William S. Hart: The Good Bad Man

As many of you reading this blog know I love westerns. There is simply something so incredible about the atmosphere of the old west that is just as magical and engrossing as any of the fantasy lands of the movies. During the silent era few were masters of the genre on the level of actor, director and producer William S. Hart. Few filmmakers of any era could capture the magic and appeal of the old west as well as Hart. I often feel that silent era westerns too often go overlooked by both silent movie fans and western fans. That is a shame considering how great a silent western could be. Anyone interested in getting into this often overlooked part of film history have no better place to start than William S. Hart's movies.

Here is a 1916 article from Picture-Play Magazine about William S. Hart. If you have any trouble reading the following pages, you can click on them and use your touch screen to zoom in.

-Michael J. Ruhland