Hell's Hinges. 1916. Directed by William S. Hart and Charles Swickard.

(11/14/99)

This is a powerful, fascinating film. It is an archetypal story of a battle of good and evil. It's also a story of a "descent into the underworld." I found it interesting, formally, that the town, "Hell's Hinges" is divided among two groups of people, the "good" people and the "bad" people, and one important figure from each side changes sides. The minister and the outlaw balance each other out.

William S. Hart is wonderful. He has a fantastic presence, a dignity of bearing. The scene in which he first sees Clara Williams and starts to question his life is a great moment. The film is very old-fashioned in the idea of a man being redeemed through his love for a woman, but it carries its conventions proudly. Here, there seems to be an almost mystical bond between the two when she is praying and he, I think outside of hearing distance, makes the decision to join the good people.

The men in the film are dominated by the women. The young man became a minister, a role he was completely unsuited for, to please his mother and sister. I get the feeling that Hart, a powerful and authorotative man, really doesn't think very much for himself, but takes on the values of the woman he loves. This is just an issue that I'm particularly sensitive to.
The final conflagration in which the town is burnt to the ground is an amazing climax, but I think it came off better in conception than in execution. (That may be because I was tired.) I wonder how William S. Hart's actions fitted in with the Christian love he was supposedly learning, though I think what he did was totally justified.

The burning of the town was symbolic, of course, but I somehow wish that the picture of the town as a locus of evil or microcosm opf Hell had been painted a little more starkly. But that might not have been possible without slowing the film down too much.

Some of the written titles were a little too arch for my taste. All in all, I enjoyed the old-fashioned feel of Hell's Hinges, but some of the titles did grate on me a little.