Daughter of Dawn
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''The Daughter of Dawn'' is a 1920 American silent Western film. It is 83 minutes long and may be the only silent film ever made with an entirely Native American cast. Between its production and restoration in 2012, it was shown only a few times — once in Los Angeles in 1920, and in Kansas City, Tulsa and a handful of other cities. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


Plot

The film focuses around a
love triangle A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with so ...
. The lead female character is Dawn, played by Esther LeBarre, daughter of the chief of the Kiowa (played by Hunting Horse.) Dawn wishes to wed White Eagle (played by
White Parker White Parker (1887–1956) was a son of Mah-Cheeta-Wookey and Quanah Parker, chief of the Comanches. He married Laura E. Clark (1890-1962), a daughter of Reverend and Mrs. M. A. Clark, a former Methodist missionary to the Comanches. They had at ...
, son of Comanche leader Quanah Parker) but her father wants her to also consider the powerful and influential Black Wolf, played by Jack Sankadota. Wanada Parker (also a child of Quanah Parker) plays Red Wing, another woman in love with Black Wolf. The film features depictions of typical Plains Indian life, including a battle scene, traditional dances and
bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
hunting.


Production

The film features an "all- Indian cast...shot in Indian Country", with over 300 people from the
Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
and Kiowa tribes acting in the film, including White and Wanada Parker, children of Quanah Parker. The cast wore their own clothing and brought their own personal items, including tepees. The film features the "Tipi with Battle Pictures", which is a tepee in the collection of the Oklahoma Historical Society. There are lances and tomahawks in the film which represent honors earned in war by the Kiowa. ''Daughter of Dawn'' was filmed in May, June and July 1920. The filming took place in the Wichita Mountains. ''The Daughter of Dawn'' was one of many
docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...
s that tended to romanticize Native American culture and lifestyle during the early 1910s and '20s. Other films of the period that boasted of all-Indian casts included ''
In the Land of the Head Hunters ''In the Land of the Head Hunters'' (also called ''In the Land of the War Canoes'') is a 1914 silent film fictionalizing the world of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Cana ...
'' (1914); '' Hiawatha'' (1913), shot by F.E. Moore's production company; ''The Vanishing Race'', a 1917 film made by the
Edison Studios Edison Studios was an American film production organization, owned by companies controlled by inventor and entrepreneur, Thomas Edison. The studio made close to 1,200 films, as part of the Edison Manufacturing Company (1894–1911) and then Thom ...
; and ''Before the White Man Came'' (1920), which employed
Crow Indians The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke (), also spelled Absaroka, are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation loca ...
and
Cheyenne Indians The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
as actors. The film score was never completed.


Acquisition and restoration

''The Daughter of Dawn'' was rumored to exist, but was not in any archive and feared to be a lost film. In 2005, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art's Brian Hearn was offered the film for $35,000 by a private investigator, who was paid for a job with the film. Two years later, the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS), which has
film still A film still (sometimes called a publicity still or a production still) is a photograph, taken on or off the set of a movie or television program during production. These photographs are also taken in formal studio settings and venues of opportun ...
s and the
script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...
, purchased it for $5,000. Upon purchase, the film comprised five reels. Some sections were joined with
masking tape Masking tape, also known as painter's tape, is a type of pressure-sensitive tape made of a thin and easy-to-tear paper, and an easily released pressure-sensitive adhesive. It is available in a variety of widths. It is used mainly in painting, to ...
. The OHS applied for grants to
digitize DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer- ...
the film, which is 83 minutes long. A film score was created by
David Yeagley David Yeagley (September 5, 1951 – March 11, 2014) was a Comanche, classical composer, conservative political writer and activist. He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He earned a bachelor's degree from Oberlin Conservatory, a Master of Ar ...
and performed by students at Oklahoma City University. The film was shown at Fort Larned National Historic Site in 2013. The restored version was released on DVD by Milestone films.


See also

*
National Film Preservation Foundation The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) is an independent, nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage. Growing from a national planning effort led by the Library of Congress, the NFPF began op ...
* List of rediscovered films


References


External links


''The Daughter of Dawn'' at Oklahoma Historical Society Archives
* {{IMDb title, id=0191066 1920 films 1920 Western (genre) films 1920s rediscovered films American black-and-white films Films about Native Americans Films set in Oklahoma Films shot in Oklahoma United States National Film Registry films Rediscovered American films Silent American Western (genre) films 1920s American films