The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1913)

Mae Marsh is Sally Cameron, an orphan sent with her younger sister to a ranch out West where they’ll live under an uncle’s care.

The uncle welcomes them with open arms. The ranch owner isn’t as excited about the fact that they’ve brought along two puppies and insist that the dogs stay outside.

Naturally, they wander off. And at the worst possible time, because the local Indians are in the middle of their dog feast.

Having arrived late, the chief’s son and a friend find the lost pups and declare “Wanna Watinke,” meaning “now we eat.”

No sooner have they made that declaration that Sally shows up, having tracked the lost puppies. She snatches them back.

Her uncle shows up moments later and, seeing the tussle between his niece and the Indians, shoots into the fray, mortally wounding the chief’s son.

Seeking revenge, the chief orders an attack, one that threatens everyone living in Elderbush Gulch and at the nearby ranch.

Among those endangered are Melissa Harlow (Lillian Gish), her husband and their newborn child.

Mae Marsh as Sally Cameron and her younger sister worry about puppies left outside the ranch house in The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1913)

Lillian Gish as Melissa Harlow frets about what’s happened to her child while the men try to defend the ranch house in The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1913)

Review:

Yep, the cavalry was arriving in the nick of time way back in 1913. And this time they’re needed all because the Indians wanted to chow down on a couple of cute little puppies.

Does anyone remember any other Western in which an Indian war started over puppies?

Joking aside, the large-scale battle scene is surprisingly well done for the time, with director D.W. Griffith alternating between distant shots and closeups from inside the cabin to depict the apparent hopelessness of the situation.

And there’s a clever ploy in which a trap door, created to outwit the owner of the ranch and let the girls sneak their puppies inside, winds up helping save the day.

Griffith’s approach to this Western is also unique in that the female characters played by Marsh and Gish are front and center while the male charactrrrs are pushed into secondary roles.

Of course, both women would become stars. Both would also play feature roles in Griffith’s controversial epic “The Birth of a Nation,” released in 2015.

Gish was 20, Marsh was 19 when this film was releaed.

Alfred Paget as the uncle showing the ranch owner (Charles Hill Mailes) proof that the orphans are on their way in The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1913)

Lillian Gish as Melissa Harlow frantically questioning her husband (Robert Harron) about their child’s whereabouts in The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1913)

Directed by:
D.W. Griffith

Cast:
Mae Marsh … Sally Cameron, the first waif
Leslie Loveridge … The second waif
Alfred Paget … Waif’s uncle
Robert Harron … Young father
Lillian Gish … Melissa Harlow
Charles Hill Mailes … Ranch owner
Wiliam A. Carroll … Mexican
Frank Opperman … Indian chief
Henry b. Walthall … Indian chief’s son
Joseph McDermott … Wait’s guardian
Jennie Lee … Waif’s guardian

Runtime: 29 min.

Lillian Gish as Melissa Harlow, huddled with a friend as the battle rages outside, a gun at her head in case the Indians break through in The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1913)

Mae Marsh (right) as Sally Cameron and her little sister (Leslie Loveridge) emerging from a hiding place in The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1913)