In the Land of the Head Hunters

Edwin S. Curtis's primary medium was still photography; he took pictures of native peoples. This documentary about the Kwakiutls of British Columbia contains some nice images--especially those from a buoyant camera within a canoe. The animal costumes and collecting of heads is worth looking at. The story that Curtis attached to his ethnographic record is uninteresting and untrustworthy, though. The films of Robert Flaherty to the films of Michael Moore have been accused of fictionalization, but at least those narratives, true to documentary film-making or not, are entertaining. As far as making the subject interesting to me, Curtis failed. The documentary itself, however, is very old--the earliest feature-length documentary I've seen. The film itself more so than the subject has become the artifact of interest.

I really would not venture to give this silent film a score--it is not a film in the traditional sense and probably has very little value to the average viewer. However, at the same time it IS of tremendous value to anthropologists, ethnographers and the like, as it records a way of life that has long disappeared--even if the manner in which it is presented is less than satisfying.

In 1914, Edward S. Curtis released a documentary film about the Kwakiutl Indians--a tribe living near Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest. However, this film was later cut apart and pieced together in the early 1970s and music, sound effects and native dialog were clumsily added. I was not able to see the original version and I doubt if it is available (another reviewer said this is a restoration work in progress).

Style wise, the film is very old fashioned. Like only the early films, intertitle cards described (at length) what was about to happen in the following scenes instead of telling as or after the events occurred. This made viewing a tad tedious. Also, the story about Indian wars and violence seemed artificial (as it was) and I have no idea if the Kwakiutl ever hunted heads or behaved the way they do in the film--as instead of a true documentary, the end product is a romanticized version of the tribe. This damages the value of the film for professors from the University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania and the like--all schools that have large and well-respected Ethnographic/Anthropological Studies departments. But, at the same time, as it DOES show native dances, costumes, animal costumes and the like, it is like gold to these same people. To the average non-academic, however, the films are probably of little lasting interest--though I know that this would disappoint many.

To me, this was mildly interesting as I am a true cinemaniac and my daughter studies this sort of stuff in college and has infused some of her enthusiasm in me....a bit. But, I certainly would not like a steady diet of this sort of film. As for me, I prefer later and better presented films like "Nanook of the North".

Okay, first off, check the date - "In the Land of the Head Hunters" is a reconstructed and remastered print of a film made in 1914, by Edward S. Curtis, known mostly now as a photographer and ethnographer. As such, it is entirely of its time - i.e., racist, sexist and certainly specious in its depiction of a First Nations people. But valuable for all of that. The story line, for what it's worth, concerns a young son of a tribal chief who does his manhood rituals, falls in love and marries the daughter of another tribe's chieftain; this upsets the Sorceror, brother of yet another tribal chief who wanted the girl for himself - mayhem ensues, mostly in canoes but also on land, until eventually the good guy prevails. It's simplistic and definitely racist - the people are portrayed as quaintly primitive, the women are completely subservient to the men, and the main occupation of the tribes involves war and cutting off the heads of enemies.

Given that this is actually set in the Pacific Northwest, between Washington State, USA, and British Columbia, Canada, the whole head- hunting aspect is completely off. Not to mention the "primitive" label - these peoples were highly sophisticated, just not in a form recognized (at the time) by Europeans. But the positives in this film are quite striking too. First of all, the actors are all actual members of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nation, from Vancouver Island, and the costumes, totem poles and especially the special dances are all authentic. The story, by white director Curtis, is worthless; as a bit of filmed historical information, however, the movie is quite valuable. Many scenes were lost over the past 100 years, and the restorers opted to insert still photographs (also by Curtis, of the same people) to bridge the gaps, which doesn't work all that well dramatically, but is again useful as an historical artifact; they also were able to restore the original orchestral soundtrack, which adds drama to this silent movie. Certainly not for everyone, but film historians and anthropologists might find something of value here.

"The plotters, anticipating Motana's death, "mourn" him as his hair, stuffed into the bodies of toads, smokes over their fire" reads one of the title cards. This is, after all, a documentary about the Kwakiutl Indians. And yet, clearly, it is a directed story film. It's an unusual sort of film these days, limited to "novel and astonishing works of unprefigured genius" like THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY, but in reality, this is how documentaries started. Flaherty "cheated" by modern standards on NANOOK OF THE NORTH. CHANG has a story line imposed on it. While unedited footage of Kwakiutl Indians carving totem poles might have been a big draw in 1896, by 1914 the sophisticated filmgoer demanded more: a story line. And so we had this, by modern standard, odd .... well, call it a "mockumentary", but not in the sense of a Christopher Guest film. We see real Kwakiutls in real Kwakiutl regalia dancing real Kwakiutl war dances aboard real Kwakiutl war canoes. It's just that it's edited together and given titles to make it a story.

Interestingly, although a story film, this movie survives because it was saved at a couple of museums. So what can we make of it?

Well, make of it what you want. A feature film from the dawn of feature films; fascinating shots of Kwakiutl Indians when they still did these things. Do you want egg in your beer?

As a silent film enthusiast, I'm all for the restoration of old movies especially something as old and and as rare as this Edward S. Curtis film. The fact that it is 100 years old is astonishing. The fact that it it isn't in better condition is, alas, not astonishing at all as that is the fate of the majority of surviving silent films. The funds needed to do a proper restoration are astronomical by arts funding standards and then there's the issue of the material that the restorer has to work with.

IN THE LAND OF THE HEAD HUNTERS (the film's original title) was issued back in the 1970s as IN THE LAND OF THE WAR CANOES. The running time was roughly 45 minutes and this consisted of the best surviving footage from the original feature. It was marketed as a quasi-documentary made more authentic by the use of a Native American soundtrack consisting of authentic voices and instruments plus some water sounds. Milestone issued this DVD back in 1992 and it is included as a bonus with this set.

It turns out that Curtis never intended his movie to be a documentary but rather a traditional feature film just one set in the world of the Kwakiutl Indians of the Pacific Northwest, a world out of their distant past. He hired locals to portray his characters while they built the sets and made and provided the costumes. Curtis then hired composer John J. Braham to provide a complete classical music score with Native American overtones for the film. As this was 1914, it pre-dates BIRTH OF A NATION making it one of the oldest surviving film scores.

IN THE LAND OF THE HEAD HUNTERS (a surefire if somewhat lurid choice for a movie title back then) was to tell an epic story, be shot on location using local actors, and then given the full treatment from a fully composed score to specific color tints for several of the scenes. Not exactly what one would consider a box office winner but this was before Hollywood and the exotic locations plus Curtis' reputation as a still photographer did the trick and the film was a critical success at the time and then completely disappeared.

The recent discovery of the original orchestral score plus footage found in UCLA film archives helped to set this restoration in motion which brings up the following point. The footage of the restored version looks virtually the same as the 1972 version with title cards instead of subtitles which accounts for most of the extra length. The use of stills and the inclusion of badly decomposed footage adds little to the proceedings for me personally although the color tints are nice and it is great to hear the original score. As a silent film lover, I'm glad to have both versions but this time I found the older one more engaging than the newer one...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.