Hell's Hinges

The silent western has a lot going against it. As a western, the plot is grounded in an exaggerated human experience heightened by a minimised physical environment. The silent film too has to exaggerate the experience, not only in the mannerisms of the actors, but in the setting and props as well. No wonder so many silent westerns are seen as inflated and risibly tiresome.

Add a third problem: the religious experience. This too is often exaggerated because of how profoundly inward the process is. So we have a scene with Hart cleaned up, hair combed back, nodding his head as he reads the Bible. Avoidable? Probably, Demille would have been a better candidate. But we can still admire how free of convention the film is in its structure and methods, something Hart would pursue in his more worthwhile works.

3 out of 5 - Some strong elements

There is a strong Christian content to the movie that most future westerns would not bring up (at least not like this). The main character, Blaze Tracy, goes from being the toughest, meanest guy in town to a defender of the Christian faith, although in a very individual way, i.e. no church affiliation. The plot centers greatly around faith and lack of faith. The events can be spiritually interpreted in a number of cases. This movie is no simple western.

Though a silent picture, this movie had a huge influence on Westerns after it. It reveals several characters which exist in almost any good Western: the hooker with the heart of gold, the tough cowboy, the religious, weak dude, the petticoat brigade, and the redemptive woman. Though not a great Western, it was exceptional for its time and extremely revolutionary. It's definitely a must-see for anyone studying the Western.

Hell's Hinges is an early silent William S. Hart Western that sees Hart co-direct himself with Charles Swickard. He stars as Blaze Tracy, a gun-slinger who falls for a pastor's sister (Clara Williams) when she and her inadequate brother arrive in Hell's Hinges to preach the gospel. Once he catches her eye, this town will never be the same again.

"Shoot first and do your disputin afterwards"

Although a touch too heavy on the religious moral retribution angle, where the good-badman has his epiphany and the town of Hell's Hinges becomes a battle of the church against, well, this devil's den of iniquity, Hell's Hinges flies by. Acted superbly by Hart, a one time stage performer who was a hugely popular silent star of the time, film is full of action, often violent and closes down with a memorable bang. Jack Standing is suitably shifty as the hopeless parson (by parental pressure) easily led astray, and Williams provides some much needed emotional thrust when the film veers to being over preachy. 7/10

Fascinating silent western about a gunslinger who is reformed by the love of a woman newly arrived in the lawless and Godless town of Hell's Hinges with her weak-willed brother, the town's new preacher. William S. Hart directs and stars as the gunslinger, Blaze Tracy. An appropriate name for his character given the fiery climax of the film, which is a little reminiscent of the western High Plains Drifter made many decades later. A really good movie made during Hollywood's infancy. One of the first westerns to show what the genre could be capable of. Well-paced with fine performances from Hart and the rest of the cast. If I had one complaint, it's that there are a lot of intertitles with a lot of text to read. A minor complaint, really. The film holds up very well today, despite its age. Man, over a century old. Crazy.