
Photoplay recommended it as a family picture on the strength of the fire and the animals.
Look
Walter L. Griffin shot the built forest on the Universal lot, including the cabin fire.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles.
Preservation
A complete print survives. An original poster also survives.
Notes
- Lon Chaney enters the wedding with a pet dog and a tamed bear cub, and both animals stay with the family in the cabin.
- The Mountie is Corporal O'Connor of the North-West Mounted Police, played by Lewis Stone.
- A complete print survives, and so does an original poster.
- The story is set in Canada. The trees were a studio forest in California.
Scenes
- Raoul arrives at Nanette's wedding with a dog and a bear cub.
- The forest fire traps the cabin, and Raoul carries Corporal O'Connor out.
- O'Connor agrees to file Raoul as dead.
Influenced by
- James Oliver Curwood's novel Nomads of the North (1919)
Also available
- Internet Archive (NomadsOfTheNorth1920)
