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The Primitive Call
(1917) United States of America
B&W : Five reels
Directed by Bertram Bracken
Cast: Gladys Coburn [Betty Malcolm], Fritz Leiber [Brain Elkhorn], John Webb Dillon [Bart Jennings], George Alan Larkin [Percy Malcolm], Lewis Sealy [John Malcolm], Velma Whitman [Elsie Jennings], Kittens Reichert [Buttons Jennings]
Fox Film Corporation production; distributed by Fox Film Corporation. / Scenario by Bertram Bracken. Cinematography by Rial B. Schellinger. Presented by William Fox. / © 21 January 1917 by William Fox [LP10035]. Released 22 January 1917. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Betty Malcolm meets Brain Elkhorn, an Indian, at a reception. Brain’s father, Chief Elkhorn, is carrying on negotiations with Betty’s father, John Malcolm, through the white man’s agent in the West, Bart Jennings. At the reception, Brain sees one of the guests substitute a paste necklace for the diamond one that Betty wears, and he forces the man to give up his prize. When he returns the real necklace to Betty without explanation, she thinks that he took the ornament. A few days later Betty goes on a yachting party with friends. While she is holding Brain up to ridicule, by mimicking the native Indian dances, she topples over in the water. Brain rescues her. Meanwhile, Jennings’ affairs in the West are not prospering. He cannot induce the old chief to sign the contract until his son, Brain, returns, and passes an opinion on it. So Brain is called west. Betty and her brother, Percy, follow him on the next train; the girl has resolved that she will force the Indians to sign the contract by using her wiles on Brain. The beginning is successful. She pretends to be thrown from her horse when she sees Brain nearby, and he picks her up and brings her safely to the Jennings cottage. Later he rescues the Jennings baby as it falls over a cliff. His repeated acts of heroism make Betty respect and admire him. But she keeps intent on her purpose. Betty finally induces Brain to recommend the signing of the contract. Then, her end accomplished, she laughs at his protestations of love, and tells him how she has purposely blinded him. He goes to his camp, and tells the assembled leaders that he has betrayed them. They ostracize him from the tribe, and plan to get back the contract they have been deluded into signing. They approach Jennings’ house, and find his little daughter playing in the forest nearby. They kidnap the child, and make off with her, meanwhile dispatching an Indian message to the white man to tell him what they are doing. The spirit of revenge now conquers Brain, and he decides that he must make the girl pay for her crime against him. He comes upon her one day as she is rounding a hill, captures her, and takes her off to a mountain retreat. Jennings and his followers begin a search for the baby. They overtake the Indians and parley with them. The result is that the land agreement is settled, the child is returned to her parents, and the white men start in search of Betty. Betty has been made to live in typical Indian fashion. She has her own wigwam, and she is forced to do the chores about the encampment, and submit to Indian treatment. Then Brain tells her that she is free to go when she likes, for he thinks she has worked out her penance. As Betty leaves the camp to rejoin Jennings, she looks back and sees Brain with his arms about an Indian maiden.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Native Americans
Listing updated: 10 December 2024.
References: Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
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