Special Screening: Ramona (1928)

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.