Celebrate Silent Film
This is possibly one of the most beautiful films William S. Hart made and so it is appropriate that it is also the first Hart film available in HD. The cinematography and gorgeous tints are absolutely breathtaking.
William S. Hart remakes one of his earlier short films as a feature and relocates it to the Canadian wilderness. You’re not going to believe this but he plays a rough and brutal man who finds his heart thanks to a good woman.
Continue reading “Blue Blazes Rawden (1918) A Silent Film Review”
We’re back with another silent era taste test! I’m cooking my way through Photoplay Magazine’s 1929 cookbook of the stars but today, we’re taking a little ice cream detour to 1917.
Continue reading “Cooking with the (Silent) Stars: The William S. Hart Sherro (Boozy Ice Cream)”
William S. Hart plays an outlaw who, gosh darn it, ends up being hired as the marshal of a small, crime-infested town. Will he find redemption? Oh, come on. Do cops like donuts? Of course he will but getting there is all the fun.
Continue reading “Fun Size Review: The Return of Draw Egan (1916)”
Cowboys and vamps? Guys, I think we have hit peak 1915! William S. Hart plays a saloon proprietor who shoots a no-good skunk of a thief. But guess who has a pretty sister? Go on, guess!
William S. Hart is a Santa Fe Trail guide whose brother is murdered by a riverboat gambler. And guess who has joined the wagon train Hart is directing to Santa Fe? Less action and more drama in this Hart vehicle with veteran baddie Robert McKim providing the mustache twirls.
William S. Hart plays a native Mesoamerican who falls for an Aztec princess. This goes over about as well as you can imagine and our hero soon finds himself marked for sacrifice. A change of pace (obviously) for western star Hart.
Continue reading “The Captive God (1916) A Silent Film Review”
William S. Hart is in his comfort zone as an actor and director when he plays a rough, tough outlaw who takes the job of marshal on a lark and ends up falling for the town beauty (Margery Wilson, actress and director). Resident vamp Louise Glaum is on hand as the villainess and a good time is had by all.
Continue reading “The Return of Draw Egan (1916) A Silent Film Review”
Howdy, pardners. You may have known me once as Fritzi Kramer but on this post, folks call me Creosote Whipple. Why is that? Because I used the William S. Hart name generator!
I like to get silly sometimes with quizzes and other fun stuff. It has been forever since I’ve done anything like this so here goes!
Can a 100+ year old action movie be exciting for modern viewers? The Bargain shows that the correct answer is an enthusiastic yes. Fast-moving and funny, this western is about a bandit who forms a strange alliance with the sheriff charged with arresting him. The climax is one of the best chase scenes (oh, all right, the best) of the 1910s. This is also western legend William S. Hart’s very first feature film and it’s also one of his lightest. Strongly recommended.
William S. Hart is a wanted man. He’s wanted by the law and he is especially wanted by Mercedes (Enid Markey), a local beauty with a giant crush on our antihero. This early Hart short zips along at a fierce pace until its bloody conclusion.
Continue reading “The Taking of Luke McVane (1915) A Silent Film Review”
William S. Hart gets dark (well, darker than usual) in this western revenge yarn.
It is a known fact that silent movie moms are not to be trifled with. Heroes? You can get away with a bit. But mess with mom and you are skating on thin ice, as William S. Hart discovered in The Cradle of Courage.
“Mom, can you seriously not pull a gun on me? Sheesh!”
In this case, mom thinks that one son gunned down the other. Of course, Mr. Hart is innocent and killin’ mad and off to find the real killer, etc. etc. etc. But that’s another story. I find it very weird to see Hart without his cowboy gear but the film is actually pretty good, if a bit derivative.
Of course, all bets are off if the ladies in question are unwed or adulterous mothers who have recently given birth. In that case they wander onto ice floes, die of movie-itis, and so forth. Movie-itis is marked by no symptoms other than dying and looking incredibly beautiful while doing it. Other characters often remark that the victim has lost the will to live. Tragedy! A miracle cure, often true love’s kiss, sometimes occurs but usually doesn’t. It has been used since the beginning of movies and still crops up. Natalie Portman is a famous modern case in Revenge of the Sith.
(You can read my review of The Cradle of Courage here.)
Availability: The Cradle of Courage is available on DVD from Grapevine
One action movie cliche that really needs to go is the Unflinching Walk Away from Destruction. You know what I mean, our protagonist blows up something (or is nearly blown up) and walks away from the fiery destruction without a flinch or a reaction. It’s supposed to show how tough our protagonist is but it just makes them look dim. Have they never heard of shrapnel?
Now compare our indomitable Mr. William S. Hart. This is Hell’s Hinges, he’s a gunslinger/assassin who recently got religion and the minute his back is turned, his old friends form a mob, burn down the church, shoot the minister… In short, they got Hart mad. Anyone who has seen a silent movie knows that this is the one thing you must never do. Do not get Hart mad.
See the difference? It’s the difference between trying to look like a tough cookie and actually being a tough cookie on the screen.
Disclaimer: I don’t actually know who the first person to walk dramatically away from destruction was. Would be interesting to find out!
(You can read my full-length review of Hell’s Hinges here.)
Availability: There was a gorgeous print released in the out-of-print box set Treasures from American Film Archives: 50 Preserved Films
Welcome back! I am cooking my way through the 1929 Photoplay cookbook (recipes of the stars!) and you are invited to tag along. (I have listed all the recipes I have tested on this dedicated page. Check back often.) Today, we will be testing a recipe from one of the biggest players in early features of the wild west.
Continue reading “Photoplay Cookbook: William S. Hart’s “Stuffed Summer Squash””
William S. Hart is the proprietor of a successful gambling house. Some clown gets the brilliant idea of robbing him at gunpoint. This goes over about as well as you might expect. The problem? The dead man’s innocent and penniless sister is on her way to town. Hart has to do a whole heap of lying to keep her from finding out about her brother’s disgrace.
Continue reading “Keno Bates, Liar (1915) A Silent Film Review”
William S. Hart’s first feature film is also a real corker. He plays a bandit who decides to trade it all in for an honest life but who soon realizes that going straight is a lot harder than it looks. After some misadventures, he finds himself in a strange alliance with the local sheriff. Filled with genuinely exciting actions scenes, ironic humor and a good dose of dust, this movie is the one that made Hart a star. It’s easy to see why.
Continue reading “The Bargain (1914) A Silent Film Review”
December of 2014 is a significant month for fans of western star William S. Hart. His first feature was released a century ago this month and he was born one hundred and fifty years ago. I couldn’t let this milestone month pass without paying tribute to everyone’s favorite Good Bad Man of the west.
What’s more, I am going to be featuring spoofs of Hart’s gritty west that star some of the best comedians of the silent era! Please enjoy. Oh, and if you have a little something special planned for Hart this month, let me know and I will link to you.
Big V Riot Squad is joining me in the Hart celebration.
To whet your appetite, here are my past reviews of Hart films. Also, I get a chance to be punny. I offer no apologies.
Dark Hart: The Toll Gate (1920) has Hart at his most menacing.
Burning Hart: Hell’s Hinges (1916) is perfectly apocalyptic.
I left my Hart in San Francisco: The Cradle of Courage (1920), in which Bill trades his Stetson for a copper’s cap.
Broken Hart: Bad Buck of Santa Ynez (1915) is a rare tragedy from our usually-victorious hero.
The Bargain (1914) set the stage for all subsequent Hart films. It’s also a darn good piece of entertainment that holds up remarkably well.
Keno Bates, Liar (1915) was Hart’s last short film and provides an unexpected bit of vamping, courtesy of Louise Glaum.
Two-Gun Gussie (1918) is Harold Lloyd’s fun little short dealing with the perils of a jazz pianist in the oldish west.
Out West (1918) is a dark, morbid and violent send-up of William S. Hart’s grown-up westerns.
This Silent Movie Trivia Card concerns an 1916 apocalyptic western entitled Hell’s Hinges, which stars a very stern William S. Hart. While most writing on the film justly focuses on the famous ending, the rest of the movie’s story is equally fascinating. You know, darkness, redemption, revenge… Hart stuff. (You can read my full-length review here.)
However, there is plenty of interesting stuff going on in the background if you know what to look for. For example, there is a handsome young fella who is still a few years away from making his mark on the romance genre…
(I didn’t have time to do a screen grab but you can see our young Jack in action in my video review of the film.)
Availability: A gorgeous tinted print of Hell’s Hinges was released as part of the out-of-print Treasures From American Film Archives
One of William S. Hart’s earliest surviving films, this western two-reeler tells the tale of a bad guy who narrowly escapes being guest of honor at a necktie party and learns to be not quite so bad when he meets a kid in trouble. You know, a typical William S. Hart Thursday. An early example of the gritty-yet-emotional western that would become Hart’s stock-in-trade. Hart also directed.
Continue reading “Bad Buck of Santa Ynez (1915) A Silent Film Review”
Buster Keaton delivers a slice of demented wackiness in this snow-bound comedy. Keaton is a lusty would-be bandit with a large dose of William S. Hart mannerisms. It’s definitely one of his darker short films and is interesting in its own right but, as usual, the story behind the scenes is just as fascinating.
Continue reading “The Frozen North (1922) A Silent Film Review”
William S. Hart is back in the saddle with one of his most villainous roles. He plays a bandit betrayed by his own lieutenant and out for revenge. We have holdups, posses and plenty of brooding between the action scenes. In short, a Hart film.
Continue reading “The Toll Gate (1920) A Silent Film Review”
My third video review! William S. Hart’s apocalyptic western is considered a classic of the genre. It features a suspenseful build-up, a fiery climax and an 18-year old John Gilbert in a supporting role. I recommend checking it out even if you are not an enormous fan of westerns. I think you will be surprised at its grit and raw power.
William S. Hart hangs up his cowboy hat in this cops-and-robbers tale of post-War San Francisco. Hart is a veteran and ex-crook who comes back from his doughboy stint a changed man. The robber is now a cop and he is forced to investigate his old friends and his own family. Good enough but no classic. Worth it for vintage footage of San Francisco.
If it were a dessert it would be:
Rocky Road Ice Cream. You got your cool stuff, your dark stuff and your fun stuff. An old hat but welcome all the same.
Read my full-length review.
I enjoyed True Grit as a book and I loved the 2010 adaptation. The ‘teens were a golden time for the western film and so I decided to work with the year 1917 in mind.
A new preacher arrives at the sinningest town West of the Pecos. William S. Hart is a gunfighter with a homicidal streak determined to run said preacher out of town. One snag: The preacher’s pretty sister. Hart finds humanity and love but that doesn’t stop him from using his gunfighting skills one last time to set the entire town ablaze. One of Hart’s best good-bad men and a splendidly apocalyptic Victorian throwback.
Mr. Hart burns the sinning down to the ground and departs with his lady love. It’s pretty amazing.
If it were a dessert it would be:
Jack Daniel’s Fudge. Old-fashioned and intense with a kick at the end.
Availability: Released on DVD.
Read my full review.
This is how the (movie) west was won!
William S. Hart was one of the most popular western stars of the silent era. Though his films have a low loss rate, relatively few of them are available on home media. This book is valuable because it is the closest we may ever get to some of Hart’s more obscure titles. It also happens to be the gold standard in the “complete films of” book genre.
Gertrude Claire is ready to take on William S. Hart, who plays her son. His crime? Becoming a cop instead of a decent everyday crook. I love this lady!
William S. Hart trades his Stetson for a blue policeman’s hat in this gangland drama. Hart is a safecracker-turned-cop who finds himself at odds with his larcenous family and targeted by a former business partner. But, as we all know, Hart is not someone to be trifled with.
Continue reading “The Cradle of Courage (1920) A Silent Film Review”
