I have to admit that I do not quite understand why "Hell's Hinges" is held in such high regard. It is by no means bad and has certainly a few things going for it: Given that movies were still in their infancy when this was produced, it is made very professionally (it helps that hundred years on, the movie is still in a much better condition than many of its contemporaries). The sets are elaborate, there are a lot of crowd scenes that are choreographed to a high degree of sophistication and William S Hart delivers his usual, highly charismatic performance. The fire scenes towards the end of the movie are particularly worth mentioning. The atmosphere of panic and the blaze of the fire are very palpable.
However, in my opinion, this cannot fully compensate for a thin plot, even for those times. If you know that the story is about a bad hombre who suddenly turned good after his eyes fell on the pious sister of a preacherman, you practically know everything. No character has any depth, there is nothing that makes the sudden conversion of Hart's character credible. In fact, there isn't really any conversion, as we are merely told at the beginning that he is 'a man-killer whose philosophy of life is summed up in the creed "Shoot first and do your disputin' afterwards"' - but on screen, the worst thing he does is having a drink in the saloon. So the potentially most interesting thread of the story goes completely to waste. The fall of Jack Standing's Reverend is just as incomprehensible. (Being a weak character is one thing, completely abandoning every shred of respectability within about 10 minutes of arriving in the town, especially as your life more or less depends on it, is quite another). The love interest (Clara Williams) stands in various corners and looks piously on while events are unfolding - we learn practically nothing about her. And to top it all off, after the lead character has been fully converted from evil gun slinger to good man, he decides to burn down a whole town in revenge. A true Christian ! Even for those times, there are plenty of movies who do a much better job in storytelling than this one (Hart's earlier vehicle "The Bargain", shot two years earlier, for a start). Five stars for the technical achievements and production values, plus two for Hart's charisma and performance, not much else here.
However, in my opinion, this cannot fully compensate for a thin plot, even for those times. If you know that the story is about a bad hombre who suddenly turned good after his eyes fell on the pious sister of a preacherman, you practically know everything. No character has any depth, there is nothing that makes the sudden conversion of Hart's character credible. In fact, there isn't really any conversion, as we are merely told at the beginning that he is 'a man-killer whose philosophy of life is summed up in the creed "Shoot first and do your disputin' afterwards"' - but on screen, the worst thing he does is having a drink in the saloon. So the potentially most interesting thread of the story goes completely to waste. The fall of Jack Standing's Reverend is just as incomprehensible. (Being a weak character is one thing, completely abandoning every shred of respectability within about 10 minutes of arriving in the town, especially as your life more or less depends on it, is quite another). The love interest (Clara Williams) stands in various corners and looks piously on while events are unfolding - we learn practically nothing about her. And to top it all off, after the lead character has been fully converted from evil gun slinger to good man, he decides to burn down a whole town in revenge. A true Christian ! Even for those times, there are plenty of movies who do a much better job in storytelling than this one (Hart's earlier vehicle "The Bargain", shot two years earlier, for a start). Five stars for the technical achievements and production values, plus two for Hart's charisma and performance, not much else here.