HEARTS OF THE WORLD (1918) B/W "silent" 152m dir: D.W. Griffith

w/Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Dorothy Gish, George Fawcett, Josephine Crowell, Adolphe Lestina, Erich von Stroheim, Noel Coward

Director Griffith's epic of WWI is beautifully filmed, with strong performances and some unforgettable scenes (including authentic war footage, although no one is sure exactly how much). The story follows one young Frenchman who goes to war and his family's desperation at home in occupied territory.

From Georges Sadoul's Dictionary of Films: "This somewhat sentimental and melodramatic film espousing the virtues of patriotism and democracy was a great commercial success. There are, however, several touching scenes between the lovers and some excellent battle sequences. Noel Coward made his first screen appearance in a small part."

From D.W. Griffith: American Film Master by Iris Barry: "The original purpose of the film was to convince Americans to enter the war, but before Griffith could begin work, America had entered. The S.S. Baltic, on which [cameraman Billy] Bitzer, Robert Harron and Dorothy Gish sailed for England on May 28, 1917, carried as another passenger General Pershing. America was unprepared, however, and it was almost a year before her armies were well enough organized to help turn the tide. The propaganda aim became our transformation into an angry, fighting people. It was a short war for America, and HEARTS OF THE WORLD had not been released long before the Armistice was in sight. The picture made a lot of money quickly --- its profit by the end of 1918 was more than $500,000 --- before being drastically cut and altered to fit the peace. [Producer Adolph] Zukor wanted a shorter film for Artcraft distribution, and while Griffith fought him for the major showings under his own supervision, wiring his New York office '... if picture is big enough twelve reels is short enough ...,' he consented to a shorter version for general distribution. The peacetime alterations naturally included eliminating scenes that would arouse hatred of the Germans. The film which had begun in twelve reels ended up in eight. Fortunately for archivists, complete shot lists exist for the original and subsequent versions, made up for the use of Griffith's cutters ... when the heavy demand for prints prevented Griffith from supervising all of them.

"'Viewed as drama,' Griffith said, 'the war is disappointing.' Wisely, he chose to portray the awesome holocaust in terms of a few individuals in a small village that changes hands as the fortunes of war sweep over it. The organization of his film was discursive in the manner of the rambling nineteenth century novels on which he grew up. In the abbreviated versions it was incredibly jumpy, but in the restored film there is time to elaborate the elements of the story. Griffith discarded forever the brilliant pyrotechnics of INTOLERANCE, settling down to an assured style in which technical means do not often call attention to themselves. The spectator is moved by, though scarcely aware of, the beautiful slow camera movement that discloses Lillian Gish to the eyes of Robert Harron as he falls in love with her. The next few years might be called the 'Gish period' in Griffith's career, with Lillian Gish playing the lead in one film after another, continually growing in stature as an actress. But Dorothy Gish all but steals this film away from her. Without any really funny material to work with except her own elastic face and jaunty movements, she used her role to launch a magnificent career as star of a long series of comedies.

"Griffith used long explanatory titles to avoid interrupting the flow of action with dialogue titles, the more popular method with other film-makers. As time went on he was much criticized for his titles even by critics who admired his films. Titling was a problem never completely solved in the silent period, and certainly not by Griffith.

"As for HEARTS OF THE WORLD's effectiveness as propaganda, the young Kenneth MacGowan, writing in The New Republic of July 1918, while deploring the lack of restraint in in bloody scenes of violence, said:

'Here we have an art of pure emotion which can go beneath thought, beneath belief, beneath ideals, down to the brute fact of emotional psychology, and make a man or woman who has hated war, all war, even this war, feel the surge of group emotion, group loyalty and group hate.'

"Griffith made several contributions to the war effort along with other Hollywood notables. He made personal appearances to sell war bonds, and produced a one-reel film for the Liberty Loan Appeal starring Lillian Gish, and with Carol Dempster and Kate Bruce. The film was completed in September 1918. In it, Lillian's mother urges her to buy bonds but she prefers to buy clothes until she has a dream of German atrocities which stirs her to patriotism when she awakes. No prints are known to exist today."