For the first half of this film I thought I was going to be more impressed than I was with TUMBLEWEEDS, the only previous Hart western I'd seen. The early scenes, showing his gang planning their last holdup, Black Deering's (Hart's) reservations about going through with it, and his betrayal by his most trusted lieutenant, were brilliantly done; the isolation that Hart feels as he is more or less forced back into crime, his desire for revenge on Jordan, the traitor become upstanding citizen in town -- all well-directed and even moving. Unfortunately, when Deering briefly takes up with a widow out on the edge of the border a simplistic Christian moralizing tone sets in: one passage from the Bible seems to set him off on a course of repentance and honesty. It's not completely unforeseen, as there are hints that Deering isn't quite as bad as he's portrayed by his ex-comrade and the law, but still the self-sacrifice and stoic acceptance of his fate in the last couple of reels seem a bit forced and unrealistic to me.
I watched the Kino VHS, probably at least 10 years old, with a bonus of the Mack Sennett "His Bitter Pill" at the end. There are definitely some problems with the print it was struck from...the fire scenes are nearly invisible and there is a lot of ghosting and edge distortion in the second half of the film, but it's certainly watchable. Recommended for Hart fans and silent film buffs, but forgettable on the whole.
I watched the Kino VHS, probably at least 10 years old, with a bonus of the Mack Sennett "His Bitter Pill" at the end. There are definitely some problems with the print it was struck from...the fire scenes are nearly invisible and there is a lot of ghosting and edge distortion in the second half of the film, but it's certainly watchable. Recommended for Hart fans and silent film buffs, but forgettable on the whole.