Ingratidão

This is a story about family relationships, set in the time before and during the American Civil War. Ethan Wilkins is a poor and honest man who ministers to the human soul, while his son Jason yearns to be a doctor, helping people in the earthly realm. It is a compelling story about striving for excellence, the reality and tension fathers and sons can experience when a son comes of age, and the love of a mother that can never die.

While both inspiring and at times reminding us of our own failures, it provides a message of hope as well. There is a richness here that is timeless. This film develops its characters at the beginning, not rushing to get to the point. You get to know them. The Civil War elements are very much in the background and clearly secondary to the main theme. This is not a war movie. It is a story about real people.

The surprise at the end of this drama is both forceful and full of genuine emotion. A absolute must see for John Huston and Jimmy Stewart fans, and deserves to be a classic in its own right. Easily one of Stewart's best.

First off I love most Jimmy Stewart movies Its a wonderful life,Harvey,The Man that shot Liberty Valance just to name a few. I first saw this movie on a classic channel but only got to watch the first 45 minutes or so and I had to leave. I didn't even catch the title so it took me awhile to run it down going through IMDb. Like one of the other reviewers said its whats wrong with America today. Do yourself a favor and watch this Movie excellent story keeps your attention all the way through.I just wish they made more movies like this today,The Guy that plays President Lincoln was excellent. I managed to find it only on VUDU which is Wal Marts PPV service, searched Amazon its only on VHS I sure hope somebody transfers this to DVD and some other old Titles I've been searching to find.

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.

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.

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.