It premiered on May 19, 1930 at the Criterion Theater in New York City and was later distributed by Paramount Pictures in August of the same year.

According to the 26 Dec 1930 Motion Picture Daily, it was filmed in the “timber limits” outside Arnprior, Ontario,[4] while another source cites Lake Temagami as the location.

They agree, and Baluk inquires about the Chief's daughter, who is trapping partridges; he insists her path is rocky and goes to make sure she is safe.

He ridicules Baluk behind his back and requests "another squaw" for himself, implying that he wishes to bed Chetoga's daughter, Neewa.

Meanwhile, the Chief's daughter Neewa (played by Molly Spotted Elk) is cornered by a bear and nearly forced off the edge of a cliff and into a river.

Soon, the adults of the tribe go merrily on a hunt; Cheeka, the son of the Chief, is eager to help but is told by Baluk that he is too young to join.

Cheeka still makes a daring attempt to join them, paddling a canoe, with a basket containing his bear cubs behind him, but upon reaching the hunters, he is told to return home.

During the feast, Neewa privately comforts Baluk by dismissing Dagwan as a threat, insinuating that one lucky kill does not make him a great hunter.

Nevertheless, Baluk inspires the tribe to march north for the crossing of the caribou, where they can hunt and feed on thousands of the fauna.

Weakly, the Chief describes a vision of marching animals and a wolf growling at the sky, which Dagwan insists means that Baluk has led the tribe to doom and turning back is necessary.

He pauses, aware that stealing food from other tribes is prohibited, but decides that it would be justified if the cache was presented as a supernatural event.

He libelously blames Baluk for every father, mother, and child's death, and soon performs supernatural bending of the elements such as smoke-bending to awe the tribe.

Drummers perform and the entire tribe gathers to watch as Baluk sits atop a large stack of wood, playing an instrument and crying as he prepares for his painful death.

Shot circa 1928 in the Temagami region of Ontario, the film depicted the life of the Ojibwe prior to the arrival of European settlers and was unique for its early use of Indigenous actors.

[2] Burden relied on to the detailed accounts of French missionaries documented in The Jesuit Relations during the writing of the screenplay.

[6] Animals appear centrally in the film as companions, sources of danger and conflict, and recurring symbols.

Animals in the film include partridges in traps; an adult bear, shot with an arrow by Baluk; a beaver joyfully spotted by Cheeka; its two bear cubs, kept as pets by Cheeka, who are in a bucket on a canoe, climb trees, and later play with the tribe's wolves; a wolverine breaking into another tribe's caché to eat its preserved meat; starving Husky dogs attacking each other; multiple elks, killed; a 9-foot mountain lion attacking a bear; and the crossing of the caribou as well as caribou that had been shot with arrows.

Most of these moments involve double exposure, overlaying two existing footages, such as the recurring symbol of a wolf growling over a stormy sky.

[citation needed] Chauncey Yellow Robe's speech at the start contained sound-on-film, and there were multiple moments of synchronized chants throughout the film.