White Fawn’s Devotion (1910)
by popegrutch
This, I believe, is the first movie I’ve reviewed by James Young Deer, a Native American director who mostly made movies about Native Americans for white audiences (at white-owned film studios). This is a short movie, based on the themes of “The Squaw Man,” but told from the Indian girl’s perspective, utilizing fairly basic editing techniques and a central chase sequence to heighten tension.
The movie begins with a white settler receiving a telegram informing him of his inheritance. He has to go to some unspecified place to receive it (the ancestral home, I suppose), but he’s very happy to hear it and runs home to tell his family. Said family consists of a small child and a Native wife. When he tells them of his good fortune, the child seems happy for her father, but the wife looks uncertain. Finally, when he gestures about his coming departure, she objects. They argue, apparently the wife is concerned that he plans to go for good, abandoning her (and the child? It’s never clear what her intended fate is). No matter how he tries to reassure her, she will not be consoled. Finally, the father sends the child away, not wanting her to hear the dispute, which escalates until the father goes into the house to pack his belongings. He has left his knife on the table, however, and his wife grabs it and plunges it into her heart. He comes out and finds her, pulling out the knife just as the child returns, making him look like the murderer!
In a panic, the child runs to the neighboring Indian tribe and speaks to a Native elder. When he hears her story, he demands justice for the wife, and sends out the warriors to hunt the white man down. He figures out what is happening and runs for it, grabbing a horse and making tracks as fast as possible. Unfortunately, he is cornered at a cliff and has to climb down, leaving the horse behind. He winds up in the river, fighting the current and losing, ending up passed out on the shore. His pursuer finds him, binds him, and returns him to the tribe, where the elder tells the daughter to kill him, giving her a large dagger. She balks, and the warriors begin a dance. Just as it seems that the elder will take his tomahawk and do the deed himself, White Fawn suddenly arrives, apparently uninjured, and interposes herself. She, evidently, explains the situation and the white man is freed. The family gathers together and the elder signals them to leave.
According to the notes that came with the DVD, there’s a missing scene at the end where the father renounces his inheritance and stays with his family, making this the one version of “The Squaw Man” with a truly happy ending. I guess. It seemed to me as if he could go attend the will reading or whatever and then get his money and come back to the homestead easily enough. This version didn’t make it clear what all the fuss was about. In “The Squaw Man” it’s made very obvious that his marrying a non-white is unacceptable, and there’s even some question as to the child. Apparently, Young Deer later made a gender-reversed version in which a white woman was married to a Native American, which Moving Picture World found “disgusting.” There’s also some dispute about the female lead: the “Treasures” disc and the imdb attribute Lilian St. Cyr (aka “Princess Red Wing”) as the actress, but Wikipedia says it doesn’t look like her. I’m inclined to agree, but it’s hard to tell from the distance of the shots and the quality of the available prints (and my own uncertainty regarding the still images Ive seen of her). UPDATED: See the comments section for fairly convincing arguments that it is in fact Lucille May Younge.
In this movie, the focus is really on the chase, which is handled competently, but not especially innovatively. Action tends to cut from the pursued back to the pursuer just as the latter reaches the place the former just left. There’s a bit of more sophisticated inter-cutting for the scene at the cliff, where the warrior cuts the rope that the white man is climbing down on, but it’s pretty standard for 1910. There are no close-ups or camera movement, and pretty much the whole movie is done in wide shot. Young Deer made this fairly early in his contract with Pathé Freres, which hired him because American critics were making fun of their phony Westerns, and it was felt that he would bring added authenticity to the new American unit.
Director: James Young Deer
Camera: Unknown
Cast: Uncertain (see above)
Run Time: 11 Min
You can watch it for free: here (no music) or here (with music).
Century Film Project 
There’s a twitter account @AleissAngela that posts it. Also there’s a review on Amazon of White Fawn where the woman says she was related to Lucille but mistakenly says White Fawn’s Devotion was Pathe’s first film in the US and it was not. She also says Younge committed suicide in the movie and that did not happen (it was fake and she survives).
Thank you for that. I would not call those particularly authoritative sources – the jury’s still out.
i saw that imdb lists a Lucille Young as the lead.
The lead is played by Lucille Younge. I am author of Lucille Younge Silet Film Star. I have dvd copy and had stopped and played zoomed in and thus is my Aunt Lulu May Young born in Michigan in 1883.
She also appeared in An Indians Gratitude with George Larkin.
There were other films made with White Fawn in their titles which were played by Red Feather. My source besides my scrutinizing the photos in film with family photos of Aunt Lulu was an interview
1917 – El Paso Morning Times Interview Slater, H. D, El Paso Morning Times (El Paso, Tex.) Ed. 1, Sunday March 25th 1917 (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/675/metapmetapth138594 ) University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, (https://texashistory.unt.edu; Here’s a Short Reel about Movie Actress in El Paso – By R. G. Chapman
I have spent decades on research for my book and take documentation seriously. Another article by George Larkin also verifies that Lucille Young or Younge, Aunt Lulu was with Pathé Frères’ in New Jersey in 1910.
Yes, I am the relative of Lulu May Young and author of book, Lucille Younge: Silent Film Star copyrighted but unpublished due to Covid. I have all of her family photos from her brother Howard Young/Yonge/Younge.
For decades I looked at her photos including her baby photo and my grandfather’s baby photo which is how I know date of birth. Once I saw her photo on Ned Thanhousers website I knew it was my Aunt Lulu but biography said she was born in France. I have spent decades and hours of research writing this book or as Ned Thanhouser calls a “tome” and being a retired teacher I take my documentation very seriously. I have the DVD and compared my extensive collections of photos of Aunt Lulu and I believe that Chapman’s 1917 interview and George Larkin’s story of her near drowning while making An Indian’s Devotion is pretty sound conclusion that Lucille Young or Younge played the part of White Fawn. Oh, I will be certain to make correction that she didn’t commit suicide but faked it. My bad!
Hi Dorothy, Thanks for your comments and your work on setting the story straight on your ancestor. I have updated the article, pointing to these comments for those who are interested.
Thank you for updating documentation supporting Lucille Younge in ” White Fawn’s Devotion. ” Aunt Lulu also had a very tiny waist.
Recently I obtained a duplication of a 1911 IMP film with Lucille Younge, Owen Moore and Ethel Grandin ” Behind The Times”. I uploaded it to YouTube to share for anyine interested. https://youtu.be/-1ID3Ch7NLE.
Since this publication, it was discovered that the silent film actress Lucille Younge played White Fawn.
Thank you for your comment! I can still find various conflicting claims on the Internet. Can you point me to a source for this information? I’d like to have it right if possible.