The Captive God (1916) Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: The Captive God
Year: 1916
Director: Charles Swickward
Country: US
Language: N/A

Throughout his career, William S. Hart was known as the "Good Bad Man" of the movies. He specialized in playing anti-heroes of the old west. His characters would teeter near the edge of pure villainy, but almost always (I'm certain it's just "always" but I haven't seen all of his pictures) find redemption in religion and/or a good woman. He was devoted to the West, but admittedly was growing bored of it. With The Captive God he went into a completely new direction.

Raised as a god by the Tehuan tribe, Chiapa (William S. Hart) attempts to rescue the priestess when she is kidnapped by naughty Aztecs. 

Pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica are a pretty far departure from the old West. Producer Thomas Ince gave Hart a hefty budget to try to make the switch successful. This film is very similar to Cecil B. Demille's The Woman God Forgot (1917), as both pictures deal with Montezuma's daughter and the consequences of her sleeping with the enemy.Praised upon its initial release for its setting and epic battles, I can't help but feel Hollywood undermines history a little. The conflict central to the plot is more complicated than "dude just wants to sleep with guy's daughter".

Hart under performs here, which is surprising considering his usual acting ability. Perhaps he lacks confidence in this new role, but his facial gestures suggest a man who thinks he made a terrible decision.  I'm a bit bothered by the old silver screen trope of "White person = god” making its appearance. It's not shockingly racist, at least when you've heard it hundreds of times before, rather it makes my eyes roll in regards to such lazy screen-writing. 

The Captive God provides impressive sets and wondrous action (for 1916) but doesn't deliver on anything else. The lavish production is nice, but the story is generic and collapses under the weight of the sets and costumes. Hart himself wasn't impressed with this picture, although I'd say it's worthy of at least one viewing.