{"id":31508,"date":"2013-05-17T10:02:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-17T17:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31508"},"modified":"2021-02-04T15:06:04","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T22:06:04","slug":"seventh-heaven-1927","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31508","title":{"rendered":"Seventh Heaven (1927)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Never look down; always look up!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Poster-208x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"208\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-31511\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Poster-208x300.jpg 208w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Poster-88x128.jpg 88w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Poster.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 208px) 100vw, 208px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA French prostitute (Janet Gaynor) browbeaten by her abusive sister (Gladys Brockwell) finds comfort and transformation in the arms of a streetcleaner (Charles Farrell) &#8212; but when World War I descends, Farrell enlists and the newly married couple must sustain their love from afar.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Frank Borzage Films<\/li>\n<li>Janet Gaynor Films<\/li>\n<li>Play Adaptations<\/li>\n<li>Prostitutes and Gigolos<\/li>\n<li>Romance<\/li>\n<li>Silent Films<\/li>\n<li>World War I<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nIn <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>, Peary argues that Janet Gaynor&#8217;s popularity both &#8220;with the public and within the industry&#8221; helped land her the first ever Best Actress Academy Award, for &#8220;three <em>good<\/em> [but not great] performances&#8221; in 1927-28 &#8212; including her role here as a downtrodden young waif whose life is redeemed by a charitable former &#8220;sewer rat&#8221;. Despite solid direction by Frank Borzage, nice use of Expressionistic sets, and Gaynor&#8217;s sympathetic lead performance, the film unfortunately hasn&#8217;t aged all that well &#8212; primarily due to its overly simplistic storyline (based on <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Seventh_Heaven_%28play%29\">a popular Broadway play<\/a>), which doesn&#8217;t really have anywhere interesting to go once Gaynor is rescued from her sorry plight &#8212; speaking of which, Brockwell is a caricature of Evil rather than a three-dimensional character &#8212; and the young couple realize they&#8217;re in love. The imminence of World War I makes for a convenient narrative hitch &#8212; but Gaynor and Farrell&#8217;s promise to &#8220;come to each other&#8221; at 11:00 each day is simply sappy, and the utterly unrealistic ending will have your eyes rolling. Ultimately, this one is only must-see for diehard enthusiasts of silent films, and\/or Oscar completists. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Janet Gaynor as Diane<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Gaynor.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Gaynor.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Gaynor.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Gaynor-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Gaynor-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Lovely Expressionist sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Sets.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Sets.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31513\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Sets.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Sets-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/7th-Heaven-Sets-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it will be of interest to fans of Borzage, silent films, and\/or Oscar winners. Listed as a film with Historical Importance in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0018379\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/silent-volume.blogspot.com\/2011\/11\/7th-heaven-1927.html\">Silent Volume Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.allmovie.com\/movie\/seventh-heaven-v109589\/review\">All Movie Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cinematicthreads.com\/review.php?id=2843&#038;ltr=S\">Cinematic Threads Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Never look down; always look up!&#8221; Synopsis: A French prostitute (Janet Gaynor) browbeaten by her abusive sister (Gladys Brockwell) finds comfort and transformation in the arms of a streetcleaner (Charles Farrell) &#8212; but when World War I descends, Farrell enlists and the newly married couple must sustain their love from afar. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Frank Borzage Films Janet Gaynor Films Play Adaptations Prostitutes and Gigolos Romance Silent Films World War I Review: In Alternate Oscars, Peary argues that&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31508\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31508"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68690,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31508\/revisions\/68690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}