''Riddle Gawne'' is a 1918 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 directed by William S. Hart and

Lambert Hillyer Lambert Hillyer (July 8, 1893 – July 5, 1969) was an American film director and screenwriter. He is best known today for his many western features, his horror films ''The Invisible Ray (1936 film), The Invisible Ray'' and ''Dracula's Daugh ...

, and featuring William S. Hart, Katherine MacDonald and Lon Chaney. The film was co-produced by William S. Hart and Thomas H. Ince. The screenplay was written by Charles Alden Seltzer from his earlier novel ''The Vengeance of Jefferson Gawne''. Chaney historian Jon C. Mirsalis claims that William S. Hart contributed greatly to the screenplay but all other sources credit the writing of the screenplay solely to Charles Alden Seltzer. Considered lost for decades, two of the five reels were found to have survived in a Russian archive and are now kept in the film archive of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. It is unknown if Lon Chaney appears in those two reels.' A still exists showing Lon Chaney (as Hame Bossam) preparing to shoot the unconscious Riddle Gawne (William S. Hart) in the head. A 1918 advertisement for the showing of the film at Sid Grauman's "Million Dollar Theater" in downtown Los Angeles exists, as well as a publicity photo showing the film's major players in a group shot.

Plot

Riddle Gawne is a man who seeks vengeance on the man who killed his brother Wesley. Before dying, his brother had revealed his killer's name as "Watt Hyat". Riddle buys a cattle ranch and settles down in an area ruled over by criminal cattle rustlers led by Hame Bozzam (Lon Chaney), who is in reality "Watt Hyat" under an alias. Kathleen Harkness (MacDonald), the daughter of Colonel Harkness (Tilton), arrives in the West. Defending her honor, Riddle shoots two of Hame Bozzam's henchmen. Unbeknownst to the young woman, her father is a member of Bozzam's cattle rustlers, and Bozzam holds this fact over the old colonel's head so that he will let Hame marry Kathleen. Hame has Riddle shot, but Riddle survives and is nursed back to health. Riddle then determines to clean up the town, and in the fight that follows, Bozzam kidnaps Kathleen after fatally wounding her father. Riddle, lone handed, pursues the fleeing man and his gang. After the chase, Riddle fights and kills Bozzam's henchman "Nigger" Paisley. But during the fight, Riddle's leg is broken. Threatening the now injured Riddle, Bozzam reveals his real identity as Watt Hyat, the man who killed Riddle's brother. In an ensuing struggle Hame Bozzam is killed, and Riddle wins Kathleen's hand.

Cast

Production

Lon Chaney had just left Universal Pictures over a salary dispute before getting hired to appear in ''Riddle Gawne'' (at the much higher salary of $125 per week). William S. Hart did not initially want Chaney to play the villain because he felt Chaney was too short to be imposing. It was Lambert Hillyer who talked Hart into using Chaney for the role. (Hillyer claimed his mother had seen Chaney in '' Hell Morgan's Girl'' (1917) and called him to Lambert's attention.) ''Riddle Gawne'' gave Chaney great exposure to the movie-going public and was instrumental in propelling him to later stardom. (Lambert Hillyer later directed Chaney again in ''The Shock'' (1923).)' Parts of the film were shot on location in the Santa Monica Mountains and in Chatsworth, California, from June 14 to early July. A western ranch house was built on a dairy farm for the production and later burned to the ground for a scene in the film.'

Reception

Censorship

Like many American films of the time, ''Riddle Gawne'' was subject to restrictions and cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required cuts in Reel 1 (scene of woman at bar), Reel 2 (two scenes of woman at bar, scene of Riddle shooting man in back, the intertitle "Blanche Dillon, former dance hall girl, now Bozzam's 'housekeeper'", and all scenes of young woman in Bozzam's house, scene of Bozzam slugging Jess Cass with gun), Reel 3 (man shooting Riddle from horse, the intertitle "She may be a good nurse, but she ain't the sort of woman I want", etc.), and Reel 5 (Bozzam shooting woman's father, shooting Riddle, and flashback scene showing the shooting of Riddle's brother).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riddle Gawne 1918 films 1918 Western (genre) films 1918 lost films American black-and-white films Films directed by William S. Hart Films directed by Lambert Hillyer English-language Western (genre) films Lost American Western (genre) films Silent American Western (genre) films 1910s American films 1910s English-language films Lost silent American films