The Heart of an Indian

1912 Western 32 minutes Directed by Thomas H. Ince

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About The Heart of an Indian

A raid on a settler cabin takes a white baby. A warrior gives the child to his wife, whose own baby has died. The white mother goes to the camp looking for the child and is captured. The settlers then attack and kill the men. The Indian wife hands the baby back and lets the white woman go. She is left at her own child's grave and does not see the camp destroyed.

Cast & crew

More about The Heart of an Indian

Thomas H. Ince wrote, directed, and produced the two-reel Western for the New York Motion Picture Company's 101-Bison brand. Ray C. Smallwood photographed it. Motion Picture Distributing and Sales released it on 1 March 1912. The Kinematograph Trading Company released it in Britain on 14 April 1912. It runs 32 minutes. Francis Ford plays the chief. Ann Little, billed as Anna Little, plays the Indian mother; one cast list names her Ravenwing. J. Barney Sherry plays the settler Mr. Brown. Also known as The Indian Massacre. Unicorn Film Service reissued it under that title in 1916.

Themes

  • A baby taken to replace a dead child
  • A mother who walks into the camp
  • A wife left at a grave
  • Ann Little
  • Francis Ford
  • baby
  • settler raid
  • 101-Bison
  • The Indian Massacre
  • Thomas H. Ince

Making

Ince shoots the raid, the captive mother, and the return of the baby as a two-reeler, and leaves the Indian wife at the grave while the camp is wiped out offscreen from her.

Look

Ray C. Smallwood photographed the settler cabin, the camp, and the grave.

Music

Silent.

Preservation

A print survives. Silent Era cites a 35mm negative held by Blackhawk Films. The film is in the public domain in the United States. It was reissued in 1916 as The Indian Massacre.

Notes

  • Art Acord plays both a settler and an Indian. Chief William Eagleshirt plays an Indian.
  • Grace Cunard, Lillian Christy, and Charles K. French are in the cast.
  • The British date is six weeks after the American one.
  • Silent Era records a 35mm negative at Blackhawk Films.
  • The film is in the public domain in the United States.

Scenes

  • The warrior puts the settler's baby in his wife's arms.
  • She gives the child back during the attack and lets the white mother leave.
  • She mourns at her own baby's grave.

Also available

  • Internet Archive (silent-the-heart-of-an-indian)

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