MovieChat Forums > The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926) Discussion > What Is the Swastika Doing on the Cushio...

What Is the Swastika Doing on the Cushion?


I have the MGM Movie Legends edition, which runs the full 89 minutes on DVD. About 83 minutes in, there is a scene where Ronald Colman's father is lying on a bed (presumably in the Worth home in Barba), and the cushion on the bed has a very clear Swastika on it. Now I don't know when the Nazi party adopted the Swastika, but I didn't think it was that early (1926 when the film came out, but the film depicts an earlier period still). So if the Swastika did not have that Nazi association for an American audience during that period, then, given it is not a particularly "American pioneer" sort of item, what was it doing there?

I know that the Swastika was an ancient symbol and was known at least to art-historians in Europe at the time, and therefore could have been brought by, say, German immigrants to America; but would it have migrated to the undeveloped desert of the American southwest in the early 1900s, and been found in the home of a man with the very English-sounding name of "Worth"?

Anyone have any thoughts?

By the way, this is a great movie! I only have it because I had to buy the Cooper MGM collection to get *The Real Glory*, but it is a magnificent film, beautifully photographed, and with very young and handsome leads (Colman, Cooper, and Banky). The plot is not brilliant, but it's good, and the characterization and acting are excellent.

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The swastika was a "good fortune" symbol to many cultures internationally, including many American Indian tribes, and was frequently used as a decorative motif.

The Nazi party adopted the swastika in 1920, but this is clearly not a Nazi swastika in this scene.

There's a 1920s photo of a "flapper" in Prohibition America, showing how she uses her wide-topped boots to transport alcohol, and in the tiled floor she sits on is a little black tiled swastika, just part of the pattern but clearly there. That photo has always intrigued me and I wish I could link it here.

And I agree with your last paragraph. Really enjoyed the film!

--If they move, kill 'em!

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Thanks very much. Do you know if the American Indian tribes came up with the symbol independently, or did they get it somehow from Europeans?

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It has been used to one degree or another worldwide and across cultures, and probably (since it's a geometrical design) independently created by each.

And I found the pic I referred to above, hope the link works: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/97/e3/ba/97e3baa8553bde52c586324de822c073.jpg

--If they move, kill em!

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Thanks for this reply.

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