Of Human Hearts

I found this movie very heartwarming as I am a big fan of Jimmy Stewart. I wish movies were still made like this - with heart. It can be all to true to raise a son or daughter who grow up and they kind of forget about their parents. While I admit there are some rather cheesy parts I'd rather watch that than some of the crap that comes out of Hollywood these days! As a mother myself, the parts where she is basically giving her very last dime to send to her son were all too true. What mother would not give everything she had to give her children if she though they needed it? When the son talks to Abraham Lincoln (yes, I believe that was a little far fetched) but I could see a mother writing, believing her son dead, as that could be the only explanation as to why he has not written. All in all this movie was very heartwarming!! I guess to watch it you have to have a heart!

I tuned into this movie at the point where James Stewart's character was summoned from the battlefield to meet with President Abraham Lincoln. I didn't know what had transpired previously in the movie and was waiting to see why the president would take time to speak to him.

I won't divulge all the details of the conversation but I kept thinking during the scene that this is one of the best portrayals of Lincoln I've ever seen. Physically the actor was very convincing and his demeanor was of the type I would except him to have. I finally recognized the voice of John Carradine.

I actually think that Abraham Lincoln could have had a conversation like the one in the movie with a regular soldier. He met with many rank and file people during the war. It was a great scene, well written and produced in my opinion.

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.

This movie is a reminder of the treasures we have to enjoy from the early eras of movie-making. Walter Huston portrays a minister who has sensitivity and understanding for his parishioners but is bound by the restrictive morals of his background. The story takes place in the period before and during the Civil War. The minister has moments when he really is an admirable man; he even has the courage to grab and stop a runaway horse. That horse becomes a thread that winds through the rest of the movie. However, his treatment of his young son is a good example of why ministers' children are often described as troubled. Beaulah Bondi plays the saintly wife/mother whose love binds the family. Her unconditional love and sacrifice first console the boy and then elicit a narrow selfishness from the boy when he leaves home and goes to medical school in Baltimore.

There are some wonderful moments in this movie. It is notable that James Stewart could play such a callow young man who takes advantage of his mother's generosity.

Jason Wilkins (James Stewart) grows up poor and resentful towards his minister father Ethan (Walter Huston). Ethan is a good man but stern and rigid in his beliefs. Ethan's self-sacrificing wife Mary (Beulah Bondi) tries to balance his hardness by being as kind and gentle to their son as she can. When Jason is older he leaves home to go study to become a doctor. He's supported through this by money his parents send him from things they sell. After Ethan's father dies, Jason begins to neglect his mother more, writing home less and less except to ask for money. Eventually he stops writing altogether.

This is an interesting one. I expected after reading some of the lukewarm reviews that it would be a stinker but I actually liked it. It's flawed, for sure, but it's also unique. There is a somewhat muddled message I suppose. The first half of the movie, where Jason is a child (excellently played by Gene Reynolds) creates a sympathetic portrait of him and an unsympathetic one of his father. But after Jason has grown up, he's a selfish ingrate who needs to be slapped around. His father, while still a hard-ass, is shown to have a kinder side and a genuine concern for his fellow man. The two halves do not necessarily have to be out of sync with one another. It's perfectly reasonable to assume that Jason's harsh upbringing has led him to being bitter and selfish. The problem is that the film doesn't seem to take this point of view. Once Jason is an adult, the focus is on his faults only and there's never a hint that his father was ever wrong at all. Add to that the shameful treatment of his saintly mother and Jason becomes downright villainous.

Still, it's an interesting drama with a homespun folksy charm and healthy doses of humor sprinkled throughout. The leads are all good. Guy Kibbee, Charles Coburn, Gene Lockhart, Charley Grapewin, and Sterling Holloway are among the wonderful character actors who brighten things up. Adorable Ann Rutherford is always nice to see, even though she gets little to do here but look pretty. The most famous scene from the movie is where Abraham Lincoln (John Carradine) lays the verbal smack down on Jason. This scene is mocked by many but I loved it. Was it hokey? Sure, but it was also fun and added a nice twist to the movie's climax. A better movie than I think its given credit for being. Stewart and Huston fans should enjoy it.