Young Jim Aherne, sole survivor of an attack by Crowe indians, is adopted by a Sioux chief. As an adult, now named War Bonnet, he is a go-between in an effort to head off war with the white man. But different groups of white men have different agendas.
This is one of the earlier films to portray native Americans in a sympathetic light, and to tell a story in which white men - or some of them, at least - are racist and treacherous. It over-symplifies, draws its morality in broad brush strokes, and loses some moral authority by not having a single native American in the cast.
But it is eventful, entertaining, colourful, and features pre-Biblical Charlton Heston as the heroic and conflicted War Bonnet which, with hindsight, is interesting casting. And it tries hard.
This is one of the earlier films to portray native Americans in a sympathetic light, and to tell a story in which white men - or some of them, at least - are racist and treacherous. It over-symplifies, draws its morality in broad brush strokes, and loses some moral authority by not having a single native American in the cast.
But it is eventful, entertaining, colourful, and features pre-Biblical Charlton Heston as the heroic and conflicted War Bonnet which, with hindsight, is interesting casting. And it tries hard.