7th Heaven
About 7th Heaven
In Paris, sewer worker Chico gets a street-cleaning job after he meets Father Chevillon. He stops Diane's sister Nana from beating her and tells the police that Diane is his wife, so she moves into his sixth-floor rooms. They fall in love and marry. War takes him, and he is reported dead while she works in a munitions factory. He comes home alive and blind.
Cast & crew
More about 7th Heaven
Frank Borzage directed. Benjamin Glazer adapted Austin Strong's 1922 play Seventh Heaven. H. H. Caldwell and Katharine Hilliker wrote titles. Bernard Vorhaus is an uncredited writer on the Wikipedia credits. William Fox produced it. Fox released it May 6, 1927, in Los Angeles and May 25, 1927, in New York. A synchronized Movietone re-release opened in New York on September 10, 1927. Running time 110 minutes. Wikipedia states the budget as $1.3 million. Wikidata's company line says 20th Century Studios, which is the later name. Janet Gaynor is Diane. Charles Farrell is Chico. Gladys Brockwell is Nana. Albert Gran is Boul. David Butler is Gobin. Marie Mosquini is Madame Gobin. Ben Bard is Colonel Brissac. Émile Chautard is Father Chevillon.
Themes
Background
The story starts in the early 1910s and sends Chico into the war.
In film history
Wikipedia says the hit helped establish Fox as a major studio. In 1995 the Library of Congress placed it on the National Film Registry.
Making
The May 1927 release was a silent film. Fox added the Movietone score and effects for the September 10 re-release.
Audiences
By 1932, Wikipedia ranks it the 13th-highest-grossing American silent, with earnings of more than $2.5 million.
Look
Ernest Palmer and Joseph A. Valentine photographed the sixth-floor rooms and the war passages.
Technique
Fox reissued it with a Movietone soundtrack four months after the silent opening.
Music
Silent at the May 1927 opening. The September 10, 1927 Movietone track carries a score and effects. The theme song is "Diane," by Ernö Rapée and Lew Pollack.
Preservation
Selected for the National Film Registry in 1995. Public domain in the United States in 2023.
Notes
- Before Chico leaves, he and Diane hold a wedding with God as witness.
- Nana comes back during the war and Diane fights her off.
- George E. Stone plays a character called Sewer Rat.
- The theme song is "Diane," by Ernö Rapée and Lew Pollack.
- The film entered the public domain in the United States in 2023.
Awards
- Academy Award for Best Director (Frank Borzage), 1st Academy Awards
- Academy Award for Best Actress (Janet Gaynor), cited with Sunrise and Street Angel
- Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (Benjamin Glazer)
Scenes
- Chico tells the police Diane is his wife.
- They marry with God as witness before he leaves for war.
- He returns blind after she has been told he is dead.
Influenced by
- Austin Strong's play Seventh Heaven (1922)
Also available
- Internet Archive (7th-heaven)
- Wikimedia Commons (7th Heaven (1927).webm)
- Murnau, Borzage and Fox DVD box set (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, December 9, 2008)
