Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Hell Bent (1918)

This western feature film from Universal, directed by John Ford, stars Harry Carey and Neva Gerber, with support from Duke R. Lee, Vester Pegg, Joseph Harris, M.K. Wilson and Steve Clemento. This may be misinterpreted as Ford’s first film version of the novel The Three Bad Men, from the film’s identical working title. Instead, the film story was written by Carey and Ford.

This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from the 4K restoration of the film supervised by Universal Pictures. Restoration utilized a 35mm nitrate print with Czech intertitles held by Národní Filmový Archiv. The digital scan runs at a faster rate than natural pace, which is a decision in conflict with the natural speed scan of Universal’s restoration of Straight Shooting (1917). Had the film been scanned at a natural speed the running time would have been closer to an hour. English intertitles were recreated for the restoration but graphically emulate those in the European source print. Dust, speckling and minor print flaws have been allowed to remain in the moving images. Overall, the viewing experience is excellent.

The film is accompanied by a music score by Zachary Marsh performed by a small ensemble.

Supplementary material includes an excellent audio commentary by film historian and Ford biographer Joseph McBride; a 1970 audio interview with John Ford conducted by Joseph McBride; and a video essay by film critic and Ford biographer Tag Gallagher.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film for North American collectors.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The film is accompanied by a music score by Zachary Marsh performed by a small ensemble.

Supplementary material includes an excellent audio commentary by film historian and Ford biographer Joseph McBride; a 1970 audio interview with John Ford by Joseph McBride; video essays “Bull Scores a Touchdown” and “A Horse or a Mary?” by film critic and Ford biographer Tag Gallagher; a video interview with film historian and Kim Newman; a short fragment of the lost Ford film Hitchin’ Posts (1920) preserved by the Library of Congress; an insert booklet featuring writings by Richard Combs, Phil Hoad and Tag Gallagher; plus a limited edition O-card slipcase and reversible slipcase artwork.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film for European collectors.

United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region B Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.

This Region 1 DVD edition has been mastered from the 4K restoration of the film supervised by Universal Pictures. Restoration utilized a 35mm nitrate print with Czech intertitles held by Národní Filmový Archiv. The digital scan runs at a faster rate than natural pace, which is a decision in conflict with the natural speed scan of Universal’s restoration of Straight Shooting (1917). Had the film been scanned at a natural speed the running time would have been closer to an hour. English intertitles were recreated for the restoration but graphically emulate those in the European source print. Dust, speckling and minor print flaws have been allowed to remain in the moving images. Overall, the viewing experience is excellent.

The film is accompanied by a music score by Zachary Marsh performed by a small ensemble.

Supplementary material includes an excellent audio commentary by film historian and Ford biographer Joseph McBride; a 1970 audio interview with John Ford conducted by Joseph McBride; and a video essay by film critic and Ford biographer Tag Gallagher.

This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film for North American collectors.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This DVD+R edition has been mastered from a very-good 16mm reduction print of a German language release version of the film (by Monopol American-Film-Company). The print flickers in places with exposure fluctuations, and is flecked with quite a bit of dust, light speckling, the occasional blotch of schmutz and a bit or two of misplaced editing tape. Some sections of the print are distractingly jittery, others are reasonably stable, but it is also notably free of large vertical print scratches. The greyscale range is reasonably balanced, with the occasional blasted-out highlight and plugged-up shadows, making for a passable viewing experience.

The slightly letterboxed video transfer has been made at or near 24 frames per second, rendering a picture that runs at a faster-than-natural playback speed. The disc has been overcompressed, with smeary image details such as the lack of resolution in the running river water (at 2:17 into the disc). Some shots, which may have been shortened over time to trims or print breaks, flash by in an instant and make following the shot sequences a challenge from time to time. At a natural pace, the print may have run about an hour instead of 50 minutes.

It needs to be noted that a faint “SHF-E” digital watermark appears in the lower right-hand corner of the picture to discourage pirating of this edition, but another watermark just to the upper left of the existing mark has been digitally smeared away, which leads us to ask just where this video transfer originated. Was it pirated for this edition?

The film is presented with a music score compiled from preexisting orchestral recordings, which is inconsistent with the setting and action of the film.

The edition’s supplemental section features include a preface by edition producer Alex Staykov, with excerpts from the Silent Hall of Fame documentary “Breaking the Silence” (2015); and a short text introduction to the film. The film’s chapter stops are available within playback of the film but not from the disc’s menus, which is limited to starting playback of the main feature and the three supplemental items.

We think that this bare bones DVD+R edition is indefensibly overpriced for its low quality. Is it watchable? Yes. Could it have been better? Yes. The disc’s shortcomings and high cost are not forgivable since the release of the Kino Lorber and Eureka editions noted above. Not recommended.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD+R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Other WESTERN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.