Of Human Hearts

Of Human Hearts (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This MGM film starts off as melodrama then moves to soap opera before eventually crashing as something completely cornball. Thankfully we have a terrific cast delivering fine performances or else this thing wouldn't work at all. It tells the story of a preacher (Walter Huston) who is constantly battling his son (James Stewart as adult, Gene Reynolds as child) who eventually wants to go in a different direction and become a doctor. The son goes off to medical school and constantly has to write home asking his poor mother (Beulah Bondi) for money and never really giving her the time or credit she deserves for her sacrifice. OF HUMAN HEARTS offers up a terrific cast but the story turns so incredibly cornball during the final fifteen-minutes that you can't help but throw your hands up in the air and wonder what the studio, writer and director were thinking. This is certainly far from a bad movie but this is due to the terrific cast including Huston who turns in another strong performance. He plays the part in the typical Huston fashion, which means integrity and stern. Stewart is also very good in his part as he manages to really make you believe how naive and rather stupid his character is when it comes to what his mother is doing for him. Reynolds plays the part as a child and he too is wonderful and works extremely well with Huston as the two are constantly going against one another. Bondi deserved her Oscar-nomination as her role doesn't feature too many lines but we get to know everything we should by her simple body movements and some extremely strong work with her eyes, which tells so much. The supporting cast includes good bits by Guy Kibbee as a cheap store owner, Gene Lockhart as a janitor, Ann Rutherford as Stewart's girlfriend and Charles Coburn as the town doctor/drunk. One of the best performances in the film comes from John Carradine who is only here for about four-minutes as he plays President Lincoln. The performance by Carradine is very striking because of how he plays the part. The actor comes off incredibly strong and you can't help but feel as if you're watching a real president. I was really shocked at how close Carradine looked like Lincoln so you have to give the make-up department a lot of credit. However, this scene is extremely bad as Lincoln calls Stewart in from the Civil War to jump on him for not writing to his mother!! This scene is so incredibly bad and it leads to an even worse conclusion that you can't help but wish Carradine had gotten a separate movie where he could have played this part. It also doesn't help that the screenplay doesn't make the preacher or the son characters you really care about because both of them seem way too self-centered. With that said, if you're a fan of any of the cast members then you might want to check this out but sadly it's yet another MGM that contains way too much sugar for its own good.

This was directed by Clarence Brown and stars Walter Huston and Jimmy Stewart. The movie starts out with Huston arriving in a small Ohio town before The Civil War with his wife and son. The people agreed to pay Huston $400 dollars a year but Guy Kibbee talks them down to $250 but Huston doesn't seem to mind and his son does. Kibbee tries to take advantage of Huston but he knows how to take care of himself and he is pretty tough with his son. His son becomes friends with Charles Coburn who is the town doctor but is a drunk and his father doesn't like it. The son then grows up to become James Stewart and he is interested in becoming a doctor but his family is poor and can't afford to send him. Stewart eventually becomes a doctor during the Civil War and John Carradine has a cameo as Abraham Lincoln, even though you can't recognize him.

The author touches the heart with old story that relates to today's "me" society (which in many cases is without gratitude for the contributions of others). The acting is superb and conveys the emotions of the story without special effects needed. Recommend this movie highly to everyone, should be mandatory for those under 25.

Antebellum, or pre-Civil War America, is seldom dealt with in movies. In the studio age it was largely ignored. Of Human Hearts is an exception. Set in frontier Ohio it concerns the rebellious son of a decent but inflexible minister who seeks to be a doctor and learn about the world. He get more than he bargained for after the guns fire on Fort Sumter, and the film traces his life from uneasy boyhood to uncomfortable manhood. James Stewart excels in an early lead role; and as his father Walter Huston is suitably starchy and forbidding. The backlot recreation of early small town America is wonderfully realized by director Clarence Brown and Company. There are some splendid supporting performances by, among other, Beulah Bondi, Charlie Grapewin, and especially Charles Coburn, as the village doctor who likes to drink and who becomes Stewart's mentor. As an historical footnote it's worth mentioning that the film was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the late thirties, and is an atypical product for them, as they were poaching, as it were, on movie territory that one associates with the more folsky Fox studios of the time, and did a rather good job at it, too.

This is a pre-civil war and civil war movie.

It stars Walter Huston, Beulah Bondi and Jimmy Stewart as a minister's family with little money and a number of misunderstandings between Father Ethan and son, Jason. The mother, Mary, ends up trying to be the constant peace keeper.

Ethan wants his son to be a preacher. The dream of Jason's heart is be a doctor. Mary loves her husband but wants to see their son happy in the life's work he desires to do. Jason is to self-centered to see what his bickering with his father is doing to his mother.

In anger Jason runs off. Goes to school and then war. His mother doesn't hear from him for several years and she finally contacts President Lincoln (John Carradine) to learn where her son is and if he's alright.

Lincoln's reaction is predictable since we must remember Lincoln lost his mother, Nancy, at a young age. Now a decision must be made on what Jason will do. How much has he grown up? Will he realize he has broken his mother's heart?

It's at least a big box of hankies movie for all of us.