The Vanishing American

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User Ratings: 62

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The Vanishing American Photos

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Movie Info

The Paramount team of Richard Dix and Lois Wilson starred in this top-notch silent western in which a Native American is the protagonist. The early silent era devoted many films to the depiction of American Indians, but that trend had not carried over into the screen's third decade, where Indians almost always played villains or were merely background dressing. Based on a Zane Grey novel and filmed partially in Monument Valley, The Vanishing American presented Dix, in what might very well have been his best performance until Cimarron (1930), as a college-educated Native American who only meets with racial intolerance when he returns to a reservation now lorded over by a villainous Bureau of Indian Affairs agent (Noah Beery). Today considered "quaintly" racist despite its good intentions, The Vanishing American must be viewed and compared to other films of the era. It certainly benefits from sincere portrayals of Dix and Wilson, the latter playing a dedicated schoolmarm desired by Dix and lusted after by Beery. According to one modern critic, Jon Tuska, the film was not a political tour-de-force, "but rather a kindly, occasionally sentimental portrayal of the red man as he adjusts to the white man's civilization."

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Classics, Western
Directed By:

George B. Seitz
Written By:

Lucien Hubbard, Ethel Doherty
In Theaters:

Jan 1, 1925 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Oct 17, 2000
Runtime:

114 minutes
Studio:

Paramount Pictures

Cast

Richard Dix
as Nophaie

Noah Beery Sr.
as Booker

Lois Wilson
as Marion Warner

Malcolm McGregor
as Earl Ramsdale

Charles Stevens
as Shoie

Shannon Day
as Gekin Yashi

Charles Crockett
as Amos Halliday

Bert Woodruff
as Bart Wilson

Bernard Siegel
as Do Etin

Guy Oliver
as Kit Carson

Joe Ryan
as Jay Lord

Bruce Gordon
as Rhur

John Webb Dillon
as Naylor

Gary Cooper
as Bit part

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Critic Reviews for The Vanishing American

All Critics (1) | Fresh (1)

It was the first feature film to sympathetically tell of the contemporary plight of American Indians.

May 19, 2010 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews