On Saturday, December 7, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen the 1929 Paramount film, Redskin.
This second blog explores the little known connection Louise Brooks had with
the film. More about the 2019 SFSFF "Day of Silents" may be found HERE.
Shot partly in early Technicolor, Redskin tells the story of a Navajo man named Wing Foot who was taken as a child to a government boarding school, where he is forced to assimilate. The film explores the damage done by prejudice as it explores issues of racial identity and cultural insensitivity in telling Wing Foot’s story. This June 1928 newspaper article suggests the film's topicality, while noting Louise Brooks' role in the production.
The film, directed by Victor Schertzinger and described by critics as one of the most visually beautiful films of the late 1920’s, was produced and released by Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Following her widely acclaimed role in the gritty Beggars of Life, Brooks was next assigned to The Canary Murder Case, a widely celebrated murder mystery. It was a plum role for which Brooks was well suited. However, before work began on The Canary Murder Case, Brooks was suddenly reassigned to Redskin, another important Paramount film also set to go into production. In her nationally syndicated column, Louella Parson wrote in August, 1928:
Brooks’ role went beyond merely being cast as a a Pueblo Indian named Corn Blossom. Paramount records show the actress was paid for three weeks' work on Redskin. According to press reports from the time, Brooks reported to Gallup, New Mexico at the end of August, 1928, where the cast and crew gathered before heading out to camps near the location shoot.
In early September of 1928, Brooks was called back to Hollywood, where she replaced Ruth Taylor in The Canary Murder Case. No one knows why for sure. Some reports had it that Taylor fell ill, while others claim Brooks was temperamental and unsuited to a film like Redskin. But there is certainly "more to the story".... *
When Louise Brooks left the cast of Redskin, she was replaced by Gladys Belmont, an otherwise unknown actress whose first and only starring role would be in the Native American drama.
* That "more to the story" likely includes studio politics, Brooks' resentment in having been denied a role in Gentleman Prefer Blondes, which starred Ruth Taylor, Brooks' dissatisfaction over her contract with Paramount, and a power play by Paramount in replacing her in a prestige production opposite a major star with an unknown actress.
Shot partly in early Technicolor, Redskin tells the story of a Navajo man named Wing Foot who was taken as a child to a government boarding school, where he is forced to assimilate. The film explores the damage done by prejudice as it explores issues of racial identity and cultural insensitivity in telling Wing Foot’s story. This June 1928 newspaper article suggests the film's topicality, while noting Louise Brooks' role in the production.
The film, directed by Victor Schertzinger and described by critics as one of the most visually beautiful films of the late 1920’s, was produced and released by Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Following her widely acclaimed role in the gritty Beggars of Life, Brooks was next assigned to The Canary Murder Case, a widely celebrated murder mystery. It was a plum role for which Brooks was well suited. However, before work began on The Canary Murder Case, Brooks was suddenly reassigned to Redskin, another important Paramount film also set to go into production. In her nationally syndicated column, Louella Parson wrote in August, 1928:
Brooks’ role went beyond merely being cast as a a Pueblo Indian named Corn Blossom. Paramount records show the actress was paid for three weeks' work on Redskin. According to press reports from the time, Brooks reported to Gallup, New Mexico at the end of August, 1928, where the cast and crew gathered before heading out to camps near the location shoot.
In early September of 1928, Brooks was called back to Hollywood, where she replaced Ruth Taylor in The Canary Murder Case. No one knows why for sure. Some reports had it that Taylor fell ill, while others claim Brooks was temperamental and unsuited to a film like Redskin. But there is certainly "more to the story".... *
When Louise Brooks left the cast of Redskin, she was replaced by Gladys Belmont, an otherwise unknown actress whose first and only starring role would be in the Native American drama.
* That "more to the story" likely includes studio politics, Brooks' resentment in having been denied a role in Gentleman Prefer Blondes, which starred Ruth Taylor, Brooks' dissatisfaction over her contract with Paramount, and a power play by Paramount in replacing her in a prestige production opposite a major star with an unknown actress.
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