Coeurs du monde

Representative of all the innocent HEARTS OF THE WORLD, two American families living in a picturesque French village experience the horror & devastation of the Great War.

This rarely seen film is the result of a somewhat surprising collaboration between the British government & genius American filmmaker D.W. Griffith. With the hideous World War still burning across Europe, the old men in Downing Street thought it would be well if filmed propaganda was produced which might help induce America into joining The Effort.

After his tremendous achievements with THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915) & INTOLERANCE (1916), it was obvious that Griffith was the world's foremost cinematic director. A devout pacifist, he undertook the difficult challenge of turning battlefield horrors into a story suitable for the screen. That accomplished, Griffith actually took some of his cast & crew across the dangerous Atlantic to London (and a meeting with Prime Minister David Lloyd George) and then it was on to France for some quick filming at the front lines.

All of which proved unnecessary. Infuriated by Berlin's unrestricted use of submarine warfare, America declared war on Germany in April of 1917, months before HEARTS OF THE WORLD could be completed back in Hollywood.

While not as innovative or groundbreaking as its two celebrated predecessors, HEARTS OF THE WORLD can stand on its own merits. Filled with Griffith's special touches, its principle value exists in its revelation of his contemporaneous feelings about the War, even as the conflict still raged. He bestowed on it sequences as poignant and harrowing as any in his oeuvre. Who can forget Lillian Gish on her wedding day, driven mad by the bombardment, preparing to spend her bridal night alongside the corpse of her betrothed? Or the sight of three little boys secretly burying their dead mother in a cellar, so her body would not be disgraced by the enemy. Griffith assures scenes such as these are not easily banished from the viewer's memory.

Besides the numinous Miss Gish, appreciation should be extended to Bobby Harron as the film's stalwart hero; this fine young actor would die in 1920 of an accidental gunshot wound, not a suicide as is usually reported. Dorothy Gish plays a feisty, comedic role, giving the film a light touch at welcome intervals. Josephine Crowell & Kate Bruce are memorable as the two tragic mothers, both victims of the war.

Also appearing are a couple of stars in embryo: a young Sir Noël Coward is the extra pushing the wheelbarrow containing Miss Lillian's luggage in her first scene. Technical Supervisor Erich von Stroheim is easily recognizable as a bald German officer; he would eventually dominate Hollywood's silent films of the 1920's, using the full force of his own, rather bizarre, genius.

Special appreciation should be paid to the splendid cinematography of Billy Bitzer, who performed yeoman service for Griffith in several of his epics.

Two American families, the Hamiltons and the Stephensons, have immigrated to a tranquil French village. As the film begins, Robert Harron (as "the Boy" Douglas Hamilton) and Lillian Gish (as "the Girl" Marie Stephenson) return home from separate trips. Lillian is obviously infatuated with Mr. Harron, and sets out to win his heart. Meanwhile, singer Dorothy Gish (as "The Little Disturber") arrives in town; and she, with "perseverance and perfume", also sets her sights on handsome Harron. While Dorothy's efforts at seduction are valiant, Harron proposes to Lillian. As they plan their wedding, their lives are interrupted by a bigger "disturber" - The Great War (now called World War I)…

This film, another huge hit for the director, was "commissioned" by the British government (note the introduction), and must have secured the blessings of both the U.S. and French governments. The purpose was to create a pro-war, propaganda epic. Although the film is patriotic, and the war is never exactly shown as unnecessary; it leaves an unmistakable impression as an ANTI-war film. So, what started as "A Love Story of the Great War" becomes "A Love Story Interrupted by a Great War".

Griffith reveals his true anti-war sentiments with the statement, "After all, does war ever settle any question? The South was ruined - thousands of lives were sacrificed -- by the Civil War; yet, did it really settle the Black and White problem in this country?" (This question also offers, arguably, some redemption for Griffith's tendency for racial insensitivity. It's too bad Griffith's "The Greatest Thing in Life" is currently unavailable; in it, Harron shocked audiences by kissing a dying Black soldier.)

In hindsight, it's easy to dismiss "Hearts of the World" as a Griffith production line effort. While it's derivative in film techniques (Griffith's own); it still equals, and sometimes bests, earlier work - for example, witness the improved upon (from "The Birth of a Nation") climatic ending, with Gish frantically trying to escape George Siegmann (as Von Strohm)'s clutches. This, and the battle sequences are, at least, up to the standards set by Griffith; so, it may be unfair to think of "Hearts of the World" as relatively minor. It would likely have won a "Best Picture" of the year, had they been given. Robert Harron would have won an additional "Best Actor" award; and, while Lillian Gish might have lost to Mary Pickford's "Stella Maris", sister Dorothy Gish would have earned a "Best Supporting Actress" award.

Also watch for… G.W. Bitzer's amazing camera work. The explicit, but appropriate scene of a mother nursing her baby during wartime. Dorothy licking her lips over Harron, but settling for "Cuckoo" Robert Anderson. Griffith's parallel symbolism, right down to Gish's goslings and Harron's little brothers. Lillian wandering into madness, and spending her wedding night with her beloved's "corpse". Griffith "regulars" Siegmann, and "mothers" Kate Bruce and Josephine Crowell, who always stand out in lesser roles. Harron very quietly falling in love with the infatuated Lillian, while being pursued by seductive Dorothy; demonstrating the difference between lust (when he kisses Dorothy back) and love (when he eyes Lillian's figure).

There are members of the Harron and Gish families in the cast (and a Walthall), which would be nice to have somebody identify (they are probably somewhere in the opening). Noel Coward may be difficult to recognize; he follows Gish, early on, with a wheelbarrow. Erich von Stroheim is very easy to spot, clicking his Hun heels for the camera. Incredibly, scene-stealing littlest brother Ben Alexander grew up to serve (memorably, as Franz) in Lewis Milestone's "All Quiet on the Western Front" (which owes some debt to this film); later, he co-stared in "Dragnet".

********** Hearts of the World (3/12/18) D.W. Griffith ~ Robert Harron, Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Ben Alexander

What we have here is one of the first generation of propaganda pictures. A few of these appeared in the final years of the First World War, after the US had joined the conflict and just as young Hollywood was beginning to realise the influential power of its medium. This was a war in which nineteenth century pomp and nationalism combined with twentieth century military technology, and as such it was sold with an aggressive and hypocritical zeal.

Hearts of the World happens to be directed by DW Griffith, who had probably done more than anyone else to make the industry what it now was. It appears however that the soft-hearted humanitarian didn't quite have it in him to be a gung-ho warmonger. On the one hand he does make the Germans out to be a bunch of barbaric would-be rapists, but this is actually a fairly restrained portrayal compared to your average recruitment poster of the time, as well as many other movies on other subjects – check out for example the super-ugly anarchist in 1928 white Russian film Tempest. Griffith even seems to be working in a message of sympathy, throwing us some near identical close-ups of a German soldier and Bobby Haron in the first battle scene. And rather than getting us all excited about the business of killing people, Griffith focuses much more on the possibilities of peace and safe homecoming. This is in fact laid on a little too heavily in the early intertitles, the street on which the characters live being called Rue de la Paix (Road of Peace), and a title pointing out that the goslings Lillian Gish fondles are "harmless". Griffith would have been better off relying upon the strength of his images.

And the images here are strong as always. Griffith's scenes of rural idyll are a far more succinct evocation of peace and happiness than his words. A particularly beautiful moment typical of the director is when Gish and Haron meet by the wall of his house, with the actress neatly framed amid ivy creepers like a little portrait. Griffith employs some of his oldest cinematic tricks, for example having villainous George Siegmann walking towards us, showing his actions and mannerisms as he approaches, and finally giving us a menacing close-up as he brushes past the camera, all within one shot. As always one of the director's greatest strengths is the way in which he orchestrates a sequence. Take for example the point at which war is declared and the men go off to fight. We get some busy and intense shots of soldiers marching off and tearful goodbyes, cutting dynamically from one vignette to another. The whole thing ends however with a slow and simple shot of Gish putting away her wedding dress, a poignant ritardando to the frenzy that went before it.

This is one of a handful of features in which both the Gish sisters Lillian and Dorothy appeared. As was usually the case, younger sister Dorothy plays a comical secondary character, alongside a comical secondary actor (Robert Anderson) to form a comical secondary romantic story. She spends most of this picture huffing indignantly and waddling around. It's not a very funny act. Even Lillian is not especially good in this one, her performance being largely wide-eyed innocence or wild hysterics. This was a problem in Broken Blossoms (1919) too, and I think it has a lot to do with her being put into girlish roles that were beneath her. In the early 1910s Griffith seemed to be wanting the actress to grow up quick, putting her in very mature roles in Musketeers of Pig Alley and The Mothering Heart. Perhaps influenced by the more popular Mary Pickford, who had around this time rather disturbingly reverted to child roles, Gish went through a phase of playing it young and cutesy. It didn't suit her, and the poor characterisation really harms this picture.

Hearts of the World is, in an odd kind of way, everything that the typical wartime propaganda picture is – naïve, formulaic and painfully idealistic. But it has also has the propaganda movie's capacity for well-made action sequences, and these are among the pictures few saving graces. Griffith has not lost his touch at putting together a rousing finale, mixing the big canvas (explosions, hordes of soldiers) with the small (Haron's little brothers sheltering together from the melee) in a cross-cutting extravaganza. The story may be a little weaker this time round, as Griffith's stories increasingly would be, but the pioneering director has lost none of his ability to move and excite with the power of his images.

A scene in the Anne book, Rilla of Ingleside, had a mention of the principal characters going to see this movie in 1918, in a theater in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

'Hearts of the World' was another "wanted to like a lot more" sort of film. Do really like to love a vast majority of the films directed by DW Griffith (one of the most important directors in silent film, if not quite one of my favourites). Have liked Robert Harron in other things and the subject matter sounded great, but one of my biggest main reasons was the chance of seeing the immensely gifted Gish sisters Dorothy and especially Lillian in the same film.

While it is definitely worth seeing, 'Hearts of the World' is not a Griffith essential and other films of his represent him a good deal better. Harron has also been better in other roles. The film is well intentioned, well made and has emotional impact and the Gish sisters while not at their very peak both fare very well. 'Hearts of the World' falls well short of being a masterpiece and fares a lot better in the war scenes than the love story, but there are also a lot of things that work very well in its favour.

Beginning with the good things, 'Hearts of the World' looks wonderful. It is a beautifully shot film with the documentary-like war scenes footage fitted seamlessly and remarkably evocatively. The rural scenery is lovingly idyllic and juxtaposes very well with the brutality of the war scenes. Griffith's direction does have glimpses of creative brilliance (if not as much as in a number of his other films), especially in the scenes centering around the war. Which is where 'Hearts of the World' is at its strongest.

The war scenes are far from small in scale and are immensely harrowing, one really does see and feel what the war was really like without being beaten around the head with that fact, staged with searing intensity and still has the ability to shock and bring a lump to the throat. Most of the acting is fine, both Gish sisters coming off brilliantly. Lillian, who excelled more in drama and was better known and more versatile in my view, is deeply moving, her trench scene wrenches the gut. Dorothy, who fared stronger in comedy, is appealingly free spirited. Erich Von Stroheim is interesting in his role.

On the other hand, Harron has given far better performances elsewhere. This is actually the kind of role he did well, but here somehow he came over as rather bland and stiff in a particularly one-dimensionally written role. In a film where all the characters lack depth and are little more than surface cliches. The pace doesn't fully ignite, there is momentum in the war scenes but the love story is dull.

And it is with the romance where 'Hearts of the World' most fails. It is excessively melodramatic and is riddled with contrivances. There is nothing surprising about it either, with so much of it having a lifted out of another film vibe.

In conclusion, watchable for fans of Griffith and the Gish sisters but all did better before and since. 6/10