The Testing Block
About The Testing Block
Outlaw Sierra Bill finds violinist Nelly Gray stranded with a traveling troupe and, half drunk, forces her to marry him. Two years later they have a boy, Sonny, and Ringe comes back with Rosita. He convinces Nelly that Bill is unfaithful. She leaves and plays in a dance hall. When Sonny falls ill, Bill sells his horse Pinto for the doctor, then attacks the new owner for mistreating the horse and lands in jail. He breaks out, and in the chase Pinto stomps Ringe to death.
Cast & crew
More about The Testing Block
Lambert Hillyer directed and wrote the screenplay from a story by William S. Hart. Paramount-Artcraft released it on 26 December 1920. The William S. Hart Company copyrighted it on 28 November 1920, LP15797. Hart plays Sierra Bill. Eva Novak plays Nelly. Joseph August photographed it. LeRoy Stone edited.
Themes
Music
Silent, with English intertitles.
Preservation
A copy of about 66 minutes circulates.
Notes
- J. Gordon Russell plays Ringe. Florence Carpenter plays Rosita. Richard Headrick plays Sonny. Ira McFadden plays Slim.
- An Exhibitors Herald synopsis leaves out the jail and the horse. In that version Nelly and Bill reunite at Sonny's bedside.
- Koszarski gives six reels and 5,972 feet. A circulating copy runs 1 hour 6 minutes 22 seconds, against the 60-minute listing.
- AFI places the story in the California gold rush. The Herald version has the gang draw lots for the stranded women and Bill win Nelly that way.
Scenes
- Drunk, Bill forces Nelly, the stranded violinist, to marry him.
- Ringe and Rosita talk Nelly into leaving.
- Pinto, sold to pay the doctor, kills Ringe in the chase.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Testing Block (1920).webm)
