Pearl Chavez (Jennifer Jones) was marked for trouble: a half-breed Indian girl – I use that phrase deliberately, reflecting both the contemporary labelling and its associated baggage – whose adulterous mother had been shot by her father, who was then hanged for the crime. She is sent to live with distant relatives and becomes involved in a love triangle with their two sons: a violent end ensues. Critics snubbed the film as ‘lust in the dust’ but audiences flocked to see the sultry Pearl.
A few years later Jennifer Jones donned yellowface to play Eurasian Dr Han Suyin in Love is a Many Splendored Thing – another doomed and forbidden romance.
Full body makeup was used to give Pearl her dark complexion as can be seen in the image with Lillian Gish. I don’t have the makeup credits for this movie: if anyone knows, please email me.