''The Bargain'' is a 1914 American silent

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 ...

film starring

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 integ ...

. It was the first feature film starring Hart,Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Bargain''
at silentera.com who would go on to become the most popular Western actor of the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized 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) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

era. In 2010, it was one of the 25 films added to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...

of 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 is ...

for “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant and to be preserved for all time. The second Hart Western to be named to the National Film Registry (after ''

Hell's Hinges ''Hell's Hinges'' is a 1916 American silent Western film starring William S. Hart and Clara Williams. Directed by Charles Swickard, William S. Hart and Clifford Smith, and produced by Thomas H. Ince, the screenplay was written by C. Gardne ...

'' in 1994), ''The Bargain'' was said to have been selected because of Hart’s charisma, the film’s authenticity and realistic portrayal of the Western genre. The Bargain (1914) 1

Cast

as Jim Stokes * J. Frank Burke as Sheriff Bud Walsh * Clara Williams as Nell Brent *

J. Barney Sherry J. Barney Sherry (March 4, 1874February 22, 1944) was an American actor of the silent film era. He appeared in more than 210 films between 1905 and 1929. He was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from card ...

as Phil Brent *

Joseph J. Dowling Joseph Johnson Dowling (September 4, 1850 – July 8, 1928) was an American stage and silent film actor. Early life and career Born in Pittsburgh, the son of James and Fredericka (''nee'' Edstrem) Dowling. His father was a native of Pennsy ...

as Reverend Joshua Wilkes

Production

A portion of ''The Bargain'' was filmed at the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

in Arizona.

Reissues

In 1918, a revised version of the film was submitted for review by the

Chicago Board of Censors The Chicago Board of Censors was a film censorship committee based in Chicago that was founded in 1907 as the Police Censor Board, and operated until 1984. It was the first film censorship board in the United States. The board had great influence o ...

that had scenes in which the Sheriff released a prisoner to holdup gamblers and associated intertitles were eliminated, and new intertitles and scenes with newspaper articles stating that the sheriff and bandit had paid the penalty for their crimes had been inserted. A version cut from 7 to 5 reels was distributed prior to 1920, and in 1920 Hart's production company released it under the title ''The Two-Gun Man in the Bargain''.

References

External links

* ''The Bargain'' essay by Brian Taves at

* ''Thomas Ince: Hollywood's Independent Pioneer'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2012) by Brian Taves, pages 66–68,

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bargain, The 1914 films 1914 Western (genre) films American black-and-white films Films directed by Reginald Barker Silent American Western (genre) films Surviving American silent films United States National Film Registry films 1910s American films 1910s English-language films