Volume II: Filmography

BETRAYED

Advertisement from Reel Life (F-910)

January 29, 1916 (Saturday)

Length: 5 reels

Character: Drama; Mutual Masterpicture, DeLuxe Edition No. 61

Director: Howard M. Mitchell

Scenario: Philip Lonergan

Cast: Grace DeCarlton (Indian girl, Little Fawn, daughter of the chief), Robert Whittier (Heart-of-Oak, her brother), Roy Pilcher (Granville Wingham, her brother's friend), Gladys Leslie (Carolyn Wingham, his sister), "a dozen or more full-blooded Indians"

Location: Many scenes were filmed on an Indian reservation at Salamanca, New York.

Notes: 1. In The Moving Picture World, January 8, 1916, and in Reel Life of the same date, Thanhouser advertised this film with a release date of the "week of January 24, 1916," however the actual release day was January 29th. 2. The June 18, 1916 issue of Reel Life stated incorrectly that Robert Whittier's first Thanhouser film was Betrayed. The earliest Thanhouser release in which he appeared was Foiling Father's Foes (Falstaff, November 29, 1915). However, it is possible that Betrayed was produced prior to the making of Foiling Father's Foes. 3. In some listings an exclamation point appeared in the title: Betrayed!

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, February 5, 1916:

"Betrayed was written especially for Miss DeCarlton and presents her in a role entirely new to her admirers. As the daughter of an old Indian chief who quits the Western reservation for the Eastern metropolis, this young star renders an exceptionally powerful characterization. Betrayed is a drama full of adventure, and throughout it runs one of the prettiest love stories imaginable. It is beyond doubt one of the best pictures that has ever come from the New Rochelle studios."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, January 15, 1916:

"As Little Fawn, in Betrayed, a Mutual Masterpicture, Deluxe Edition, produced by the Thanhouser Film Corporation, Grace DeCarlton, attractive and talented young star of the New Rochelle studios, delivers one of the most impressive portrayals ever presented on a motion picture screen. And as Heart-of-Oak, young chief of a remnant of the vanishing race, Robert Whittier, long a star of the legitimate stage, who is making his initial appearance as a Mutual leading man as co-star of Miss DeCarlton, presents an equally striking interpretation. American history presents no more pitiful a tragedy than that of the red man, who ruled supreme throughout the North American continent until the coming of the white man gradually drove him from the forests and the plains to the reservations, where he is now living under strict government supervision.

"It is true that many of the Indians, descendants of the greatest warriors and chieftains their race has ever known, are making desperate efforts to save the remnants of their people by securing an education in government colleges, in the hope of later devoting their services to the welfare of their brother and sister red men. And, too, the Indian hopes to preserve himself by getting an education which shall make him the equal of white man - but in most instances all his knowledge ever brings him is melancholy, a still more forlorn hopelessness of surviving his conquerors. His imagination, his arts, his way of living all belong to an age that is past and gone. How often repeated has been the history of young Indian sons and daughters who have returned with their education to the tribes of their people - only to sink back into lethargy due to the overpowering influences of environment and the listlessness which has come from the suppression of all their splendid racial traditions!

"Betrayed presents the Indian in a new role, something heretofore never attempted in a motion picture drama. It deals with Heart-of-Oak, who shakes the dust of a Western reservation for a college career in the East. Heart-of-Oak is the son of a noted chief, and has taken the preservation of his race deeply at heart. His younger sister, Little Fawn, worships him. At college, the Indian quickly becomes a favorite. He wins a place on the varsity crew, and finds a friend in a fellow oarsman, Granville Wingham, a young American of wealthy parents. Granville's sister, Carolyn, also has a high regard for Heart-of-Oak, though the attachment never becomes romantic, Carolyn being bethrothed to a young man whom she has known since childhood. Little Fawn wins a scholarship in the Indian school in the West, and surprises her brother by announcing that she is ready to return East with him the second year to share his studies. Carolyn befriends Little Fawn in her strange surroundings. At the sophomore ball, dressed in an Indian costume, she innocently captures the admiration of Granville. On their return West for the summer Little Fawn secretly cherishes memories of the handsome white student who has covertly made love to her.

"Wingham, the elder, owns a ranch near the reservation. His son and daughter visit the property. They see a great deal of Heart-of-Oak and his sister. With deep foreboding the Indian watches Little Fawn and his friend. He talks gravely with the girl, telling her that for the sake of her own people she should not think of marriage outside her ancestral race. The Indian puts his trust in his college friend, whom he believes to be the soul of honor. When the disillusionment comes Heart-of-Oak tracks the runaways into the wilderness. The deep-rooted passion of the redskin for revenge takes possession of this educated Winnebago, who reverts to the type of his savage forebears. Ordering his sister into the hills, he closes in ferocious man-to-man battle with her lover - until the white man, bound and helpless, lies at the mercy of his erstwhile friend. Meanwhile, Carolyn has been summoned by the ruthless Indian. His vengeance is to be complete. But Little Fawn, driven back to the place by anxiety for the man she loves, is in time to sacrifice her own life for the safety of the white woman. His fury quenched by the sight of this sister, dead at his feet, Heart-of-Oak commands his victims to return to their own people - that he may be alone with his next of kin."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, January 16, 1916:

"There is enough that is unusual in the theme of this Mutual release of January 29 to recommend it favorably. Dealing with Indians, it in no way follows the conventional path of the Western Indian melodrama, but handles the problem of racial differences and concerns itself with the wide breach that separates a man of one race from a woman belonging to another. To illustrate this point we are introduced to an Indian boy and his sister and to a white man and his sister. The four attend a co-educational college and are good friends. The Indian man loves his friend's sister, but he realizes that he cannot ever win the love of a white woman. His sister, who is in love with the white man, does not believe that a difference in race can be an obstacle to true love.

"During the Christmas holidays the white boy and his sister come to their ranch near the reservation. The love affair between the Indian girl and the white man progresses rapidly and he soon persuades her to run away with him into a little cabin in the woods. The next day after their disappearance the brother tracks the two to their hiding place and confronts them. His rage is terrible, and in a fight he overcomes the white man and leaves him bound and helpless. His Indian blood is aroused, and he resolves to have complete revenge. Going to the ranch, he persuades the white girl to come with him to the cabin. There he tells the white man that his sister must suffer the fate of the betrayed Indian girl. Just at that moment the Indian girl returns, and, seeing the tragedy her folly has brought on her brother and her white friends, commits suicide. The death of his sister changes the Indian's anger to sorrow, and he allows the white couple to leave unharmed.

"The scene in the cabin which shows the white man and the white girl at the mercy of the Indians is a startling dramatic climax, and sums up the point made by the theme of the story in an impressive manner. The picture is satisfactorily staged, many beautiful snow-covered landscapes making effective backgrounds for most of the exterior scenes. In the early part of the film there is an exciting boat race, which provides good atmostphere for the scenes laid in a college town. The four principals in the cast do adequate work. Grace DeCarlton is an attractive Indian girl and should win the sympathy of her audiences. Robert Whittier gives a strong characterization of the Indian, and his performance is for the most part a consistently convincing one. Roy Pilcher and Gladys Leslie do capable work."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, January 22, 1916:

"This five-part production is based on a race problem. The story of the picture has been written by Philip Lonergan, and is interesting even if it does seem at times improbable. A number of the scenes in the picture have been photographed on the Indian reservation at Salamanca, New York. The Indians of the production happen to be nearly all white people, a fact that is somewhat detrimental to the enjoyment of the picture. It must be admitted, however, that R. L. Whittier, who plays the masculine lead, is an excellent type, and does good work."

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