Martha Vickers is Lolita Moreno, a young woman who leaves the mission where she’s been raised to teach Indian children on the Navajo reservation in Arizona.
The first Indian she meets there is Navo White Eagle (Phillip Reed), who’s recently returned to the tribe after being educated at the Carlisle Indian School back East.
He’s determined to use his education to help make the Indians self-sufficient through hard work and the farms they’ve started.
He doesn’t realize trouble is afoot because Jed Morgan (James Griffith), an operative for Indian agent Ralp C. Connors (Donald Woods) has found copper on Navajo land.
Connors begins plotting how to get mineral rights to that land, and the budding romance between the white teacher and the educated Navo offers him an opening.
Okeeman, a young Indian girl, has been dreaming of marrying Navo. She’s intensely jealous of Lolita.
Since she’s the daughter of the Navajo chief, Connors decides to feign interest in Okeeman, seduce her and uses her naivete to get those mineral rights.
Of course, they need to get Navo out of the way. Framing him for a murder he didn’t commit might accomplish that mission.
Phillip Reed as Navo White Eagle, determined to help his people gain respect through self-sufficiency in Daughter of the West (1949)
Martha Vickers as Lolita Moreno, pleading with a cavalry commander to find out what Connors is up to in Daughter of the West (1949)
Review:
An unusual Western in that the focus is life on an Indian reservation, where the Navajo are adjusting quite nicely under Navo’s direction.
But it’s a poverty row production, which is clear through the camera work, and it’s way too predictable.
It’s also quite unflattering toward the uneducated Indians, who are depicted as childlike and easily fooled. At one point, Navo even describes his people that way.
In the end, what comes off as childlike is the film itself.
As for the title, it’s a bit misleading because the real lead character is Phillip Reed as Navo.
Playing Lolita, Martha Vickers’ character learns she’s the daughter of Ramona (1936), meaning a relationship with Navo wouldn’t be forbidden after all.
Donald Woods as Ralp C. Connors, the Indian agent plotting to get the Navajo mineral rights in Daughter of the West (1949)
Marion Carney as Okeeman, making her affection for Navo clear in Daughter of the West (1949)
Directed by:
Harold Daniels
Cast:
Martha Vickers …. Lolita Moreno
Phillip Reed … Navo White Eagle
Donald Woods … Commissioner Ralph C. Connors
Marion Carney … Okeeman (Atoka)
Pedro de Cordoba … Chief Wykomas
James Griffith … Jed Morgan
William Farnum … Father Vallejo
Luz Alba … Wateeka
Tommy Cook … Ponca
Tony Barr … Yuba
Helen Servis … Mrs. Beggs
Miltn Kibbee … Mr. Beggs
Runtime: 77 min.
Tony Barr as Yuba, the Navajo man who loves Okeeman and resents Navo in Daughter of the West (1949)
Luz Alba as Wateeka, expressing pride in her son Navo in Daughter of the West (1949)
Memorable lines:
Wateeka, Navo’s mother, when he mentions the new school teacher by name: “A white woman. Be careful, Navo.”
Yuba to Navo: “So, Indian of much learning back on reservation. If you think white man’s way better than our, why not you stay there?”
Jed Morgan to Navo: “Well, you can do something besides grunt … Hey, come here, boy, and pull off my boots.”
Navo: “Indians are like children. They’d so much rather play than work.”
Connors: “You can’t change centuries of Navajo custom with a store shirt and coudoroy trousers.”
Martha Vickers as Lolita, expressing her desire to teach Indian children in Daughter of the West (1949)
Donald Woods as Ralph C. Connors and James Griffith as Jed Morgan, growing wary of Navo in Daughter of the West (1949)
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