Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Toll Gate (1920)

Artcraft Pictures
Directed by Lambert Hillyer
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

William S. Hart leads a gang of bandits on their last run, a train robbery, but they are ambushed by the Cavalry. He is arrested but escapes, ending up as an outlaw in a dusty Mexican border town. He dons a mask and calls himself Black Deering, robbing some townsfolk at gunpoint. On the run again, he befriends a young  mother living in the middle of nowhere just south of the border. They instantly fall in love, and his will is tested when he assumes the identity of her missing husband to escape the posse. Hart's stoic performance hinders any kind of emotional involvement, and the plot is confusing. A poetic ending, with religious implications, falls flat. It's one of the most famous silent westerns, but certainly not the best.

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