Synopsis
When Gawne finds his brother dying and hears that the killer has run off with his brother's wife, he swears revenge.
Riddle Gawne
1918 Directed by Lambert Hillyer, William S. Hart
Cast
Releases by Date
Theatrical
-
USA
Releases by Country
USA
03 Aug 1918
- Theatrical
Popular reviews
More-
Riddle Gawne (William S. Hart) seeks vengeance against the man (Lon Chaney) who killed his brother.
Sadly, the complete RIDDLE GAWNE is still lost but a couple reels were discovered and thankfully they have been released. In its current fragmented form, the film comes in at 13-minutes so since three reels are still missing it's impossible to really judge the film.
What's here is actually pretty good because it seems Hart is playing his "angry" character who wants revenge and you've got Chaney doing a nice job in the role of the villain. Who knows if the complete film will ever turn up but there are rumors of it being out there. Hopefully one day it'll show up but until then these 13-minutes are very much worth watching and especially if you're a fan of Hart or Chaney.
-
1918
*incomplete, only one reel has survived*
A William S. Hart western featuring Lon Chaney, of which very little has been made publicly available and/or restored at all. Supposedly a full print of this exists, and I hope a restoration happens at some point if that's the case.
This was produced during a bit of a creative boon for Hart and the creative team he worked with, and I'm glad at least this chunk of the picture has found its way out there.
-
So, what remains of Riddle Gawne? Well, 13.5 minutes of 50-minutes to be exact. It appears that only two reels of William S. Hart's film remain. I believe they are now kept in the Library of Congress. Thankfully, some fine film fan has uploaded those remaining reels onto YouTube, clearly doing the lords work for us silent era film fans and those currently deep diving into that era.
Also, worth noting, Riddle Gawne is also known for being an early role for Lon Chaney. I say early as a lot of his earliest work seems to be either lost or like this movie, it only remains partially in fragmented form. With only 13.5 minutes remaining, it's hard to truly judge…
-
-
Only 13 minutes of this movie are available to view, although AFI state on theiir site that the film is extant. From what is available, we can only hope that one day the whole film sees the light of day. William S. Hart plays the title character and Lon Chaney his nemesis with the agreeably villainous name Hame Bozzam.