Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

romanorum1 In 1914 William S. Hart came to Hollywood when he was a mature 49 year-old man. Born during the American Civil War, he knew the real West, as he had lived in the Dakota Territory in the 1880s. Tall and stern-faced, but also round-shouldered, Hart knew Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. Hart and Tom Mix were the greatest heroes of the silent screen westerns. "Hell's Hinges" is a western movie with a religious message: moral retribution. Robert Henley (Jack Standing), unfit (weak and selfish), was coerced by his forceful mother to become a clergyman. The church elder parsons, aware of Henley's misgivings, arrange to send him to a parish in a western prairie ("where the people live simply and close to God") to free him from the temptations of a large eastern city. Henley arrives at the dusty western hamlet of Placers Center (Hell's Hinges) with his strong-willed sister Faith (Clara Williams). Hell's Hinges is lawless; the title card describes it as "a gun-fighting, man- killing, devil's den of iniquity." Saloon owner "Silk" Miller (Alfred Hollingsworth) and gunfighter "Blaze" Tracey (Hart) are quite different in character but have one thing in common: law and religion do not exist for them. Two-gun Tracey's philosophy is "Shoot first and do your disputin' afterward." But when he gets his first look at the pure Faith, he is smitten and instantaneously transforms into a moralist. What does Tracey see in that diminutive and plain woman, one may ask? Anyway, the saloon crowd – drunks, bullies, and wild women – threaten the church-going families (called "The Petticoat Brigade") when they hold their first services in Taylor's barn. Tracey springs into action and says that he will not tolerate anyone interfering with the religious folk. He even assists in erecting a new church building. This change does not sit well with Silk.Pretending to be friendly with Parson Henley, Silk invites him over to his place to preach to the saloon girls (prostitutes). But after several meetings the weakling parson is duped by Dolly (Louise Glaum), who gets him to drink booze, after which she seduces him one night. Henley continues to drink so much that he is unable to conduct the morning services. Blaze has ridden to the next town to fetch the doctor. Notice that whenever Silk goes anywhere, he is often followed by his saloon entourage. When Henley somewhat revives, he staggers over to the saloon where the throng gives him more liquor. When the drunken and rowdy men and women of the saloon decide to torch the church, Henley helps them. But in a raucous gunfight the drunken parson is killed. The outnumbered churchgoers fight back, but are unable to stop the destruction of their new church building. Dead bodies are strewn everywhere, and only a few of the original congregation survives. When Tracey returns he becomes outraged. After shooting Silk and a supporter, he proceeds to burn down the whole town, which is comprised of wooden structures. Townsfolk scatter in every direction. After burying Henley, Blaze tells Faith, "Over Yonder hills is the future – both yours and mine." Blaze has reformed from a gunslinger to a respectable person of faith.There is plenty of symbolism. For instance the burning town represents the inferno (hell), Silk is obviously evil, the saloon crowd is the fallen, Blaze is redemption, and Faith is goodness. The flight of the congregation into the surrounding desert reminds one of the Israelites three thousand years ago. The popular Hart acts with his stone-face and a few gestures; he was a trained stage performer. Note the scene at the 50:30 mark, where Blaze rides on the ridge around the low crater and his horse takes a tumble. Hart (or his double) and his steed topple partway down the hill. Quickly brushing off a fall that could have had a serious consequence, Hart remounts and continues his ride towards the doomed town. Future silent screen star John Gilbert can be seen at the 12:16 mark laughing at Blaze's jest (he's on the right with a white hat and scarf). He is also easily spotted elsewhere throughout the film. The feature is preserved in the archives of the National Film Registry as culturally significant.

Michael Morrison Just a few intertitles into "Hell's Hinges," I said, That must be by Gardner Sullivan. I stopped the movie -- which I was watching at YouTube.com -- and came to IMDb to see the credits: Sure enough, C. Gardner Sullivan wrote the story and the screenplay.Mr. Sullivan produced some of the most poetic intertitles in all of silent Hollywood, and went on to write some talkie screenplays, too.His prose coupled with the drama of the story and the acting of William S. Hart and a talented large cast and with the excellent directing of Charles Swickard as well as Mr. Hart and Clifford Smith make "Hell's Hinges" one of the most gripping of silent westerns.It is, in fact, so classic and so iconic that the great Jon Tuska included it in his PBS series, "They Went Thataway."That TV show was probably my introduction to William S. Hart, and when I moved to Los Angeles, one of my first missions was to find the (now defunct) Silent Movie Theatre, run by the lamented John Hampton and his wife, and beg for William S. Hart movies.Alas, the Theatre never showed any, but I was able to rent "Tumbleweeds" in a 16 mm. format to project in my tiny living room. (It's also available at YouTube and I urge you to see it.)I have been a Hart fan really since Jon Tuska's introduction, and my admiration has only grown with each Hart movie viewing."Hell's Hinges" is almost 100 years old at this writing, 21 August 2015, and it holds up extremely well, although I do recommend the "A cinema history" print at YouTube rather than another, which plays some Beethoven piano reductions as the music score, which is, of course, beautiful but really not appropriate.Also, the print by "A cinema history" is clear and crisp.Hart looked young and even chubby-faced, especially as compared to his craggier later looks, as in, for example, "Tumbleweeds." A trained stage actor, he was always able to portray his needed emotion or thought or action beautifully for the camera, and one can just look at him and realize why an entire town would be cowed.When you watch this, do remember the context: It was produced in 1916, and styles of acting and writing were different. Not worse, in fact in lots of ways better, but decidedly different, so remember context.Frankly, I LOVED "Hell's Hinges," and am so grateful to YouTube and "A cinema history" for posting this excellent movie and allowing me to watch it, and watch it again in the future.

Michael_Elliott Hell's Hinges (1916) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Historic Western has William S. Hart playing "Blaze" Tracy, a notorious gunfighter who is evil pure through until he meets a young woman (Clara Williams) arriving in town with her Reverend brother (Jack Standing). Blaze is immediately attracted to the woman and soon he begins to have thoughts about changing his ways but the bad folks in town are trying to turn the Reverend into one of them. This is a pretty strong little movie even if it barely runs an hour and spends way too much of that time on top of a soap box. I was really impressed with what this film had to offer and I think it's fair to say that it deserves every bit of its reputation and status of being one of the first classics from the genre. The film is about good versus evil and religious versus non-religious and there's no question what side the film is on. I think the film spends too much time preaching to us but this is a small problem and one that isn't overly distracting. With that said, the film contains some very memorable shots including the first look at the town known as Hell's Hinges. I love the high shot overlooking the town where we get a good look at all the evils going on within this short take. The scene will take your breathe away as it's such a terrific shot and it lets you know everything you need to know about this place. We also get another terrific shot towards the end of the movie when the church is attacked and we get to see it's aftermath. Hart is terrific in his role and he does very good job at showing off the evils of his character but the actor also makes us believe his changing. I think the change happens too fast but there's no question Hart owns this role and really makes it a memorable character. Williams and Standing are also very good as is Alfred Hollingsworth in his role. Jean Hersholt is somewhere in the film but unspotted by myself as is John Gilbert in his first screen appearance. Apparently Hart directed the majority of the film even though he doesn't get credit for it and I must say that the entire film is quite an impressive achievement even if it doesn't run as long as some of the films were starting to do at the time. The movie contains some memorable characters, some terrific shots and a rather rousing ending and all of this makes it a must see.

Snow Leopard The grim, somber tone of this Western does not at all keep it from being a watchable and interesting feature. William S. Hart's screen presence is put to very good use, and the tension is built up steadily. The atmosphere is effective, and along with the story, it is interesting in its contrast with the usual expectations of the genre.Hart is well-cast as the stoical gunslinger who becomes fascinated by the purity of a preacher's sister. The character's transformation might be a little too abrupt, and it might have been an even better movie if 'Blaze' had changed more reluctantly, but Hart himself is quite effective in the role. Jack Standing also does a good job as the weak-willed preacher whose folly leads to so much havoc.The story is quite moralistic in its way, but it is nevertheless pretty interesting. The conflicts and tensions are of a much different nature than westerns usually feature, and the tone is unrelentingly serious and foreboding. Things are built up carefully into a harrowing finale that is filmed with a lot of detail.Features like this show why Hart rose to such popularity. His persona seems to have been a good one for the times, and his strengths as an actor show up well in silent cinema.