Cinevent Notes: THE DISCIPLE (1915)

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Richard M Roberts
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Cinevent Notes: THE DISCIPLE (1915)

Postby Richard M Roberts » Sat May 18, 2013 2:44 am

Todays Cinevent Note is for the 1915 William S. Hart Feature THE DISCIPLE:


THE DISCIPLE was William S. Hart’s fourth feature-length film and his first under Producer Thomas H. Ince for the newly formed Triangle Film Corporation that developed from the consolidation of the New York Motion Picture Company and that firm’s three major filmmakers, Ince, Mack Sennett and D. W. Griffith. Triangle at its formation was a powerhouse of top talent in the current industry and planned to demand top exhibitor dollar for its product, no one could have predicted that within two years all of its creative triumvirate would have flown the coop and left Triangle in a disarray of bankruptcy and lawsuits.

For Hart, this new company meant farewell to the two-reelers he had been grinding out for Ince under the NYMPC’s Kay-Bee Brand, and permanent feature stardom for the rest of his career. THE DISCIPLE features a new twist on what was already becoming a Bill Hart cliché’, here he plays a “Bad-Good Man” rather than a “Good-Bad Man”, in the role of Jim Houston, the “Shootin’ Irons Parson” who arrives in the Frontier Burg of Barren Gulch to clean up the morals of the town, whether they like it or not. However, Jim’s Wife (Dorothy Dalton) is of “weak character”, and she succumbs to the dubious charms of Gambler and Saloon Keeper “Doc” Hardy (Robert McKim) and runs away with him, leaving Jim Houston to raise the couples baby daughter (Thelma Salter). Forsaking his parsonage, Houston vows revenge on his Wife and Hardy, and like a good survivalist heads for the hills with his little girl.

William S. Hart had already been directing his short films and his previous feature, THE DARKENING TRAIL, for nearly a year when he made THE DISCIPLE, and Bill would handle the reins on nearly all of his Triangle Features. Hart was a very good Director, his films are not only beautifully shot, mainly by Joseph August, later one of John Ford’s best Cinematographers, but also have good character detail, and handling of the other actors. It’s a real pity that Hart is seldom mentioned in the same breath as other pioneer film directors, his work at it’s best is certainly on par with his contemporaries like Griffith and Demille, but Hart is neglected in general these days. It’s a crime that there hasn’t been a comprehensive DVD set of his films released, especially considering how many of them survive in original negative materials.

It’s ironic that two of the Movies first and best Western Heroes, William S. Hart and Harry Carey, both started out as East Coast Stage Actors, but these credentials can be deceiving. Born in Newburgh, New York, on December 6, 1865, Hart spent much of his youth travelling the Mid-West with his Father, who installed Grist-Mill Machinery, and the rest of his Family. The Mid-West was still a rural frontier in those days (remember you GUNSMOKE fans, Dodge City was in Kansas City), and young Bill Hart saw his fare share of real western life, even growing up playing with the children of Minneconjou and Sioux Indians as well as the few homesteaders living in the tiny river settlements near the Mill-Sites his Family travelled to in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Upon his Family’s return to Upstate New York, Hart received a formal education in the Public Schools, and was quite an athlete in his teenage years. At eighteen, he persued an acting career on the stage, becoming well-versed in Shakespeare and other classical drama, and he originated the role of Mesalla in the original stage production of Lew Wallace’s BEN-HUR in 1899. His career began to falter in the early 1900’s, until he found himself cast in the role of the villain Cash Hawkins in William Faversham’s 1905 production of THE SQUAW MAN, where Hart’s early-learned knowledge of western lore also made him valuable as a technical advisor to the mainly-British cast.

THE SQUAW MAN played Broadway for nearly two years, finally closing in 1907. Hart’s success in it allowed him to follow the departing Dustin Farnum in the part of THE VIRGINIAN in 1908, and the following year he played the role of Gambler-Badman Dan Stark in the Rex Beach melodrama THE BARRIER. He now had developed a reputation as a western stage actor, and toured the Country and played Broadway in a number of cowboy roles. The Movies beckoned when Thomas H. Ince, an old fellow trouper and roommate from the road invited Hart out to Santa Ynez Canyon in California during the summer of 1914 to try his hand at picturemaking. Bill made a couple of two-reelers for Ince, but pushed for something bigger and Ince took a chance, putting Hart into the six-reel feature THE BARGAIN, released by Paramount in December, 1914.

THE BARGAIN was a big hit, and Ince allowed Hart to begin directing his own western short films. BY the release of Hart’s second feature, ON THE NIGHT’S STAGE in September, 1915, Hart was a popular western star, toppling Broncho Billy Anderson from the number one spot in that category as Ince moved him permanently into feature films. Hart would remain the top western star throughout the rest of the teens, gradually making way for Tom Mix and Hoot Gibson’s more action-oriented, light-hearted style of western filmmaking in the early 20’s. Having followed Ince to Paramount in 1917, and becoming his own Producer in 1920, Hart found his serious, more realistic approach to western s becoming old hat with the public as the 20’s progressed, and called it a day after releasing his final western, TUMBLEWEEDS, through United Artists in 1925, retiring to his Ranch in Newhall, California (now a State Park), where he remained in contact with the Hollywood scene, and became a beloved member of his own Newhall Community. He made only one sound film appearance, filming a moving introduction to a 1939 reissue of TUMBLEWEEDS where, in a voice that still belied his Shakespearian stage training, he affectionately and dramatically recalled the days of making silent film westerns. Living to a ripe old age, William S. Hart passed away in 1946.



RICHARD M ROBERTS

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