''Kidnapping by Indians'' is a 1899 British silent short

Western film The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Calif ...

, made by the

Mitchell and Kenyon The Mitchell & Kenyon film company was a pioneer of early commercial motion pictures based in Blackburn in Lancashire, England, at the start of the 20th century. They were originally best known for minor contributions to early fictional narrative ...

film company, shot in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

, England. It is believed to be the first dramatic film in the Western genre, pre-dating

Edwin S. Porter Edwin Stanton Porter (April 21, 1870 – April 30, 1941) was an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company. Of over ...

's '' The Great Train Robbery'' by four years.

Background

According to Jamie Holman, a local researcher, James Kenyon of Mitchell & Kenyon met some Americans in Blackburn when he was a boy. This sparked his interest in the "

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

" and ultimately led to the production of this film. The

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

(BFI) questions the ethnicity of the costumes used but Holman has maintained that they are authentic as

tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Native Americans in the United States, Indian peoples and nations of North America, traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. Etymology The name comes from Powhatan langu ...

s, head-dress and other Western stereotypes are in evidence. Holman says many cotton workers from Blackburn went to America after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and brought back stories of the wild frontier which whetted local interest. He says: "Mitchell and Kenyon would have been aware of the appetite for the Wild West at the time". The film was shot in the countryside near Blackburn and used local actors. According to Bryony Dixon, a curator at the BFI, ''Kidnapping By Indians'' is a significant film in the Western genre. The storyline of a white girl being kidnapped by Indians is in ''

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is an 1826 historical romance novel by James Fenimore Cooper. It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinder'', ...

'' and many Wild West productions such as ''

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas–Indian wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War v ...

''. Ms Dixon admits the film lacks some of the usual Western elements, but then again, so does ''The Great Train Robbery''.

Plot

The plot focuses on an attack by Native Americans on a camp where white people are staying. The attackers set fire to the camp and kidnap a young girl. Some cowboys arrive and a gunfight begins. The captured girl is rescued by the cowboys. The BFI suggests the film may be a scene from a larger stage production.

References

External links

* * {{YouTube, IvPjZ8JPRQU, ''Kidnapping by Indians'' 1899 films 1899 short films 1890s British films 1899 Western (genre) films British silent short films British black-and-white films Films shot in Lancashire Films directed by Mitchell & Kenyon Silent British Western (genre) films Films about Native Americans Films about kidnapping in the United States

Background

Plot

See also

References

External links