A promotional portrayal of cottage country in the Huntsville area, the film acknowledges this was Indigenous land. Visitors travel on boats called ‘Algonquin’ and ‘Iroquois.’ Cottagers enjoy various activities on water and land, such as tennis, horseback riding and lawn bowling. An Indigenous man, said to be the grandson of the local chief, in full headdress, visits the lodge by canoe. He greets the well-dressed guests, shaking hands. The Indigenous ‘visitor’ is invited to play golf and appears to be impressed with the “palatial hostels of the white man” that have been erected on what was once his land.

“A Region of Romance” 1927, film, 8 minutes 40 seconds, la Cinématheque Québécoise collection, accession number 2003-0098, Item number ISN 346739, Library and Archives Canada.

Film editing by Annie Slotnick. Musical direction by Ewen Farncombe.

Song: Consolation - Broadway Bellhops (1927)

Further Discussion

Jasen, Patricia. Wild Things: Nature, Culture and Tourism in Ontario, 1790-1914. University of Toronto Press, 1995.

Bregent-Heald, Dominique. "James Oliver Curwood: Advertising Canada Across the Border." Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d'études canadiennes, vol. 52, no. 3, Fall 2018, pp. 691-717.

For a discussion of the region and tourism,

The Steamship Era https://www.onthisspot.ca/cities/parrysound/steamships

A Brief, Illustrated History of Landscape and Aboriginal Peoples in the Muskoka River Region

https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/e31177cf/files/uploaded/Aboriginal-Peoples-Muskoka-River-Region.pdf