The Great Heart

Great Heart, The (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Carey Wilson short received an Oscar-nomination for Best Short and takes a look at the life of Father Damien, a Belgian priest who began work as a missionary in Hawaii. On his first day there he got involved with a man with leprosy and soon the villagers were frightened of him. The only exception were the people he was helping but soon the priest found himself with the disease. This short really plays out as a tribute to the man as his story is giving loving detail and every scene jumps off the screen like the director begging you to see the importance of this man. I had never heard of him before watching this but it certainly seemed like he lived a rather amazing, if somewhat short, life. The direction by Miller is pretty good as is the screenplay even though it gets a tad bit over-dramatic at times. Tom Neal does a fine job in the role of the priest.

In 1936, a US naval vessel travels from Hawaii at the behest of King Leopold III of Belgium to repatriate the body of Jozef De Veuster (Father Damiaan). Why? Well fifty years earlier he befriended a local population of lepers on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i where only the sick were permitted to live. With bodies strewn in what passed from the streets, he dealt with a dissolute community that openly - and correctly - blamed the white man for bringing the ghastly disease in the first place. His priestly duties see him take charge of their future and in but a decade, the place has become a home for Christianity, hope and even running water. Just how long, though, can he survive before he too succumbs to this disease? When it does arrive, this man uses the news to improve the lot for his people - supplies arriving from all over the world to make their lives better and to offer them hope and medication for the future. Carey Wilson narrates this story and Tom Neal portrays this missionary without any dialogue and that didn't quite work for me. It's an interesting story but I found that the limiting nature of the photography brought little to what would have been a better radio broadcast that allowed us to use more of our own imagination. Still, it's a story worth watching of an illness the treatment of which hadn't really advanced since the times of Ben Hur. (PS: Father Damiaan was canonised in 2009).

"The Great Heart" is a short film about Father Damien, a famous and recently cannoized 19th century priest who gave his life ministering to the lepers on Molokai Island, Hawaii.

This short film is similar in style to many of MGM's shorts of the late 1930s...it's narrated as actors silently act out what the narrator is saying. While I don't love this style, the film is well made and gives a nice overview of the man's ministry. Far better, you might want to see a longer biography of the great man, such as "Father Damien the Leper Priest" or "The Story of Father Damien".

In Feb. 1936, the King of Belgium requests a transport from the Americans for a Belgian hero. Joseph Damien de Veuster has been dead for 50 years. Known as Father Damien (Tom Neal), he worked with the banished lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.

It's an Oscar nominated MGM short. It's an old fashion biopic. It's a fascinating life doing God's work. I've never heard of him. I can do without the Carey Wilson narration. I would rather hear the words from the Father's own mouth. The narration keeps the audience at an arm's length. It's a simple short. I can see this being nominated more for the man's service.

In this day and age we're living in, religious figures have come under intense scrutiny for some really serious failings, it's a pleasure to know that some really do walk the walk. No one more so than Father Damien of Molokai who found his calling ministering to the leper colony of Molokai until he himself came down with the ancient biblical plague, known in the modern world as Hansen's Disease.

The short subject is narrated by Carey Wilson and a young Tom Neal played Father Damien in the short docudrama. A much more ambitious production was done as a made for TV film with Ken Howard as Father Damien. The big screen in America has not touched this inspiring story oddly enough.

I think it's ironic that Tom Neal should be playing Father Damien considering the problems he later got into. Let's just say his life was far from saintly.

The Great Heart got an Oscar nomination for Best Short Subject. It's a cheaply made film, but with the most inspiring of subjects.