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Voidsville Follies

Works by Joseph H. August (4)

Hell's Hinges

Charles Swickard (director)
Joseph H. August (cinematographer)
C. Gardner Sullivan (writer)
William S. Hart (lead)
Clara Williams (lead)
Jack Standing (lead)
Alfred Hollingsworth (lead)
Louise Glaum (lead)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Mar 1916
Minutes: 64

Even though this again features Hart as an outlaw gone soft-headed for a dame, it immediately reveals itself as unique because it does not open with Hart's cowboy, and more than ten minutes go by before he finally appears. Instead, the film begins with detailed depiction of the story's primary movers, that the cowboy will find himself forced to deal with. A finely crafted Wild West Sodom and Gomorrah tale - despite its annoying pompous titles and their spoilers.

Featured elements:

: action; agent of discontent; alienation; animal act; antihero; baptism of fire; boozy-woozy; cowboys; displaced persons; ethnic stereotype; family; femme fatale; heroic defender; manipulator; melodrama; pathos; persecution; redemption; religion; revenge; treachery; vigilante

The Return Of Draw Egan

William S. Hart (director/lead)
Joseph H. August (cinematographer)
C. Gardner Sullivan (writer)
Margery Wilson (lead)
Robert McKim (lead)
Louise Glaum (lead)
J.P. Lockney (lead)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Oct 1916
Minutes: 51

Well, if yer a-hankerin' to see some good ol' boys havin' theyselves a heap a gunfightin' fun, I reckon thars 'nuff bad-ass shootouts, standoffs, stare-downs, trash-talkin', and greaser-bashin' here to tickle your fancy. But dang it, reading all them titles written in this hokey dime novel hick cowboy lingo leaves a soul plum tuckered out!

Featured elements:

: alter ego; antihero; cowboys; fighting; heroic defender; manipulator; melodrama; redemption; religion

Wolf Lowry

William S. Hart (director/lead)
Joseph H. August (cinematographer)
Lambert Hillyer (writer)
Margery Wilson (lead)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in May 1917
Minutes: 51

Yes, once again Hart plays a cowboy who is changed when he falls for a woman. But, from that point, this story rides off on a different trail. For starters, he's the big boss instead of an outlaw - a meanspirited bully. And, even though the cowboy sees only goodness in the woman, viewers may wonder what is really behind her amused looks and questionable judgment. In short, this stretches away from the predictable film fables, offering more of the depth and ambiguity encountered in everyday life.

Featured elements:

: abuse; alienation; antihero; comedy; cowboys; displaced persons; heroic defender; identity mix-up; lynching; manipulator; melodrama; redemption; rescue; revenge; romance; servitude; slapstick; torture; treachery; unemployment; unrequited love; white supremacy

The Silent Man

William S. Hart (director/lead)
Joseph H. August (cinematographer)
Charles Kenyon (writer)
Vola Vale (lead)
Robert McKim (lead)
J.P. Lockney (lead)
Dorcas Matthews (lead)
George Nichols (lead)
Harold Goodwin (lead)

Language: Silent, English titles, released in Nov 1917
Minutes: 47

Surprise: this drops Hart's standard cowboy-changed-by-a-woman formula. Bigger surprise: it's a total mess...

52 words of highfalutin prose on 3 title cards in the first 40 seconds to describe...nothing: Gee, the desert is awfully empty!
It gets worse. From the 90-second mark until 3 minutes in, there's never more than 6 seconds between title cards. Since the title cards are onscreen 5-9 seconds, most of time is spent reading, not viewing. The barrage of titles doesn't slow to a more reasonable pace until 5-6 minutes in.
But just when the titles let up, the action on screen in this video gets hopelessly muddled: the hero fights the villain, tries to escape, but somehow ends up out cold on the floor. The next time we see him, a fortnight later, he is followed by a man with a rifle who tells him: “You're turned loose, stranger,” - apparently, he's been jailed but we're not told why.
The hero's version of later events doesn't seem to agree with what is shown on screen.
When the hero next encounters the villain, he gets his revenge by forcing him to...do something that seems pointless and of no benefit.
Both the heroine's-little-brother subplot and the parson's-church subplot are never made to feel relevant - and are never shown to be resolved.
Worse of all, the resolution of the main conflict, between hero and villain, is the worst kind of script cop-out.

And then there is the biggest unresolved mystery: why is the hero called “Silent” when he is no more silent than anyone else in this silent film?

Featured elements:

: corruption; courtroom; cowboys; falsely accused; flashback; gambling; heroic defender; kiddie act; lynching; male bonding; manipulator; melodrama; redemption; religion; revenge; swindling; undercover agent

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