AllMovie

Anyone who wonders why The Silent Man still plays well and looks great 90-some years after it was shot need look no further than the credits -- no less a figure than Joseph H. August was the cinematographer, and with William S. Hart directing as well as starring, the picture has all the pedigree it needs; one wouldn't even need a particularly good cast to fill out the rest of the roles, although they are here and very good. The script is an unusually good one as well, very vivid in its language, even if some of the dialogue is a little coarse at times in the use of racial expressions; and there's a little more complexity to the characters and their relationships than was usual at the time, even in Hart's movies. Here he gets to play a man who is forced onto the wrong side of the law, mostly because the "law" -- such as it is in his territory -- is corrupt; and he may pay a price for it. Overall, it comes off as very much the direct antecedent to the modern sound Western in a lot of respects, and is eminently enjoyable in the 21st century.