the leading man is my tpye

Wonderful character development!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Lillian Gish is one major reason I want a time travel machine.She was one of the loveliest women ever photographed; and she was a marvelous actress."Hearts of the World" is a major production, with some astonishing, especially for 1918, technical achievements.Other reviewers have mentioned Billy Bitzer's photography, and every mention that can be made should be made: Magnificent!Griffith's direction, overall, is also magnificent, but there are times the camera angle changes result in choppiness; perhaps, though, that is an editing fault more than one of directing.Acting overall is superb; the story is heart-rending; the anti-war feeling engendered is urgent.Ironically, supposedly the movie was made at the behest of the Brits, trying to propagandize these United States into joining the war. Yet Griffith still managed to portray the horrors of war, with a not exactly subliminal message against those horrors.Lillian Gish said, "I don't believe that Mr. Griffith ever forgave himself for making 'Hearts of the World.' 'War is the villain,' he repeated, 'not any particular people.'""War's gift to the common people," reads one intertitle, as the people of the French village are told to evacuate.The Girl, who was supposed to be marrying The Boy on this day, hurries to try to save her wedding ensemble."In the little room where she had dreamed so many dreams, she puts her sweetest one away," says the intertitle, while she tries to hide away her wedding gown. She is one of those "common people" who are allowed to exist only as cogs in the great machinery of the state, for the state, not for their own purposes.Human lives matter not at all, not even lives of the civilians not, supposedly, actively engaged in the conflict.All that matters is the state, the government, and such ephemera as national pride. More solid, but still meaningless, entities as national boundaries count for more than mere human beings.D.W. Griffith was the son of a war hero, Roaring Jake Griffith, who, after being wounded, still led a charge against the invading Yankees -- driving a wagon!Yet David Wark Griffith opposed war's horrors and demonstrated that opposition in several movies, including "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance."In some ways, "Hearts of the World" is his biggest achievement even though it is little known today.There are some few versions at YouTube.com, but the first one on the list has no music, the second has a score that is sometimes inappropriate. But both are pretty good prints. "Hearts of the World" is a must see, for its own self, and for your own self as a movie historian or as a movie scholar or as a movie fan.

Hearts of the World (1918) is among the least discussed of D.W. Griffith's films. There's a reason for that: it's a letdown after Intolerance (1916) and certainly not as entertaining as his more popular works. This is a propaganda picture through and through, and it has not weathered the years well.The plot is one melodramatic stock situation after another. Girl and boy promise to marry, but war intervenes. The Germans invade their village and do all sorts of Hun-ish villainy. Little kids cry over their mother's death bed. Lillian Gish is literally trapped in-between the thighs of a lascivious Prussian officer out to threaten her virginity. Americans drop in to save the day.The characters are almost all one-dimensional, but unlike Intolerance or Way Down East (1920) they are not made compelling by the actors. It's a shame, because everyone in this film was capable of better, especially the great Lillian Gish. Here she overacts to an almost embarrassing extreme, stuck between cooing at ducklings in a girlish manner or shrieking in a fit of madness.In fact, this film suffers from the same issue as Griffith's later epic, America (1924): it's too derivative of The Birth of a Nation (1915), with its bestial villains, bland central love story, and big battle scenes. Unfortunately, unlike Birth or America, Hearts' battle sequences are tension-free and uninspired.The sole redemptive feature of Hearts is Dorothy Gish as the Little Disturber. Flirty and free-spirited, she actually comes across as a human being in a world of uninspired stock characters. She also avoids being passive in her suffering and even rescues Robert and Lillian from death at the hands of the Huns during the climactic sequence.Only for those interested in Griffith or WWI propaganda; everyone else will leave disappointed.

The relationship between this Herr Graf and Herr D. W. Griffith has been always complicated, even tumultuous through the years due to artistic considerations and differences. These disputes don't of course lessen the Amerikan director's fundamental importance in cinema history for this German count. The basic problem with Herr Griffith is that he is sometimes simplistic in his stories and often paternalistic combining religion and conservative values that make some of his work seem very dated. "Hearts Of The World" has many of those irreconcilable artistic differences for this German count. The film depicts the loves and sorrows of two American citizens in France ( Why do they have to be Americans? Surely there were lovers in France) and their families in a little town during WWI.During the first part of the film, Herr Griffith depicts the idealized and tranquil lives of the two sweethearts, their families and their neighbours, all in the typical and sentimental Herr Griffith style. There is so much sweetness in the air that this Herr Graf found himself looking forward anxiously to the arrival of Germans. Arrive they finally do, invading the village and poisoning the idyllic life with their brutality and bad manners."Hearts Of The World" it is not a pacifist film; it is true that in 1918, the date of the film's release, the world was still licking its wounds after such a big disaster but the end of the war was in sight and new perspectives were emerging making the film's lopsided and patriotic approach seem out of date. Obviously "Heart Of The World" is a fictional film not a documentary ( although the film includes real war sequences besides a prologue for the British release in which Herr Griffith himself appears in the war trenches and at 10 Downing Street; a good example of Griffith's sense of self importance ) nor does it need to be one but the story lacks interesting and realistic characters.As this Herr Graf mentioned before, the typical Herr Griffith mannerisms don't reduce his artistic accomplishments and there is much narrative vigor in this film, especially during the war sequences. It has a number of strong scenes, including one wherein our hero is paying a visit to his sweetie ( well, he's on some sort of secret mission while his comrades are being killed trying to retake the village). There is also a beautiful sequence showing our suffering heroine, temporarily deranged, and wandering in the field camp looking for her fiancée. Also outstanding are the decors and the skillful combination of fictional and real war sequences; splendid editing gives motion and emotion to those scenes.The actors do their best within the limits of Herr Griffith's particular artistic interests; Herr Douglas Gordon Hamilton does well as the handsome hero, a promising bourgeoisie writer before the war. Frau Lillian Gish and her curls, is the typical Herr Griffith heroine, conservative and candid. She will lose her innocence during wartime but emerge the stronger for it. Meanwhile Frau Lillian Gish's sister, Frau Dorothy, playing the Little Disturber overacts painfully while the German actors play their characters as America saw Germans, brutal and ruthless, utterly indifferent to the pain of others."Hearts Of The World" is a Herr Griffith film that devotees of the Amerikan film director will enjoy a lot and those who have many differences with the Griffith style, will still appreciate it to some extent if they put aside the Amerikan director's conventional and dated approach to the story and characters.And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must attend a soirée full of heartless Teutonic aristocrats.Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com

I just returned from a screening of Hearts of the World at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This screening showed a restored version of the film with live piano accompaniment by the brilliant pianist, Donald Sosin. The film itself was quite spectacular but it was made even more so by the incredible artistry of Donald Sosin. He played for the entire 2 1/2 hours, without a break, and with just a few notated markings. He presented a very operatic treatment of the story, which suited the plot perfectly. I was fascinated by his ability to improvise many musical themes and leitmotivs-all with such great flare and virtuosity. I must admit that these silent films can have very fragile plots but with the right kind of music accompanying them, they take on real substance and even nuance. MOMA should be congratulated for taking silent films so seriously and making sure that they all receive live musical accompaniment