Two girls (one is played by Mae Marsh) move in with their uncle. Nearby, and Indian tribe has just concluded their dog-eating festival. The Indian Chief's son (an unrecognizable Henry B. Walthall) arrives too late for the feast and is angry. Now the girls just happen to have two puppies. Now the puppies just happen to escape from the girls. Now Walthall just happens to spot his potential meal. Now Marsh goes looking for the puppies and accosts Walthall. Now Marsh's uncle just happens to be looking for Marsh and shoots Walthall. Now the rest of the tribe is angry and decides to attack the town, leading to a well staged gunfight which is resolved once the soldiers arrive.
Lillian Gish plays the mother of a newborn, and she and her husband (Robert Harron) have just arrived in town. Gish gives the best acting performance as she almost has a nervous breakdown trying to find her baby once the shooting starts.
In one very creepy scene, during the attack, we see a gun being pointed down at Gish, but it is eventually withdrawn. I assumed this scene was meant to illustrate that being shot would be preferable to whatever these Indians would do to you. There is a scene similar to this in Birth of a Nation, but don't think this is just some thing of D.W. Griffith's. In Stagecoach, a 1939 John Ford film, the same scene is played out.
Many of the cast members were reunited for The Birth of a Nation. Harry Carey is supposed to be in this, but I couldn't spot him. I did spot Lionel Barrymore as a soldier, and he certainly has a great physique here at age 34. Recommended as a good piece of silent drama, and I usually don't even like westerns.
