''Hell's Heroes'' is a 1929 American
pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...
, one of many screen adaptations of
Peter B. Kyne
Peter Bernhard Kyne (October 12, 1880 – November 25, 1957) was an American novelist who published between 1904 and 1940. He was born and died in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Many of his works were adapted into screenplays star ...
's 1913 novel ''The Three Godfathers''.
Three outlaws, played by
Charles Bickford
Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' The ...
,
Raymond Hatton
Raymond William Hatton (July 7, 1887 – October 21, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures.
Biography
Hatton was born in Red Oak, Iowa. His physician father steered him toward a career in medicine. Howev ...
, and
Fred Kohler
Fred Kohler (April 20, 1888 – October 28, 1938) was an American actor.
Career
Fred Kohler was born in Kansas City, Missouri or in Dubuque, Iowa. As a teen, he began to pursue a career in vaudeville, but worked other jobs to support himself. ...
, promise a dying woman they will save her newborn child. This film is notable for being the first sound production directed by
William Wyler
William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a Swiss-German-American film director and producer who won the Academy Award for Best Director three times, those being for ''Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), ''The Best Years of O ...
.
Plot
Four men, Bob Sangster, "Barbwire" Gibbons, "Wild Bill" Kearney, and José, rob the bank in the town of New Jerusalem. José and the cashier are killed, while Barbwire is shot in the shoulder. The three outlaws escape the
posse
Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates.
Posse may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Posse'' (1975 ...
, fleeing into the desert. However, their horses run off in a sand storm and they have little water.
When they reach a water hole, they are dismayed to find that not only is it dry, but there is a pregnant woman stranded there. She gives birth to a boy. Before she dies from her ordeal, she makes the three the child's
godfathers and begs them to take him to his father, Frank Edwards ... the cashier they murdered.
Bob wants to abandon the boy, but the other two are determined to honor the woman's request. They start walking the 40 miles to New Jerusalem. Weakened by his wound, Barbwire eventually can go no further. He makes the others continue on without him, then shoots himself. That night, they stop to rest. When Bob wakes up the next morning, he finds Bill gone. A note Bill left explains he went further into the desert to conserve the little remaining water for Bob and the baby. Bob goes on, discarding his belongings along the way, including finally the loot. At one point, he leaves the baby, but then picks him up again. His strength gives out just as he reaches a water hole with a sign warning it is poisoned. Desperate, he comes up with a plan to save the baby. He drinks his fill, knowing that he will have about an hour before it kills him. He stumbles into New Jerusalem's church, where the congregation is celebrating Christmas. Then, his task completed, he dies without uttering a word.
Cast
*
Charles Bickford
Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' The ...
as Bob Sangster
*
Raymond Hatton
Raymond William Hatton (July 7, 1887 – October 21, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures.
Biography
Hatton was born in Red Oak, Iowa. His physician father steered him toward a career in medicine. Howev ...
as Tom Gibbons
*
Fred Kohler
Fred Kohler (April 20, 1888 – October 28, 1938) was an American actor.
Career
Fred Kohler was born in Kansas City, Missouri or in Dubuque, Iowa. As a teen, he began to pursue a career in vaudeville, but worked other jobs to support himself. ...
as Wild Bill Kearney
*
Fritzi Ridgeway
Fredericka Berneice "Fritzi" Ridgeway (April 8, 1898 – March 29, 1961) was an American silent film actress, vaudeville performer, and hotelier. Though she starred in numerous films, she is perhaps best known for her work in silent Western films ...
as Mrs Frank Edwards
* Joe De La Cruz as Jose
*
Walter James
Walter may refer to:
People
* Walter (name), both a surname and a given name
* Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968)
* Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 1 ...
as Sheriff
*
Maria Alba
María del Pilar Margarita Casajuana Martínez (28 December 1905 – 26 October 1999), known professionally as Maria Alba, was a Spanish-American film actress.
Biography
Signed by the Fox Film Corporation after winning Fox Film contest in Spai ...
as Carmelita
*
Buck Connors
Buck Connors (November 22, 1880 – February 4, 1947) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1912 and 1941. He is the son of William L Conner and Leah Bowen. He was born in Streator, La Salle County, Illinois,Ariz ...
as Parson Jones
Production
The real Western town of
Bodie, California
Bodie ( ) is a ghost town in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States. It is about southeast of Lake Tahoe, and east-southeast of Bridgeport, at an elevation of 8,379 feet (2554  ...
, stood in for the fictional town of New Jerusalem. The production utilized much of the town's main street and included both exterior and interior footage of the Bodie Bank, which burned in 1932, and Methodist Church. The bank robbery sequence features an elaborate horse-drawn
hearse
A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately ano ...
that is still on display in the town's museum.
Reception
The film performed well at the box office, including in France and Germany, and was praised for its "interesting and realistic bit of characterization." In a retrospective review, Peter C. Mowrey called the film a "masterpiece" in somregards, though limited by "almost amateurish visual missteps."
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hells Heroes
1929 films
1929 Western (genre) films
1920s Christmas films
1920s pregnancy films
American black-and-white films
American Christmas films
American Western (genre) films
Films based on American novels
Films based on Western (genre) novels
Films directed by William Wyler
Transitional sound Western (genre) films
Universal Pictures films
1920s American films