'Blue Blazes' Rawden

1918 film by William S. Hart March 2025 'Blue Blazes' Rawden Movie_poster_for_1918_silent_film_'Blue_Blazes'_Rawden.jpg Film poster William S. Hart Thomas H. Ince J.G. Hawks William S. HartMaude GeorgeRobert McKimGertrude ClaireRobert GordonJack Hoxie Joseph H. August Artcraft Pictures CorporationWilliam S. Hart Productions Paramount Pictures 1918 2 1 65 minutes United States Silent (English intertitles) Blue Blazes' Rawden is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by William S. Hart and written by J.G. Hawks. The film stars William S. Hart, Maude George, Robert McKim, Gertrude Claire, Robert Gordon, and Jack Hoxie. The film was released on February 1, 1918, by Paramount Pictures.https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/85495/Blue-Blazes-Rawden/overview https://web.archive.org/web/20150227134744/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/85495/Blue-Blazes-Rawden/overview dead 27 February 2015 Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times Baseline & All Movie Guide Hal Erickson Blue-Blazes-Rawden - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes Hal Erickson (author) 2015 6 January 2015https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/489426/blue-blazes-rawden https://web.archive.org/web/20150227141342/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/489426/Blue-Blazes-Rawden/ dead February 27, 2015 Blue Blazes Rawden (1918) - Overview Turner Classic Movies 6 January 2015 The film has been preserved and it is available in various viewing formats.http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blue_blazes_rawden/ Blue Blazes Rawden Rotten Tomatoes Plot Tough lumberjack Blue Blazes Rawden takes up residence at the hotel of the equally tough Englishman, Ladyfingers Hilgard. Because Blue Blazes beats him at cards and steals the heart of his woman, Babette Du Fresne, Hilgard challenges Blue Blazes to a gunfight and is killed. Hilgard's mother and brother Eric soon visit the hotel, and Blue Blazes, touched by Mrs. Hilgard's gentle nature, tells her Hilgard died honorably. Babette, angry at Blue Blazes' inattention, tells Eric the truth, and Eric, enraged, shoots and seriously wounds Blue Blazes. After saving Eric from a lynch mob, Blue Blazes makes him promise never to tell Mrs. Hilgard what he knows and leaves town a reformed man. AFI Cast William S. Hart as Blue Blazes Rawden Maude George as Babette DuFresne Robert McKim as 'Ladyfingers' Hilgard Gertrude Claire as Mother Hilgard Robert Gordon as Eric Hilgard Jack Hoxie as Joe La Barge Background 100 px|left|William S. Hart letter Hart published a letter in the Motion Picture News (March 30, 1918), titled A straight-from-the shoulder letter, advising exhibitors that he was not connected with a company called "W.H. Productions Co.". Hart claimed that the company was changing titles of his films and showing previously made features of him without his permission. The letter states that "the old titles under which they were previously exhibited have been changed and new titles substituted...they are old pictures with new labels". Hart went on to say that, "if your patrons...are misled by new titles into a belief that these pictures are my latest productions, it will not only injure my reputation but also seriously affect the reputation of your theatre". Blue Blazes Rawden is listed at the bottom of the letter, along with his other films that bear the "Artcraft" trademark.https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturenew171unse#page/1802/mode/2up A straight from the shoulder letter Motion Picture News March 30, 1918 William S. Hart 1802 Reviews and reception A reviewer in Photoplay (1918) said that "Hart gives the best exhibition of his acting ability that I have ever yet seen". They also noted that the story "has no actual ending", but rather "is something of a slice of life...its interest lies in the struggle that goes on in the heart of the naturally ferocious, brutal Rawden, turned gentle by sheer determination".https://archive.org/stream/pho1314chic#page/n201/mode/2up Blue Blazes Rawden Photoplay 1918 A review in Variety (1918) praised Hart saying, "[he] was a good actor long before he thought of going into pictures... he now reveals one more artistic accomplishment - that of an intelligent, careful, painstaking director. The detail in the preparation of the feature goes a long way toward enhancing its value".https://archive.org/stream/variety49-1918-02#page/n205/mode/2up Blue Blazes Rawden Variety 1918 46 The Motion Picture Magazine (1918), said that "one celluloidic thing is as inevitable as fates and taxes-that William S. Hart starts each new picture career as a bad man and ends it by being completely reformed... like the excess tax, it is an excess reformation".https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturemag152moti#page/n483/mode/2up Blue Blazes Rawden Motion Picture Magazine 1918 104 References External links 0008892 'Blue Blazes' Rawden 14822 Blue Blazes Rawden Lantern slide held by George Eastman Museum Category:1918 films Category:1918 English-language films Category:American silent drama films Category:1918 drama films Category:Paramount Pictures films Category:Films directed by William S. Hart Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent feature films Category:Surviving American silent films Category:1918 American films Category:Articles with quotation marks in the title Category:English-language drama films