ABSTRACT
The Canadian documentary Beaver People (1928) is not only of anthropological and historical value, but also features the only notable footage of North American Indian luminary Grey Owl, who toured Britain in the 1930s giving lectures about the Canadian wilderness and First Nation culture. He became something of a celebrity and his talks were as popular as his best-selling books, which included The Last Men of the Frontier and Tales of an Empty Cabin. One of his principal attractions was his authentic exoticism as a classic noble savage bedecked in Native American costume. However, he was in fact born in Hastings in England, as Archibald Belaney, and had come to Canada nearly thirty years before his return to England. Although now feted as a champion of early naturalism and conservation, his life had been full of fabrications and deceptions. 1
