A silent film shot in northern Alberta in 1919 turned a profit of 300 per cent. Seriously. The TIFF Canadian Film Encyclopedia says so about Back to God’s Country, and it calls the picture the most successful silent feature in Canadian history.
Where in Alberta it was shot
The TIFF encyclopedia says the production shot on location near Lesser Slave Lake, in northern Alberta, under extreme conditions. They were rough enough that the male lead had to be replaced.
Library and Archives Canada lists the locations as Alberta, Idaho and California, so Alberta was one chapter of a larger shoot. It’s still an Alberta origin story, and a tough one.
Nell Shipman
She co-wrote and co-produced the film and starred as Dolores LeBeau. The Canadian Encyclopedia gives her birth as Victoria, British Columbia, on October 25, 1892, and says she turned down a seven-year Samuel Goldwyn contract offer in 1917.
TIFF says she held immense creative control even though she wasn’t credited as director. Library and Archives Canada credits David Hartford as director and names Ernest and Nell Shipman as producers, writers and stars.
The story came from James Oliver Curwood’s Wapi the Walrus, according to the archives, which describes the plot as a lusty tale of jealousy, murder and betrayal. It also reports the 300 per cent profit and a gross of 1.5 million dollars, which is the archive’s figure.
She did her own stunts too. The archives says that included a scene where she’s swept downstream in rapids.
Why people still talk about this film
Two things come up in the sources. TIFF says the film has the first nude scenes in Canadian cinema, and that it shows Shipman with a bear in its natural habitat.
Library and Archives Canada goes further and calls her Canada’s first female director and the film the oldest surviving Canadian feature. That’s the archive’s own wording, so treat it as the institution’s claim.
How a 1919 film survived
The archives says a mid-1980s restoration combined two separate prints, one held by the American Film Institute and the other from a private collector. You can see the restoration on its YouTube channel and Flickr.
The Canadian Encyclopedia adds that Shipman worked with a travelling menagerie of 70 animals and advocated for ethical animal treatment during filmmaking, and that after her 1920 marriage dissolved she founded Nell Shipman Productions. TIFF notes the film was part of a Canadian retrospective at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival.
Start with this one if you want a single Alberta silent film, and keep the sources open in another tab while the restoration plays.
Next up, read how the Allen family gave Calgary a movie palace. Fay Wray has a story too, the Cardston kid who screamed for King Kong. And a college orchestra carried Calgary’s symphony charter.
Related reading from us: How Calgary Film Permits and the Calgary Film Commission Work and From film censors to film ratings, how far Alberta has come.
Quick answers
The TIFF Canadian Film Encyclopedia says Back to God’s Country was shot on location near Lesser Slave Lake in northern Alberta, under extreme conditions. Library and Archives Canada lists Alberta, Idaho and California as locations, so Alberta was one chapter of a larger shoot.
Nell Shipman co-wrote and co-produced Back to God’s Country and starred as Dolores LeBeau. The Canadian Encyclopedia gives her birth as Victoria, British Columbia, on October 25, 1892, and says she turned down a seven-year Samuel Goldwyn contract offer in 1917.
Back to God’s Country turned a profit of 300 per cent, according to the TIFF Canadian Film Encyclopedia, which calls it the most successful silent feature in Canadian history. Library and Archives Canada reports a gross of 1.5 million dollars.
Library and Archives Canada says a mid-1980s restoration combined two separate prints of Back to God’s Country, one held by the American Film Institute and the other from a private collector. The archives shares the restored film on its YouTube channel and Flickr.
