Keno Bates, Liar

Keno Bates, Liar (1915)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Mildly entertaining Western has William S. Hart playing a saloon owner who gets held up by a young woman who Hart will eventually shoot and kill in self defense. Hart goes through his belongings and discovers a note from his sister who is coming to live with him. Hart, feeling guilty for killing him, decides to tell the sister (Doris Maitland) that her brother was a good man and that he left her a cabin and money. Soon Hart and the sister are in love but someone tells her the truth about who killed in brother. Once again we get a fairly good Western but a pretty routine and rather poor screenplay really keeps it from being a lot better. Even by 1915 standards the story is pretty routine and there's just not enough meat to keep the 26-minute running time moving well enough. The entire story is pretty predictable from start to finish and the ending is certainly incredibly laughable. Hart once again turns in a good performance as that tall structure of a body makes for a good hero and that square face is so unique that you can't help follow whatever he does. Gordon Mullen does a nice job as Hart's partner and Maitland is pretty good as well as the love interest. It's worth noting that there's a close up shot of a bloody bullet wound, which I don't recall seeing in an earlier movie. That's not to say this was the first time it had been seen but I do believe it's the first I've seen from a movie of this era.