''The Silent Man'' is a 1917 American

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 ...

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

directed by

William S. Hart William Surrey Hart (December 6, 1864 – June 23, 1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered as a foremost Western star of the silent era who "imbued all of his characters with honor and inte ...

and written by Charles Kenyon. The film stars William S. Hart,

Vola Vale Vola Vale (born Vola Smith; February 12, 1897 – October 17, 1970) was a silent film actress. Early career Vale was born in Buffalo, New York and educated in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Her high school friends in Rochester, New York, where she w ...

, Robert McKim, Dorcas Matthews,

J. P. Lockney John P. Lockney (March 17, 1867, date of death unknown) was an American actor of the silent film era. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1915 and 1937. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Partial filmography * ''The Bride of Hat ...

, George Nichols, and

Gertrude Claire Gertrude Claire (July 16, 1852 – April 28, 1928) was an actress of the American stage and Hollywood silent motion pictures. Biography Claire was born in Chicago, Illinois, and began appearing onstage at the age of 16. She played minor roles ...

. It was released on November 26, 1917, by Paramount Pictures. The movie premiered in Los Angeles at Sid Grauman's Million Dollar Theater.

Plot

As described in a film magazine, 'Silent' Budd Marr (Hart) comes to the town of Bakeoven to spend some of the gold for which he had labored so hard. Through Handsome Jack Pressley (McKim) he gets into a fight, and is confined to bed for a couple of weeks during which his claim is stolen. All efforts to regain his property are unsuccessful, so when he finds the claim jumpers loading their loot on the stage coach, he holds it up, and at the same time rescues Betty Bryce (Vale), a young woman Pressley had lured with the promise of marriage to work in his dance hall. As the girl learns the true nature of Pressley she is thankful and soon falls in love with Budd. A stranger known as Uncle Grubstake (Lockney) has become friendly with Bud and Betty's brother David (Goodwin), and when the citizens attempt to hang Budd for robbing the coach, Grubstake reveals his true identity as a federal agent, and has the evidence that gets Pressley and his gang arrested. Budd and Betty end up happy.

Cast

as 'Silent' Budd Marr *

as Betty Bryce * Robert McKim as Handsome Jack Pressley *

Dorcas Matthews Dorcas Neville Matthews (5 November 1890 – 24 January 1969) was an English actress in silent films in the U.S. She had numerous roles as a supporting actress and was well known. Biography Dorcas Neville Matthews was born in Lancashire, Englan ...

as Topaz *

as 'Grubstake' Higgins * George Nichols as Preachin' Bill Hardy *

as Mrs. Hardy *

Milton Ross Milton Ross (December 2, 1876 – September 6, 1941) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1914 and 1948. Selected filmography * ''The Green Swamp'' (1916) * ''The Gunfighter'' (1917) * '' The Desert Man'' ( ...

as Ames Mitchell * Harold Goodwin as David Bryce

Reception

Like many American films of the time, ''The Silent Man'' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required a cut, in Reel 1, of the intertitle "Region God left unfinished and cursed" etc., to flash five snake scenes, cut two scenes of young woman drinking at bar with men, five roulette scenes, flash adjustment of roulette wheel, from the intertitle "You ought to remember this dress" etc. remove the words "when I was good", Reel 2, the shooting of Hart, Reel 3, change holdup scenes to eliminate actual theft, Reel 4, eliminate three intertitles "Go get the change" etc., "You made a thief of me" etc., and "Now I will expose your hand" and replace with "You forced the act which made me appear a thief", and, Reel 5, two scenes of horse dragging Pressley.

Preservation

Copies of the film are in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

and

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the ar ...

, and it has been released on DVD.Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Silent Man''
at silentera.com

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Silent Man, The 1917 films 1917 Western (genre) films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by William S. Hart American black-and-white films Censored films Silent American Western (genre) films 1910s English-language films 1910s American films