This is one of the most eccentric films produced in the late period of Bluebird Photoplays. Though it makes good use of Carmel Myers’ talent as a comedienne, it also shows the stagnation of this company. Carmel Myers plays a little white savage girl brought up on an unknown remote island. She speaks the language of Shakespeare because her tribe of this island is a descendant of the colony founded by Sir Walter Raleigh. Larkey, a sideshow man, relates how he and his mates discover her when they shipwrecked on a South Atlantic island. As he sees that the girl has fallen in love with a missionary, Kerry, who is with him, he kidnaps her to use as one of his exhibitions. When the circus is held in Kerry’s home town, the girl escapes from her tent and goes to Kerry’s house, hiding herself in his bed when a delegation of trustees came to call. It causes a scandal and when he is dismissed as a pastor, Kerry realizes his love for her. The film ends somewhat peculiarly with a newspaper reporter asking them about the history of the girl… The answer is that the preceding tale was all a hoax. One Japanese film critic praised the brilliant presence of a supporting actor in this film, John Cook — who plays the character of the rum-besotted sailor — saying that “his lighthearted acting style livens particularly the latter half of this film” (“Kinema Junpo”, Apr 11, 1920).

Hiroshi Komatsu