Directed by Lambert Hillyer
Starring William S. Hart, Jane Novak, Robert McKim
Olive Films has announced the January release of the 1919 William S. Hart picture Wagon Tracks. Mastered from an original 35mm nitrate print preserved by the Library of Congress, it should be quite a thing.
I grew up watching 8mm Blackhawk prints of Hart’s movies, and I love them all. Can’t wait to see this one again.
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William S. Hart was of course the hero to one of my heroes, Wild Bill Elliott, who fashioned a number of his latter-day portrayals on Hart’s ‘good badman persona’.
I have only ever seen one of Hart’s films – “THE TESTING BLOCK” (1920) at London’s National Film Theatre around 40 years ago. Loved it.
This is pretty exciting news, Toby!
The Hart pictures are terrific. Hell’s Hinges (1916) is incredible.
This introduction, to a re-release of Hart’s TUMBLEWEEEDS, popularized the expression: “The Thrill Of It All”, to describe the love of movies, for audiences and moviemakers.
That hat removal move Hart uses shows up, in the TV series Kung Fu, used by ‘Caine’. David Carradine or one of the directors must have been a Hart fan.
Thanks for offering up that link. Every time I see it, I get a lump in my throat. Hart always had the coolest hats — and that huge bandana.
One of the things that always struck me about Hart — that I’d emulate when playing cowboys and Indians, was the way he held his pistols. No one else held their guns that way.
The actors who I thought had distinctive gun handling styles include: Clayton Moore, Robert Stack, Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, Hugh O’Brien, and Robert Horton.
In watching Horton in A Man called Shenandoah he wears his gun belt high like a policeman, instead of the usual low slung style.
The Hart speech is very moving and expresses what I like about westerns, that they are exciting, fun, and thrilling.
This is indeed good news — I’m a huge WSH fan!
It’s so cool to see WS Hart create this kinda interest.
Germany’s Koch Media show no sign of let up in 2017.
Coming in February is Nick Ray’s very fine
THE TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES making it’s Worldwide Blu Ray debut.
Also on DVD is SHOWDOWN IN ABILENE,out elsewhere in Europe but the
Koch version has far superior packaging and graphics.
Watched Hell’s Hinges last year and loved it! One of the few silent westerns I’ve seen, eager to see more Hart.
I’ve certainly heard of Hart, but never saw any of his movies. If I’m watching silent it’s more likely to be comedy shorts by Laurel & Hardy and Charley Chase. But anytime I hear about films 100 years old and more still available I’m, of course happy, but also maddened when thinking that Roy Rogers movies from the early 1950’s seem to be lost to time. If 100 year old films aren’t lost to time how can a 1950 movie be lost to time?
Sorry, didn’t mean to bring discussion to a halt. Please continue. About the earliest westerns I’ve seen are Harry Carey Sr.’s westerns. He was also good with Bill Elliott in Elliott’s early ones.
I just adore William S. Hart — I really go for that kind of heartfelt sentiment, with the bad guy reforming for the good woman thing. 🙂 I highly recommend The Tollgate (my first-ever DVD purchase because David Shepard did not release it on laser disc, so I had to make the switch), with the hilarious Mack Sennett parody short His Bitter Pill as an after-dinner mint. 🙂 For those of you who get out to California (or live there), I highly recommend a trek out to Newhall (about an hour outside Los Angeles) to visit the William S. Hart Ranch and Museum. You can take a guided tour of Hart’s beautiful home and its grounds, which is now a very active museum with many activities and film screenings. http://www.hartmuseum.org/