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UCLA Film & Television Archive and Diane Allen present

Special Screening: Ramona (1928)

Ramona (1928)
March 29, 2014 - 7:30 pm
In-person: 
Phil Brigandi, James D'Arc, Dydia DeLyser, Linda B. Hall, Joanna Hearne, Hugh Munro Neely.
Live musical accompaniment provided by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Restoration World Premiere!

Edwin Carewe directed the 1928 version of what had by then proven a durable story, filmed twice previously (and at least once subsequently). Adapted from Helen Hunt Jackson’s hugely popular 1884 novel, and further disseminated in a wildly successful stage version presented at Hemet, California annually since 1923, the Ramona narrative tells of a mixed-race (Scots-Native American) woman, sympathetically detailing her persecution for reasons of race. Carewe, himself of Chickasaw descent (a very rare thing in Hollywood), represented a felicitous match for the material and a sensitive interpreter of the action. Also inspired was the choice of Dolores Del Rio as the star of the 1928 version, being herself a proud Mexican actress who famously declined to be identified as “Spanish” during her career. Wearing a theme of cultural diversity on its sleeve, the Ramona story has become a touchstone to generations of Californians, and an indispensable part of the state’s imaginative cultural heritage.

Thanks to: Rob Stone, Mike Mashon, Lynanne Schweighofer—Library of Congress.

Ramona (1928)

Preserved by the Library of Congress in association with Národní Filmový Archiv.

Directed by Edwin Carewe 

Ramona, the young, half-breed ward of an oppressive California sheep rancher, realizes that her indigenous blood has impeded her life's happiness. Eloping with Indian chieftain Alessandro, Ramona seeks a new life embracing her heritage, but endures tragedy and loss before tenderness and affirmation re-emerge as possibilities. 

Inspiration Pictures, Inc. Screenwriter: Finis Fox, based on the novel by Helen Hunt Jackson. Cinematographer: Robert Kurrle. Editor: Jeanne Spencer. Cast: Dolores Del Rio, Warner Baxter, Roland Drew, Vera Lewis. Michael Visaroff. 

35mm, b/w, silent, approx. 80 min.