PodBill Just what I expected

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

utgard14 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.

CJBx7 A weak-willed parson and his pious sister are sent to the town of Placer Center, known far and wide as Hell's Hinges for its immorality. There, Blaze Tracy a local gunfighter (William S Hart) is won over to belief by the sister's sincerity. A battle of wills ensues between the faithful churchgoers and the rowdy townspeople, with devastating results. Directed by Charles Swickard, William S. Hart and Clifford Smith.HELL'S HINGES is a more mature, serious brand of Western than many may expect. It examines religious hypocrisy in the form of the weak reverend, easily swayed into debauchery by the townspeople. It also features an anti-hero character in Tracy, who is not the typical affable good guy in white, but a violent, brooding man who is gradually won over to belief. The story is told in a compact, economical fashion, with not a wasted moment in its hour length. Each event in the story drives it to an unforgettable climax, full of action, where the tensions inherent in the story reach a cataclysmic boiling point. The acting is uniformly excellent and naturalistic. Standouts: William S Hart was one of the biggest stars of his time, and he shows why here. Hart has genuine star quality, acting with ease and restraint but also displaying charismatic power in his role. Clara Williams is completely believable in her turn as Faith, the reverent sister of the wayward parson. I was impressed with her work in the previous year's THE Italian, and she impresses again here, displaying conviction and tenderness in equal measure. Jack Standing is also fine as Bob Henley, a young man who was goaded into the ministry by his mother even though he doesn't have the right character for it. Another standout is Louise Glaum, one of the famous "vamps" of the period, who ably displays her seductive charms as a dance-hall girl who is urged to lead the minister to ruin. She conveys the character effectively without overacting. The cinematography here conveys the barren emptiness and imposing landscapes of the desert. The editing enables the film to move at a comfortable pace. Especially notable is the end, where the tensions between the two factions literally explode into nightmarish frenzy, as the church, then the whole town, is set ablaze. The images in the ending are exquisitely captured, showing the movies' ability to iconize people and images, as the hero and his love walk from the ruins of the town to start a new life. HELL'S HINGES is a memorable, powerful film from the early days of cinema, and merits viewing today. SCORE: 10/10

Spikeopath 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

Cineanalyst "Hell's Hinges" is one of William S. Hart's best Westerns, and it's available today in better condition than most of his others, including some nice tinting. Its religious story, the instantaneous first look at a pure woman transforming bad guy Hart into the good guy are basic to the formula of his Westerns. As fellow commenter metaphor-2 said, much of the power of the film comes from its simplicity. Even the small town, simple as a cheap producer can afford, helps intensify the climax. A town inhabited by evildoers and fittingly called "Hell's Hinges" ends in an inferno. It does well to overcome some of the overly preachy hokum and offensive moments such as the title that says the villain has "the oily craftiness of a Mexican". Hart gives one of his better performances stalking beside fiery blazes, looking to gun down the bad guys. The close-ups help his performance greatly. Pure Hart.