Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

"On the Night Stage" (1915) is a bit disappointing whichever way you look at it. True, it does feature one really breathtaking action sequence, namely a free-for-all in the saloon in which cowpoke/bandit Hart and preacher Robert Edeson take on a whole crowd full of half-drunk rowdies. But this actually turns out to be Hart's big scene. Edeson is the number one star of this picture. He plays a newly arrived sky pilot, and is followed in importance by Rhea Mitchell as a saloon girl. In the opening credits, Hershal Mayall as Handsome Jack comes next, and finally Hart appears in these picturesque credits as Texas, the hold-up man. Oddly, Hart's strand of the plot is not followed. Instead of dealing with the night stage and the robberies, the scenario focuses on Rhea Mitchell and Robert Edeson. Available on a poor Alpha DVD that is just barely watchable, but is certainly better than nothing.

She was just terrific as the saloon girl, Belle Shields, she had a very low key approach to acting, not the stagey, very mannered way you often saw in cinema's early years. She seemed to have a decent career, petering out to uncredited bits in the 30s and 40s. Next thing heard of her was her death in 1957. She had been managing an apartment block and was killed by a "disgruntled house boy"!!This is a William S. Hart western where Hart isn't the star - he plays "Silent" Texas Smith, a man to whom "actions speak louder than words". He is an off sider to the official star Robert Edeson (who often played benevolent and disgruntled fathers in the 1920s) who plays the new parson, the "sky pilot" Alexander Austin and who has gotten on the wrong side of Tex from the start because saloon gal Belle has decided Austin is the man for her (shades of "Hell's Hinges"). In fact "Moving Picture World" gave Hart a big thumbs down and felt a more virile and athletic actor would have made a "stronger impression". Another paper "New York Dramatic Mirror" was surprised that Hart was not given the lead considering his "recent" successes and also not surprised that he dominated the film. Which he does - Hart stands out like a beacon with his charismatic personality.Tex has just held up a coach and with the stolen money he dreams of Mexico for him and Belle but after a chat with the new parson she is beginning to look at herself for the first time and she doesn't like what she sees. Not particularly action packed and a bit longer than other Hart films I have seen, the massive saloon fight looked real and when Austin gets involved and gives a good account of himself he earns Tex's grudging respect.Now a respectable married lady, Belle visits an old friend (described in the titles as "The Temptress") (Gladys Brockwell) who, with the help of "Handsome Jack" Malone, tries to lure Belle back into her old ways. She returns to Austin shaken by how strongly she was tempted and a blackmailing letter from Malone threatening that if she doesn't run away with him on the night stage he will have a few choice stories to tell her husband, has her putting her well founded trust in Tex to see that Malone will think twice before bothering her again. In fact, like a few of Hart's movies, the vamp comes in for some mighty rough handling from Hart and this movie is no exception. The way he roughs up Brockwell is just as realistic as the saloon fight!!Interesting and quaint beginning - the stars are introduced taking their bows from the stage, then transforming into their characters from the movie. A reminder of how looked down the films were by a lot of legitimate stage actors - as if Hart and Edeson were saying "We are stage actors but we are not ashamed to be seen acting in "the flickers"!!!

Minister Robert Edeson (as Austin, the "Sky Pilot") arrives in a bawdy Wyoming town, and books himself a room in the local saloon. At first, the locals make fun of Mr. Edeson's prayerful ways; but, sexy saloon dancer Rhea Mitchell (as Belle Shields) warms up to him. This doesn't sit well with stagecoach robber William S. Hart (as Texas), who was planning to wed Ms. Mitchell. Seeing the light of the Lord, Mitchell leaves Mr. Hart, and her dance hall days, for a life with Parson Edeson. Eventually, the white light shines on Hart, too. Then, the surprisingly fickle Mitchell begins to step out with tempting Herschel Mayall (as "Handsome Jack" Malone); and, Hart rushes to defend his ex-girlfriend's honor.Reginald Barker's "On the Night Stage" is no "Bargain", but it does have Hart; who was, at the time, the biggest box office star in the country. Hart performs his part well. But, the scenario is absurd; with the weak-willed "Belle Shields" saddled with an increasingly most difficult to comprehend motivation. *** On the Night Stage (4/15/15) Reginald Barker ~ William S. Hart, Robert Edeson, Rhea Mitchell

On arrival to a town, a pastor converts, then falls in love with, a saloon dancer, the once girlfriend of William S. Hart's character. Nearly half this early feature-length film is the sequence where the pastor converts the saloon dancer, while Hart drinks, then fights, to reconcile himself over the matter--all within the saloon. It's good pacing, but not much else happens. There's some supposed dilemma that Hart has over the conflict between his thievery and his new friendship with the pastor--hardly stirring. Along with "The Bargain", this was one of Hart's first feature-length Westerns. Both begin with a theatrical introduction of the actors and then a scene of Hart robbing a stagecoach. It took a few minutes into "On the Night Stage" before I was sure I wasn't somehow watching "The Bargain" again.