Massacre (1934)

The son (Richard Barthelmess) of a Native American (Sioux) tribal chief left the Indian reservation years ago and has acclimated successfully to the ways of the white man's world. As the star of a Wild West show, he's confident and proud but he has lost touch with his native roots. When his father is dying, he returns to the reservation only to find his people exploited by the white government agents. Directed by Alan Crosland (THE JAZZ SINGER), this pre code film was a revelation to me. Not that it's a great movie (though it's very good) but that a Hollywood mainstream movie in the mid 1930s had a Native American protagonist who takes on the corruption and exploitation of his people by the white man. There have several notable movies about the exploitation of the Native Americans before and since but they always had white protagonists. Granted the "Indian" hero here is played by a Caucasian actor but the film is hard hitting and brutal and pulls no punches including the rape of a 15 year old Indian girl (Agnes Narcha) by a white man (Sidney Toler). Definitely worth seeking out. With Ann Dvorak, Claire Dodd, Dudley Digges, Clarence Muse and Henry O'Neill.