calvinnme This is the first sound version and the only precode film version of "Three Godfathers", and it has a coarseness and therefore redemptive power that the later films just lack in spite of the primitive nature of the early sound technology. Four hardened partners in crime meet up in the old west desert town of New Jerusalem shortly before Christmas to rob a bank. Bob Sangster (Charles Bickford) has written for the other three outlaws to join him since he has the town's only lawman and the bank pegged as a soft touch. Before the robbery Bob gets two saloon girls involved in a cat fight over him just for the fun of it. While at the bank, one outlaw keeps putting his leg up searching for the boot rail while leaning across the counter, insinuating that he is only used to leaning on bars in saloons, and after one of the tellers draws his gun and is shot dead, two of the outlaws fight over whether the shot was through the heart or not. One robber doesn't make it out of town - he's shot by one of the townspeople. Bob returns and rescues one of the gold sacks, not his com-padre. Later, when the surviving trio spots a lone covered wagon with an ill woman inside the three have a bit of an argument in what amounts to who is going to rape her.All of this is just to illustrate that these guys seem to have no redeeming value whatsoever - they are savages in a savage land. But when they discover the lone woman is ill because she is about to give birth, their demeanor changes completely, and they become the child's guardian promising to return him to civilization. They do have some of their own problems themselves - their horses have stampeded in a sandstorm, and the place they hoped to refill their canteens is now dry as a bone. Thus they can go back to New Jerusalem and a noose and save the child - and even then it's questionable whether or not they have the water to make it, or they can stay in the desert where they all will perish.Now for 1929, this is a good little Western with much more gritty reality and less unnecessary sentimentality than its two successors, and very natural performances and dialogue considering its early sound pedigree, but I guess what I remember this one for is Charles Bickford's description of it in his autobiography. He gives a description of director William Wyler as a product of nepotism run rampant at Universal and "an inarticulate nose-picking golem" and says that the film would have been a disaster if not rewritten by himself, Charles Bickford, and that he was stuck with a cast of silent screen actors that he had to teach to act before the camera in a situation that required dialogue.Bickford does give a great performance, and the film has become a bit of a minor Christmas classic among classic film buffs, and I've always wondered about the veracity of Bickford's description of the set and why Wyler didn't sue since he was still alive and well when Bickford's book was written. Watch this rare old film and see what you think.

califcomedy I viewed this film as a historical piece on locations. It is footage of the town of the old mining town of Bodie, pre-fire which destroyed 90% of the remaining town in 1933. It is now a state park and the official ghost town of Calif. Having visited several times, it was amazing to see actual businesses and buildings that no longer stand. And the ones that do - 80 years later. The church that is seen in several of the exteriors is still there today, but none of the buildings seen between it and the main street exist. This would have been, in 1929, a long way to travel for a location shot with crew and equipment. I'm glad they did.

Michael_Elliott Hell's Heroes (1930)*** 1/2 (out of 4) This early talkie from Universal is the first sound version of "Three Godfathers", which would eventually be remade in 1936 with Chester Morris and again in 1948 by John Ford with John Wayne in this lead. The story here is the same as three ruthless outlaws (Charles Bickford, Raymond Hatton, Fred Kohler) rob a bank and then head out into the desert before losing their horses during a major wind storm. Soon afterwards they stumble onto a baby and the men must decide to let it die or try to walk it back to the town they were just running from. I've ended up watching these sound versions in reverse order as I started off with the Ford one many years ago and then just recently saw the Morris version, which was the better of the two. This one here is clearly the leader of the trio because of how raw it is. This movie is pretty mean spirited from the start up until the end and I really love that Wyler didn't pull any punches. Being the pre-code era we get a few things not available in future versions and that includes one sequence where the men argue about who's going to "take" the mother first. We also get a fairly violent scene involving a suicide, which is shown in a long shot. A lot of people bash American westerns saying they aren't ugly enough but that's not true here. The dirt, grease and ugliness of the characters are all over them and their unshaven faces make them look exactly like what their characters would look like. The three leads turn in wonderful performances but to me it was Hatton who steals the show as the big goon who quickly turns into a softy after finding the baby. Bickford is equally impressive and the final vision of him is quiet haunting and will certainly stay with you for a long time. The film runs a fairly short 68-minutes but there's enough heart and soul in this thing for two movies. Another impressive thing is that this was an early talkie yet you really can't tell as everything is recorded very well and it actually sounded a lot better than the same studio's Dracula and FRANKENSTEIN, which would follow the next year.

itsmits In childhood, my interest in cowboys centered around Fred Thomson and his horse Silver King. I did not pay much attention to the villains but I remembered that Fred Kohler was usually the leader of the 'black hats'. Raymond Hatton was only known then as the erstwhile partner of the popular comedy team of Raymond Hatton and Wallace Beery. Some time within the last five years or so, my constant monitoring of old time movies presented on TV resulted in my capturing 'Hell's Heroes'. What a discovery it was for me!I had always remembered "The Three Godfathers" with Chester Morris, Lewis Stone and Walter Brennan from my teenage years. In fact, it had driven me to the local library to read the original story by Peter B. Kyne.One would never have guessed that Charles Bickford would be the hero of this 1930 movie but he filled the role admirably. With the aforementioned Fred Kohler and Raymond Hatton in the supporting roles, the 'three godfathers' were a formidable thespian trio. This film, produced when it was without today's modern advantages, is an excellent model of fine early movie-making. And it should certainly be seen to get insight into the technological advances that subsequently resulted in the 1936 version with Chester Morris, Lewis Stone and Walter Brennan, as well as the Technicolor version in 1948 with John Wayne, Harry Carey, Jr. and Pedro Armendariz.The strength of the novella by P.B. Kyne is evident through all three versions. If this title appears on your TV schedule, don't let the date of 1930 scare you away. The writing of screenplays by different persons may alter the end result but a strong well written story with excellent acting will always produce an enjoyable film. You might be surprised how dry your throat is at the end of this picture but you will also be strangely satisfied with the ending.