Name: The Dawn Maker
Released: 1916
Cast: William S. Hart, Blanche White, William Desmond, J. Frank Burke, Joe Goodboy

Cast & Crew

Film Details

Release Date

Sep 24, 1916

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

New York Motion Picture Corp.; Kay-Bee

Distribution Company

Triangle Film Corp.

Country

United States

Synopsis

In Northwestern Canada, Joe Elk, the son of a white man and an Indian woman, feels torn between the conflicting cultures of his parents. Then, when he falls in love with Alice McRae, a white woman, he senses the dominance of his white heritage. After Alice tells him that she is engaged to Bruce Smithson, however, Joe returns to his tribe determined to live as a full-blooded Indian. Later, during a snow storm that cuts off the Indians' food supply, Joe's tribe steals provisions from Alice and Bruce, whom they leave to starve. The next day, Joe, who had protested against the theft of the food, insists on his share of the stolen goods and returns to Bruce and Alice. He leads them out of the blizzard and forces them to eat his food, while he himself starves. Just before he dies, his Indian blood fully asserts itself, and he performs his tribe's last rites cermeony, the Dance of the Dawn Maker.