The Testing Block

William S. Hart is an outlaw terrorizing a gold-mining town. When a traveling show comes by, he's entranced by violinist Eva Novak, and his gang busts up; at the same time, the show's manager runs away with the money. The movie skips ahead five years. Hart is a placer miner, and he and Miss Novak have a son in Richard Headrick. Along comes J. Gordon Russell. He was a member of Hart's gang, was beaten to a pulp by him, and wants his revenge. He convinces Miss Novak that Hart is about to go outlaw again, and she flees to Sacramento. Soon, their child is sick, and Hart searches for money for a doctor, and goes wild.

Those of you who remember Clint Eastwood's UNFORGIVEN will notice the similarities in the plot; Eastwood often played the Good Bad Man. Hart's movies usually ended with his redemption, but here, as in Eastwood's film, we find that the bad may be interred with their bones, because it lingers there.

It's a pretty good movie, with Hart's usual crew, Lambert Hillyer directing and Joe August in charge of the camera. August gets to strut his stuff in the night fight at the outlaw camp, where, vastly undercranked, Hart beats down four men seriatim. It doesn't add much to the Hart movies, but it's also nothing to be ashamed of either.

"Sierra" Bill is the leader of an outlaw gang. He fights with Ringe, one of the gang. When a troupe of entertainers comes by, both men eye Nellie, a violinist. Bill quits the gang, marries Nellie, and they have a son. Several years later, Ringe comes to town and plots revenge. His "associate," Rita, reads cards for Bill and tells him that his wife is planning to run away. Meanwhile, Ringe convinces Nellie that her husband is seeing another woman. How will this get straightened out?

The version I watched on YouTube contains an introduction, supplying some background on the actors and the locations. In all honesty, this was more interesting than the film. The movie is not bad; it's just not very compelling. I'm not even sure what the title means. The acting is fine, with J. Gordon Russell a standout as the villainous Ringe. But most of the film is predictable, and even the climax, with the child seriously ill, becomes cornball. I will admit that the method in which Ringe meets his fate was a bit different, but it's all over in about five seconds of screen time. The two most memorable sequences for me involved Hart and his horse. In the first sequence, he has to sell his horse to raise money for his son's doctor. You can see the pain in his eyes when he agrees to the deal. In the second sequence, his horse returns to him after running away from the villain. The horse has been abused (whip marks are clearly evident) and Hart has murder in his eyes. Being a horse lover (I used to ride, and even mucked out a few stalls in my time), these scenes hit home for me.