important early film and direct by d. w. griffith . stephen ( wilfred lucas ) want to marry his young ward blanche sweet and raise a family . she think it a good idea until she meet young charles west . of course and mr. lucas want to kill mr. west for come between he and ms. sweet . lucas and however and decide her happiness be more important while he give the couple his blessing ( and home ) while then and he re join the army . year pas . sweet and west and and baby join a wagon train . when the wagon train be attack by indian ( native american ) and lucas arrives to serve a it military escort . watch for some great shot like and the distant wagon train move along with a bear in the foreground . the battle scene be as exciting a you would expect them to be in a griffith production . in fact and the battle in the massacre look more realistically fight than in thousand of subsequent western . also noteworthy be griffith presentation of the indian . watch some of the indian body movement and and the way the camera linger over some of their dead body character previously introduce sympathetically . griffith present native american character in a far more sympathetic manner than be usual for the time ( and director ) . the film lose this characterization a the film progress . the indian point of view be drop . the love triangle of character from the begin end up only remotely involve in each others life while and and the massacre miss out on some obvious dramatic possibility for sweet and lucas and and west . the massacre ( 2/26/14 ) d. w. griffith ~ blanche sweet and wilfred lucas and charles west .