Review of Hell's Hinges

Completed during Progressive era of the mid 1910s, this 1916 silent era film was made for the film audiences of the time, in a strong attempt to teach them, the dangers of the church-less social anarchism. In their view, the dangers of foreign anarchists, were so-close to home that writer, C. Gardner Sullivan had to make a morality tale about the vulnerabilities of having a stateless society. After all, World War 1 (1914-1918) was caused by an anarchist assassin, and the Red Scare of 1919–20 were a few years ahead, was caused by the aftermath of 1919 United States anarchist bombings. So it makes sense for, director Charles Swickard, to make a film like this. Set in the fictional Wild West town of Hell's Hinges, a good minded, woman named Faith Henley (Clara Williams), tries hard to reform local tough outlaw, Blaze Tracy (William S. Hart) as a last ditch attempt to save her wild and debauched frontier town. However, her weak-willed minister brother, Rev. Bob Henley (Jack Standing) & a local saloon owner, Silk Miller (Alfred Hollingsworth), think otherwise, causing trouble and encourage the local rowdies to disrupt the attempts to evangelize the community. Without spoiling the movie, too much, this movie does seem a bit heavy-handed and preachy with its religious message. Added to the fact that the film is so grim and somber, that it made for a very hard watch for any modern viewer. Still, this moral retribution film, does have good things about the dark mood. Sepia, blue and red tainting are used to convey the atmosphere of different scenes. It really gave the movie, its unique look. That cinematography style is quite innovative for the time, when you think about it. Not only that, the film does make a good use of the close-up, long shot, panning, and continuity editing. One notably shot is the wide shot with extended panning to follow a stage coach travelling in the hills. Because of camera angles like that, this movie has some really entertaining shots. Most of it, comes with the intense action scenes. Made before the Hay Codes, ever existed. The violence throughout this film really made this film more gritty and rugged than other westerns at the time. They really did burn down most of the Wild West set, toward the end of the film. I also like how the main lead, is an interesting complex main character. Yes, maybe the character's transformation of Blaze Tracy came too abrupt in the beginning, Hart himself is quite effective in the role, despite that his character wasn't so reluctantly. Fascinated by the Old West, this role was made for William S. Hart. Not only did he acquired Billy the Kid's "six shooters" and was a friend of legendary lawmen Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. He live the Wild West lifestyle, for years, before entering the film industry in 1914 where, he played supporting roles. Hart was particularly interested in making realistic western films. His films are noted for their authentic costumes and props, as well as Hart's acting ability, honed on Shakespearean theater stages in the United States and England. Because of this, I'm glad to see that this movie still existed for this long, when a total of 70% of American silent feature films are believed to be completely lost. This is one of the earlier known realistic silent western out there. However, the film is quite unidimensional, when it comes to supporting characters. Since, most silent film actors emphasized body language and facial expression so that the audience could better understand what an actor was feeling and portraying on screen. Much silent film acting is apt to strike modern-day audiences as simplistic or campy. There is no bigger laughable performance than Jack Standing as Rev. Bob Henley. His acting as a drunk alcoholism, was a bit hilarious, than tragic. I really didn't feel much, about him. Another actor that seem a bit off is Clara Williams. Still, she's not awful, like other critics make her out to be. Yes, she doesn't have the good looks, but she does plays the motherly role, well. However, I don't really see her, as a love-interest or a morality saint. I find her quest to sudden transformation of Blaze from bad to good as unrealistic, because she barely did anything to force that on Blaze. Another thing, that was a bit jarring about the film is the racist stereotypes when it comes portraying Mexicans. Since, the original producers, fail to renew the film's copyright. It resulted, with the film, falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of 'Hells Hinges'. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely or badly edited. Since many of them, come from extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation copies. Don't count on the audio and film footage to be good. Not only that, but it had a lot of scratches, and discoloring in the film footage. Overall: Despite that, Hell's Hinges is preserved in the archives of the National Film Registry as culturally significant. It's a must-watch for anybody who is a western fan and anybody who like silent era films. So check it out, if you want.