Though technically not a motion picture director, Edward Sheriff Curtis devoted his life to capturing images on film; he was a renowned photographer who chronicled much of the history and culture of both the American West and Native Americans. Curtis numbered among his friends President Theodore Roosevelt, not to mention a generous patron in John Pierpont Morgan, whose unlimited wherewithal funded much of what would become Curtis’ lasting legacy: a twenty-volume series known as The North American Indian. Even today, his original photographs fetch staggering sums among collectors.
But even with the deep pockets of J.P. Morgan, Edward was flat
broke ten years into chronicling The
North American Indian. Curtis had an ambitious plan to cull together
investors for a movie project that would provide him security and solvency, and
his roll-of-the-dice gamble was a fictional film depicting the life of the
Kwakiutl people (now referred to as Kwakwaka’wakw) living on Canada’s Vancouver
Island. Keep in mind the ambitious
nature of this project—though a few movie directors were dabbling in longer
features, Curtis’ film was produced before
D.W. Griffith’s celebrated The Birth of
a Nation (1915). Using several
individuals from the Kwakiutl tribe—and relying on his skills and those of his
admittedly inexperienced crew—Edward S. put together In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914), a motion picture that
opened to much critical praise and respectable box office. However, a legal dispute with Head Hunters’ distributor—the fledgling
and short-lived World Film Company—over who would pony up the funds to take the
movie to other markets killed any future opportunities for profit.
For many years, all that remained of Head Hunters was a shortened 16mm version that was released in 1973,
retitled In the Land of the War Canoes. The original 35mm reels of the movie had
succumbed to nitrate decomposition (speeded up by Curtis’ insistence on using
color tints and tones in what was labeled “the Hochstetter process”) but
fortunately had been transferred to 16mm by the Field Museum of Natural History
before they crumbled to dust. In
addition, two 35mm reels had been discovered by film preservationist David
Shepard in the 1970s and donated to the UCLA Film and Television Archive. A lengthy period of “button, button—who’s got
the button?” followed, with neither archive certain as to the whereabouts of
the surviving materials. Academics Brad
Evans and Aaron Glass eventually recovered the missing elements, not to mention
a hefty number of copyrighted film frames that had been placed in the Library
of Congress. (The LOC put In the Land of the War Canoes on the
National Film Registry in 1999…even though the original film probably hadn’t
been seen in its entirety since the 1940s.)
Along with Glass’ discovery of the film’s original score (by John J.
Braham, believed to be the oldest surviving orchestral film scores according to
the people involved in the project) at the Getty Institute, a joint effort by
the Getty, UCLA and the Field Museum began to restore Head Hunters as close to its original presentation released over
one hundred years ago. Milestone Films
released the finished project on both Blu-ray and DVD in February, and once
again—due to the kindness of Dennis Doros—I got the opportunity to see this
fascinating historical document.
In the Land of the
Head Hunters tells a fairly simple story.
Motana, the son of a great chief, heads out on a vision quest that
involves the hunting of whales and sea lions.
During his journey, he sees the vision of a princess named Naida, and though
he falls for her their love cannot be since she has been bequeathed to a
Sorcerer from a rival tribe. Undaunted,
Motana makes short work of The Sorcerer and claims Naida as his bride; they are
married, but Yaklus, brother of The Sorcerer attacks Motana’s village on the
day of the wedding and spirits the newly married Mrs. Motana away. This aggression, however, will not stand;
Motana reclaims what is his and in following Motana back to his village Yaklus
and his men perish in the raging waters of the sea.
My interest in seeing Head
Hunters stemmed from my lifelong love of and fascination with silent films,
and Hunters is unquestionably a mesmerizing
viewing experience. I won’t lie to you:
it’s not an easy movie to watch, because even though the finished project is as
complete as it can be it still has a few gaps in the narrative, and Head Hunters demands patience and
attentive viewing. But the rewards are
ample: the film, which in ways echoes the landmark documentary Nanook of the North (1922) despite its
fictitious nature, offers an absorbing look at the culture of the Kwakiutl
nation—their canoes, their costumes, their dances and their dwellings. It’s probably one of the earliest examples of
what many would call an “art film” (and explains why Curtis wasn’t able to
recoup much from his original investment).
Milestone doesn’t skimp on the extras in their releases (the
material here is so plentiful it takes up two Blu-ray discs!). Included with the presentation of Head Hunters is the shortened 1973
version of In the Land of the War Canoes,
as well as “making of” documentaries, a stills gallery and a featurette about
the Gwa’wina Dancers, who were part of the presentation when In the Land of the Head Hunters made
its return for a public viewing in 2008.
Because I wanted to make certain I had a richer understanding of the
material, I opted to listen to the commentary track (featuring Glass, Bill Holm
and Andy Everson—whose grandmother played “Naida” in several scenes) instead of
Braham’s score (performed by The Turning Point Ensemble, in collaboration with
The Vancouver Film Orchestra). Though
I’m not sorry I did this (the score will have to be savored during a second
viewing)—there are a lot of interesting tidbits revealed in the commentary,
notably how Curtis had his actors don dark wigs despite many of them having
light-colored tresses—it helps to have a point of reference for some of what’s
discussed there. A look at the
supplementary featurette Documents of
Encounter: The Head Hunters
Reconstruction Project will help you out enormously in that regard.
In the Land of the
Head Hunters provides not only captivating entertainment for the silent
film devotee, but it’s a must-see for Native American scholars and students of
an important era of history. For more
information on the project to restore this amazing movie, click here.
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