The Silver Screen Oasis

I watched "Hell's Hinges" on tape the other day. I have seen "Tumbleweeds" a long time ago. What William S. Hart films have you seen, and what do you think of him?

"Hell's Hinges" was interesting (for social reasons) but something of a disappointment. I like Ford's "Three Bad Men" a lot, but I even liked "The Covered Wagon" better than this. This film let the title cards carry too much of the plot, and the action scenes were badly staged. (In a couple of shootouts, I couldn't tell where the main bad guy was.)

I've heard Hart compared to Randolph Scott, but to me he looked like Fess Parker.

It interested me that in "Hell's Hinges" the anti-saloon people were taken seriously. Usually, they are spoofed (either affectionately or not) and sometimes shot (The Wild Bunch.) Perhaps this was because "Hell's Hinges" was made in 1916 before Prohibition. (Isn't it odd to think of a movie being made before Prohibition?)

My father used to talk about his favorite boyhood movies -- those of Tom Mix and William S. Hart. I've seen the work of neither of these early western stars. I wasn't even aware that any of Hart's films still exist. I think I'd be almost afraid to see them today, fearing they might seem anticlimactic. I doubt they could live up to the visions conjured by my father's tales. But still, I'm curious...

"Hell's Hinges" can be rented on VHS from Facets. I saw "Tumbleweeds" on 16 mm in the early Eighties, and shortly after that Case Western Reserve University showed 35mm prints of "Tumbleweeds" and Tom Mix's "Just Tony."

So they are still around, you just have to dig.

I hope "The Toll Gate," starring William S. Hart, is around someplace. It is also considered one of his best. I think it was directed by Lambert Hillayer, who ended up directing "Dracula's Daughter" in 1936.

William S. Hart:

I vaguely recall his movies from when I was a child when they were on TV but he was never one I liked a lot. If you remember my thread a couple of months ago about 'Golden Saddles and Silver Spurs', if you get a chance to catch it on the Western Channel, they devote about 10 minutes to him. Apparently at the end of his last film, he did a kind of farewell to the troops monologue which is held in high esteem by old timers.

Anne

His last movie was "Tumbleweeds," and when it was re-released in the 1930s, he gave a little farewell speech that was filmed for it.

I remember from William K. Everson's book on the Western that Hart became something of a grump about Westerns. He complained about "Stagecoach" that the Indians should have shot the horses and ended the film right then.

I also read that Gene Autry thought all of Hart's films were boring.

William S Hart owned a ranch up in Newhall, California (Newhall is next door to Valancia where Magic Mountain is). Newhall is about 45 minutes up the 5 freeway from Los Angeles.

Anyways, his ranch has been turned into a park and docents do tours of the house and outbuildings.

So, the next time you find yourself in that part of the Southern California, be sure to check it out!