The Daughter of Dawn
About The Daughter of Dawn
Dawn, daughter of the Kiowa chief, wants to marry White Eagle. Her father tells her to consider Black Wolf as well. Red Wing is in love with Black Wolf. The camp hunts bison, dances, and fights a battle. The four-way courtship ends with the couple the daughter chose.
Cast & crew
More about The Daughter of Dawn
Norbert A. Myles wrote and directed it. Richard Banks, who had started the Texas Film Company in 1916, brought him in and produced it. About 300 Kiowa and Comanche people acted, and they brought their own tipis, horses, and clothing. Esther LeBarre plays Dawn. Hunting Horse plays her father, the Kiowa chief. White Parker, son of Quanah Parker, plays White Eagle. Jack Sankadota plays Black Wolf. Wanada Parker, also Quanah Parker's child, plays Red Wing. Shooting ran through May, June, and July 1920 in the Wichita Mountains. It was shown in Los Angeles in October 1920, then in Kansas City, Tulsa, and a few other cities.
Themes
Making
Banks wanted a story played by Comanche and Kiowa people on their own ground, less than fifty years after the reservation period. Myles staged two bison hunts and a battle with the cast's own horses and lodges.
Music
Silent on release. David Yeagley wrote music for the restored screenings, performed by the Oklahoma City University orchestra.
Preservation
After a handful of 1920 showings it was treated as lost. Five reels were found in 2005. The Oklahoma Historical Society restored the film in 2012. The Library of Congress named it to the National Film Registry in 2013.
Notes
- The Oklahoma Historical Society calls it six reels and 80 minutes. Some listings say 83.
- The "Tipi with Battle Pictures" seen in the film is now in the Society's collection.
- Lances and tomahawks in the scenes stand for war honors earned by Kiowa men.
- The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2013.
- David Yeagley composed a score for the restored showings, played by the Oklahoma City University orchestra under Ben Nilles.
- Other silent films with all-Native casts include In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914) and Before the White Man Came (1920).
Awards
- National Film Registry (2013)
Scenes
- The Kiowa camp runs a bison hunt with the riders' own horses.
- White Eagle and Black Wolf meet in hand-to-hand fighting.
- Dawn's father, Hunting Horse, tells her to weigh Black Wolf as well as White Eagle.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Daughter of Dawn (1920) by Norbert A. Myles.webm)
- Oklahoma Historical Society
