Seventh Heaven (1927)

Director:

Frank Borzage

Writers:

Austin Strong (play)
Benjamin Glazer (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

7 January 1929 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

"7th Heaven" is the eighth wonder of the movie world...inspiring from start to finish...If you don't see it you've seen nothing in the moving picture line. -- The N.Y. Evening Telegram

Plot Keywords:

1910s | Paris France | Taxicab | WWI | Based On Play

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Janet Gaynor	...	Diane
Charles Farrell	...	Chico
Ben Bard	...	Col. Brissac
Albert Gran	...	Boul
David Butler	...	Gobin
Marie Mosquini	...	Madame Gobin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dolly Borzage
Mary Borzage
Lewis Borzage Sr.
Sue Borzage
Gladys Brockwell	...	Nana
Emile Chautard	...	Father Chevillon
Jessie Haslett	...	Aunt Valentine
Brandon Hurst	...	Uncle George
George E. Stone	...	Sewer Rat
Lillian West	...	Arlette

Also Known As:

7th Heaven

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Received the most nominations of any film at the first Academy Awards ceremony, with five.

Goofs:

When Diane and Chico first climb to "Seventh Heaven" in the crane shot you can see that the stairs hug the walls and has landings. When a blinded Chico makes his way back to Diane at the end of the movie he is climbing a spiral staircase.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 20th Century-Fox: The First 50 Years (1997) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Diane

Stairway to Happiness

SEVENTH HEAVEN, released as 7th HEAVEN (Fox, 1927), directed by Frank Borzage, is a tender love story set in pre-World War I Paris which unites two unlikely people in becoming a highly popular twosome. It stars the pert and angelic Janet Gaynor opposite the tall but not-so-rugged Charles Farrell in their initial union, their first of twelve movies in which they were to appear together.

The story opens with Chico Robas (Charles Farrell), a sewer worker in the streets of Paris whose ambition in life is to someday be promoted to streetcleaner. Although he is self-confident, he lacks religious faith, feeling that God has disappointed him to a point that has turned him into an athiest. Not far from where he is working, Diane (Janet Gaynor) , a frightful young girl, is being abused by her vengeful sister, Nana (Gladys Brockwell), who pleasures herself by whipping the frightful thing for the slightest cause. When Nana feels that she's been cheated out of living the life of luxury with her visiting rich uncle (Brandon Hurst), mainly because of Diane's truthfullness to his questions in saying that they haven't been living the life as "good girls," Nana grabs her whip and starts beating Diane as she runs out the door and into the streets. Lying in the gutter and about to be strangled by Nana, Chico rushes out from his sewer and comes to the girl's aide, frightening Nana away. Later, the unhappy Diane decides to take her own life with Chico's knife, but is soon stopped by him. When Diane is denounced to the police by Nana, Chico, once more comes to Diane's defense and tells the law-abiding officer that this young waife happens to be his wife. Because the police intend to check out his story, Chico, who by now is feeling pity towards the girl, invites Diane to spend the night at his apartment, a seventh floor walk up flat which Diane calls, "Seventh Heaven." During that time, Chico has been offered the job he wants and looks forward to bigger and better things, while Diane, because of Chico's self-confidence that makes him a very "remarkable fellow," is now no longer afraid of living. She would soon prove her courage twice in the story, first by being confronted by the evil Nana once more as she intends on taking her back with her, but this time the weaker sister, Diane, taking the whip from her and runs Nana out of the apartment; and secondly, going through life alone after Chico is ordered to the battlefields after the outbreak of the war. In one of the film's most memorable scenes set during their long separation, Chico and Diane communicate with each other through their hearts and minds every night at the stroke of eleven as promised prior to his departure. Then on one particular evening, Chico is caught in a bombing explosion which sends the message immediately to Diane, now occupying her time as a munitions worker, that something has seriously gone wrong.

This sentimental love story based on the play by Austin Strong, by 1927 standards, was so popular that it earned Janet Gaynor an Academy Award as Best Actress, the first to be honored such an award. Simultaneously, she also won for SUNRISE (1927) and STREET ANGEL (1928). Frank Borzage was voted as Best Director. Twentieth Century-Fox would remake SEVENTH HEAVEN in 1937 with an added plus to spoken dialogue instead of the use of title cards, featuring Simone Simon and James Stewart in the roles originated by Gaynor and Farrell. Like Gaynor, Simon was short and fixed up to resemble her, and like Farrell, Stewart was the ever-tall "remarkable fellow." However, SEVENTH HEAVEN seems to work out better as a silent film mainly because the plot plays better in the twenties then in 1937, which by then seemed old-fashioned and outdated. The differences between the two versions is that the original silent runs two hours while the sound remake is 22 minutes shorter. However, the elements between two lovers remain the same. Even the scene involving the young couple to climb up seven flights of stairs, which might seem to appear as an exhausted journey, but for these two young people in love, it is represented as a trip to "seventh heaven," hence the title. It would be interesting to point out that if SEVENTH HEAVEN were made some ten years earlier, it probably would have been directed by DW Griffith and starred Lillian Gish as the abused waif, with Richard Barthelmess as Chico.

Also in the supporting cast are Ben Bard as Colonel Brissac; David Butler as Gobin; Albert Gran as Boul; Emile Chautard as Father Chevillion; and George E. Stone as The Sewer Rat. Gladys Brockwell as the abusive sister, stands out with her performance in her key scenes, especially with those vengeful eyes that would be an instant reminder to that of future star Joan Crawford.

SEVENTH HEAVEN was one of the twelve selected films to appear during the summer months on public television's 1975 presentation of "The Silent Years" as hosted by Lillian Gish, with a piano score by William Perry from the Paul Killian collection, and off-screen female vocalist singing to the title tune of "Seventh Heaven." In the Critic's Choice Video Masterpiece Collection distributed in 1997, the SEVENTH HEAVEN copy remained the same as it played on TV back in 1975, along with color tinting, but with an added treat. It replaced the William Perry piano score with the original synchronized Fox Movietone score featuring the song and vocalization of "Diane" in the soundtrack.

In spite of how SEVENTH HEAVEN will play to movie goers today, the movie itself represents the kind of movies made popular during the bygone era and should be treated as such. But it is Janet Gaynor, under the tender direction of Frank Borzage, whose expert know-how, succeed in making this sugary romance into something special.