The film depicts Ramona (Dolores Del Rio), who is half Native American, as she is raised by a Mexican family. Ramona suffers racism and prejudice in her community, and when she finds out that she is half Native, she chooses to identify as a Native American instead of a Mexican American so that she can marry Alessandro (Warner Baxter), who is a Native as well.

This was the third of four Hollywood adaptations of Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona (a fifth adaptation was produced in Mexico in 1946). It is widely considered the most accurate representation of the time period and social issues, because its director, Edwin Carewe, was Native American, and star Dolores Del Rio was Mexican.

The film was long thought to be lost, but was discovered in the Národní Filmový Archiv in Prague in 2010.

Ramona

Adapted from: Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson (1884)

Director: Edwin Carewe

Year: 1928

Studio: United Artists

Genre: Drama, Western