"The Half-Breed" certainly is one of Douglas Fairbanks' most unusual and daring films. After having made so many hugely successful comedies and achieved the status of a superstar, he felt it was time for him to 'touch' on a subject still VERY controversial back in 1916: the fate of the Native Americans, who, while in the movie they were called 'children of nature', to the white Americans they were still 'children of a lesser God' - they didn't even possess civil rights yet at that time! And Doug not only had the courage to play a 'half-breed' (the mother of our hero here, called Lo Dorman - but in the 'old' restored version Dave Carson for some unknown reason, we'll come to that later on - was an Indian woman), but also to depict in ALL its cruelty the wrongs that were being done to the Indians by the 'white man', and even a romance of the 'half-breed' with a white woman! It was Doug's first drama - and a most provocative one...
Unfortunately, it was a box office failure ('conservative' critics had seen to that, warning the audience about the 'immoral' content of the movie...); and unfortunately, after it had been considered lost for decades, the first thing that turned up in the 1980s was only a remnant of the original version, which confuses the viewer completely with its incoherency, and makes us believe that Lo's romance with Nellie (who now was called 'Peggy') would be the happy ending - which it wasn't...
The original version had a running time of almost two hours, while the 'restored' version is only a rump of about 50 minutes - leaving out completely the MOST controversial part of Lo's competition with Sheriff Dunn (played by Sam De Grasse, the 'eternal baddie' in almost all of Doug's silent movies) for the favor of Nellie - who, on her part, surely WASN'T the demure, shy girl of pre-WWI USA, but one of the first 'man-eaters', years before the flappers and vamps made their appearance... And the MOST ironical thing of it all is - that Sheriff Dunn is actually Lo's father; and since he's obviously not only jealous, but also ashamed of his 'half-breed' son, he does everything to discredit him among the townsfolk! (And Doug's famous bathing scene almost in the nude - which director Allan Dwan had inserted especially for Doug's then wife Beth, who didn't want her husband to play a 'dirty, filthy character' - is also missing; much to the chagrin of today's female audience, of course...)
But FORTUNATELY, in 2013, ANOTHER surviving copy of almost the complete movie was found, which makes us realize the TRUE plot - and the ending, in which, of course, Doug DOESN'T get Nellie (Peggy), but the Mexican dance hall girl Teresa (called 'Dolores' in the restored version); not because he would have been afraid of actually showing an interracial romance come true, but simply because amorous Nellie wasn't his type: he wanted a REAL, loving woman by his side! Anyway, no matter whether you'll only be able to watch the 'rump' version or the REAL restored one - this movie is a GREAT and VERY courageous drama about the 'children of nature', who are being destroyed by the 'white man', his 'civilization' and his 'firewater', and a deeply moving contemplation about the vanishing of the wilderness and the dubious 'triumph' of civilization.
Unfortunately, it was a box office failure ('conservative' critics had seen to that, warning the audience about the 'immoral' content of the movie...); and unfortunately, after it had been considered lost for decades, the first thing that turned up in the 1980s was only a remnant of the original version, which confuses the viewer completely with its incoherency, and makes us believe that Lo's romance with Nellie (who now was called 'Peggy') would be the happy ending - which it wasn't...
The original version had a running time of almost two hours, while the 'restored' version is only a rump of about 50 minutes - leaving out completely the MOST controversial part of Lo's competition with Sheriff Dunn (played by Sam De Grasse, the 'eternal baddie' in almost all of Doug's silent movies) for the favor of Nellie - who, on her part, surely WASN'T the demure, shy girl of pre-WWI USA, but one of the first 'man-eaters', years before the flappers and vamps made their appearance... And the MOST ironical thing of it all is - that Sheriff Dunn is actually Lo's father; and since he's obviously not only jealous, but also ashamed of his 'half-breed' son, he does everything to discredit him among the townsfolk! (And Doug's famous bathing scene almost in the nude - which director Allan Dwan had inserted especially for Doug's then wife Beth, who didn't want her husband to play a 'dirty, filthy character' - is also missing; much to the chagrin of today's female audience, of course...)
But FORTUNATELY, in 2013, ANOTHER surviving copy of almost the complete movie was found, which makes us realize the TRUE plot - and the ending, in which, of course, Doug DOESN'T get Nellie (Peggy), but the Mexican dance hall girl Teresa (called 'Dolores' in the restored version); not because he would have been afraid of actually showing an interracial romance come true, but simply because amorous Nellie wasn't his type: he wanted a REAL, loving woman by his side! Anyway, no matter whether you'll only be able to watch the 'rump' version or the REAL restored one - this movie is a GREAT and VERY courageous drama about the 'children of nature', who are being destroyed by the 'white man', his 'civilization' and his 'firewater', and a deeply moving contemplation about the vanishing of the wilderness and the dubious 'triumph' of civilization.