La moglie indiana

This is a film based on a now obscure novel by socialist writer Theodore Dreiser. It paints a picture of a hypocritical alcoholic and adulterous upper class at the beginning of the 20th Century. Gene Raymond plays a son of the this class who hates the class and wants to marry an ordinary (but beautiful) secretary. His family ruins his chances and he leaves the family vowing revenge. He goes out west and becomes involved with an Indian woman named Tonita Storm Cloud played by Sylvia Sydney. The rest of the movie deals with their relationship. The question that the movie explores is does he really want her or is he just using her to get revenge on his family. Sylvia Sydney had played in an adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's more successful novel, "American Tragedy" just two years before in 1931. This movie shows why the idea that actors be limited to their own ethnic and racial groups in casting is insane. There simply were no popular Indian actresses at this time, and the film wouldn't have gotten made without the popular Sylvia Sydney in the lead. The character of Tonita Storm Cloud is very sympathetic and heroic. Will the movie contradict its opening idea of a monolithic racist anti-Indian ruling class?