Massacre is a 1934

1934 in film

-Events:*January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.*February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade...

 American

Cinema of the United States

The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

 drama film directed by Alan Crosland

Alan Crosland

Alan Crosland was an American stage actor and film director.-Early life and career:Born in New York City, New York to a well-to-do family, Alan Crosland attended Dartmouth College. After graduation he took a job as a writer with the New York Globe magazine...

. The film stars Richard Barthelmess

Richard Barthelmess

Richard Semler "Dick" Barthelmess was an Oscar-nominated silent film star.-Early life:Barthelmess was educated at Hudson River Military Academy at Nyack and Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut...

 and Ann Dvorak

Ann Dvorak

Ann Dvorak was an American film actress.Asked how to pronounce her adopted surname, she told The Literary Digest: "My name is properly pronounced vor'shack. The D remains silent...

 as its Native American protagonists, and also features Charles Middleton

Charles B. Middleton

Charles B. Middleton was an American stage and film actor. During a film career that began at age 46 and lasted almost 30 years, Charles Middleton appeared in nearly two hundred films as well as numerous plays...

, Sidney Toler

Sidney Toler

Sidney Hooper Toler was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. Of primarily Scottish ancestry, he was the second non-Asian actor to play the role of Charlie Chan.-Early life and career:...

, Claire Dodd

Claire Dodd

Claire Dodd was an American film actress.Born as Dorothy Anne Dodd in Baxter, Iowa, Dodd was born to Walter W. Dodd, a farmer and veterinarian, and Ethel V. Cool Dodd, the daughter of Baxter Postmaster Peter J. Cool. As Dorothy Dodd, she attended school in Baxter...

 and Clarence Muse

Clarence Muse

Clarence Muse was an actor, screenwriter, director, composer, and lawyer. He was inducted in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973. Muse was the first African American to "star" in a film. He acted for more than sixty years, and appeared in more than 150 movies.-Life and career:Born in...

.

Plot

Chief Joe Thunderhorse (Barthelmess) is the star of a wild west show at the Century of Progress

Century of Progress

A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...

 in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. Though he is the authentic son of a Native American chief, he has lived away from the reservation so long that he has lost all personal connection to them. His ethnic authenticity and physical prowess are exploited by white showmen. His rich white girlfriend (Dodd) flaunts him in front of her curious friends. Joe and his valet (Muse) travel to the reservation where he grew up upon hearing that his father Black Pony is on his death bed. His dying father no longer recognizes him. The terrible living conditions to which Joe's people are subjected to at the hands of white government agents are also revealed to him. Upon the death of his father, Joe's sister Jennie is raped by a government agent and, with the assistance of a college-educated reservation resident named Lydia (Dvorak), Joe decides to take action.