Hearts of the World (1918)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writers:

D.W. Griffith (English translation)
D.W. Griffith (scenario)

Release Date:

13 January 1921 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

D.W. Griffith's Supreme Triumph

Plot:

A group of youngsters grow up and love in a peaceful French village. But war intrudes and peace is shattered...

Plot Keywords:

Army | Engagement | Village Life | Attempted Rape | Musician

Cast

D.W. Griffith	...	Himself (in prologue for British release)
David Lloyd George	...	Himself - the British Prime Minister (in prologue for British release)
Sir Edward Grey	...	Himself - British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Addressing House of Commons (archive footage)
René Viviani	...	Himself - the French Premier Addressing French Chamber of Deputies (archive footage)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Elizabeth Asquith	...	Nurse
Valerie Germonprez	...	Red Cross nurse
Lady Lavery	...	Nurse
Diana Manners	...	Nurse
Bettina Stuart-Wortley	...	Nurse

Also Known As:

Love's Struggle (USA) (pre-release title)
Aos Corações do Mundo (Portugal) [pt]
Coeurs du monde (France) [fr]
Corazones del mundo (Spain) [es]
Cuori del mondo (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Aéroport du Bourget, Le Bourget, Seine-Saint-Denis, France

Company:

D.W. Griffith Productions

Trivia:

D.W. Griffith filmed some battle scenes during actual battles at the front in France. While he was out near the front trenches scouting locations, his party came under a surprise German artillery barrage. Griffith and his assistant jumped in a nearby ditch, and when the barrage was over they emerged from the ditch to discover that although they were uninjured, a shell had exploded near the ditch, killing the two soldiers acting as their escorts, along with a dozen other soldiers standing nearby.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Moving Picture Boys in the Great War (1975)

Good

Hearts of the World (1917)

*** (out of 4)

D.W. Griffith's WW1 epic has two Americans (Robert Harron, Lillian Gish) living in France and falling in love. When the German's attack the man goes off to fight, which ends with devastating results. The actual making of this film is somewhat more interesting than the final product, although the movie is still good but several notches below The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. After that epic 1916 film Griffith wanted to try something bigger and found that the British government was willing to give him full access to anything he wanted. Griffith wanted to shoot real battle scenes and that's what he did for the film and he nearly once again was killed doing so. The British paid for the film to be made in hopes that it would inspire America to join the war effert. As for the film, it has some brilliant moments but sadly the love story really brings things down, which was somewhat surprising since Griffith is usually good with the melodrama. Harron is decent in his role but not strong enough to carry the film. Gish on the other hands is terrific as usual as is her sister Dorothy. Erich von Stroheim plays one of the German's in charge. The battle scenes, a lot of them real WW1 footage, is the highlight of the film and like Griffith's previous two films, it's rather amazing to see everything play out. This is certainly some of the greatest battlefield scenes I've ever watched. There's also another terrific scene where Gish, fearing her love is dead, tries to find him in the trenches. Gish's walk mixed with the beautiful cinematography makes this an unforgettable scene. In the end the film is certainly flawed but the battle scenes make it worth at least one viewing.