Hearts of the World
About Hearts of the World
In a French village before the war, an American boy, Douglas, and a girl, Marie, plan to marry. He enlists when the war starts. Shelling kills his father and her mother and grandfather. Marie, out of her mind, finds him wounded on the field. The Little Disturber, who had wanted him herself, nurses Marie. A German officer, von Strohm, tries to assault Marie and is called away. Douglas comes back disguised as a German officer. They kill a sergeant who finds them and lock themselves in a room at the inn while German soldiers beat on the door and French troops retake the town.
Cast & crew
More about Hearts of the World
The British government asked Griffith, while American opinion was still neutral, to make a war picture. He wrote, produced, and directed it. Exteriors were shot in England from May to October 1917. He filmed trenches on two trips to France. Battle scenes were restaged in Los Angeles in November and December 1917 with British and Canadian troops, on a stage at the Fine Arts Studio. Billy Bitzer, Alfred Machin, and Hendrik Sartov photographed it. James Smith edited. Lillian Gish plays Marie, Robert Harron plays Douglas, Dorothy Gish plays the Little Disturber. Also known as Love's Struggle. Paramount released it through Artcraft. The U.S. opening was 12 March 1918. The War Office Committee was part of the production.
Themes
Background
Commissioned while the United States was still neutral, and released in March 1918, after America had entered the war, as a story of a French village under German occupation.
Making
Griffith shot real trench material in France and then rebuilt village fighting in Los Angeles. The Gish sisters and Harron carry the village romance inside the battle footage.
Reviews
Lillian Gish later wrote that the film inflamed audiences and that its German brutality was pushed to the point of absurdity: whenever a German came near her, he beat her or kicked her. She also reported Griffith's regret.
Audiences
It took $1,500,000. Gish said the draw fell off once the Armistice ended the public appetite for war pictures.
Look
Billy Bitzer, with Alfred Machin and Hendrik Sartov, shot English exteriors, French trenches, and the Los Angeles battle stage.
Preservation
A print is held by the Cohen Media Group. The film is in the public domain.
Notes
- Erich von Stroheim plays a German soldier, uncredited. Noël Coward is a villager with a wheelbarrow. David Lloyd George and Sir Edward Grey appear as themselves.
- Ben Alexander plays the boy's littlest brother. Adolph Lestina plays the grandfather.
- The Chicago Board of Censors cut the bayonet close-up, a dancing skirt, and a run of scenes in which a German officer tries to force Marie into a bunk, plus the title Dungeons of Lust.
- L. M. Montgomery has a character in Rilla of Ingleside shout at the screen that the knife is in the heroine's stocking.
- Lillian Gish later said audiences lost interest after the Armistice, and that Griffith came to call war itself the villain.
Scenes
- Marie wanders the battlefield and finds Douglas unconscious.
- Von Strohm is called away in the middle of an assault on Marie.
- Douglas and Marie hold a room at the inn while the door is forced and the French retake the village.
Also available
- Internet Archive (HeartsOfTheWorld)
Quotes
War is the villain, not any particular people.
