Of Human Hearts
| Of Human Hearts | |
|---|---|
1938 theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Clarence Brown |
| Produced by | Clarence Brown (uncredited) John W. Considine, Jr. |
| Written by | Conrad Richter (uncredited) |
| Screenplay by | Bradbury Foote |
| Based on |
Benefits Forgot 1917 novel by Honoré Willsie Morrow |
| Starring |
Walter Huston James Stewart Beulah Bondi |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart |
| Cinematography | Clyde De Vinna |
| Edited by | Frank E. Hull |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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100-103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Of Human Hearts is a 1938 American drama film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Walter Huston, James Stewart and Beulah Bondi. Stewart plays an proud and ungrateful son who rebels against his preacher father and (after his father's death) neglects his poverty-stricken mother. Bondi was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Young Jason Wilkins (Gene Reynolds) has a stern but loving preacher father, Rev. Ethan Wilkins (Walter Huston), and a doting mother, Mary Wilkins (Beulah Bondi). Jason is highly intelligent and outgoing, but also proud and stubborn. His father must often beat him with a leather strap for his impertinence, pride, and rudeness. As a young man (James Stewart), Jason falls in love with beautiful Annie (Ann Rutherford). When Jason's father takes him circuit riding, Jason rebels at the bad food and awful living conditions, and has a fistfight with his father. This ruptures their relationship.
Jason goes to medical school, and becomes a doctor. He is increasingly neglectful of his parents, and when his father dies he arrives too late to speak with him one last time. Despite his mother's poverty, Jason repeatedly asks her for money, forcing her to sell her silver spoons, and eventually her wedding band, for food. The American Civil War breaks out, and she must sell Jason's beloved horse Pilgrim to pay for his fancy $70.00 officer's uniform. When Jason fails to write to her for 2 years, Mrs. Wilkins assumes that he is dead and writes a letter to President Abraham Lincoln (John Carradine) asking for information in locating his grave. Lincoln issues an order requiring the young captain to appear before him without delay. Jason arrogantly assumes that he is about to be commended for his actions as a battlefield surgeon. Instead, with the two of them alone in his office, the President accuses him of possessing the worst human quality of all, ingratitude.
Principal photography occurred from October 18 to December 20, 1937. The working title of the film and the title of the novel on which it was based, Benefits Forgot, was taken from a quotation in William Shakespeare's As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7: "Freeze, Freeze, thou bitter sky, Thou dost not bite so nigh as Benefits Forgot." The title of the picture, Of Human Hearts, was selected by MGM after a nationwide contest was advertised on the studio's radio program, Good News of 1938, to determine who could select the best title. The prize, $5,000, was awarded to Greenville, South Carolina, high school student Roy Harris. In addition to the prize money, Harris was also a specially invited guest at the film's world premiere, which was held in his hometown.
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