Cheap Of Human Hearts (Video) (Walter Huston, James Stewart) (Clarence Brown) Price

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Customer Reviews of Of Human Hearts

AMERICANA
OF HUMAN HEARTS was Jimmy Stewart's first major piece of Americana, his first serious foray into the nature of the American spirit. This story of frontier life in a village on the banks of the Ohio River in the pre-Civil War era was a pet project of director Clarence Brown. A whopping prize of $5,000 was awarded to a high school student in North Carolina named Ray Harris - he gave the film its title which was based on BENEFITS FORGOT authored by Honore Morrow and published 20 years previously. Although there are definite cornball elements in the film, and its somewhat too slowly paced, the film stands up as a good evocation of the period in which it takes place. Huston gives a remarkable performance as the zealous preacher and Bondi is great as his gentle soul of a wife. The film was beneficial to Stewart's career; it was his first crack at a fully developed charactisation - and its success made it obvious that he was an actor with a definite future.

A Lesser Know Classic
The first time I watched this wonderful movie, I was only 10 years old and even at that tender age it touched my heart. This moving story of a selfish young boy who learns the hard way the importance of gratitude, is one of the lesser known classics, yet it has over the years become one of my personal favorites.

Filmed in 1938 at the height of Hollywood's golden age this Clarence Brown directed yarn contains a full measure of the sentimental charm that so characterized the historical dramas that were being produced at the time.

The story takes place shortly before the Civil War and centers on the young son of a poor country preacher who decides he wants to become a doctor much to his father's displeasure and his mother's secret approval. From the very beginning he is shown to be an ingrate, full of embarrassment and shame for the shabby living conditions and tattered hand-me-down clothes grudgingly provided to the family by the community in place of payment for his father's services as preacher. He is forever getting his sweet mother played by the great Bullah Bondi to sell off cherished family heirlooms to meet his selfish wants and with no appreciation at all for the sacrifice. As the years pass and he grows into manhood, the conflict between father and son becomes harsher by the day, until finally the two come to blows which pushes the son to leave town and pursue his dream of becoming a Doctor. He works his way through medical school by cleaning the headmaster's apartment, and with the continued sell-off of his mother's things but soon after entering medical school his father becomes ill and dies. Now his poor mother is left all alone to fare for herself with only the friendship of the town drunk to lean on for moral support. As the Civil War escalates the young doctor is enlisted as an army surgeon and after several years away at war without even as much as a letter, his mother finally gives up hope and believes he has been killed in battle. The scenes of her living with this heartbreak are sure to bring tears. I won't spoil the outcome for you; it should be experienced to be fully appreciated.

The incredible cast of this film including James Stewart, Walter Huston, Bullah Bondi, Guy Kibbee and Sterling Holloway is actually what makes the film work so well, they each fit their characters seamlessly, from the main cast to the wonderful list of supporting character actors. It is a classic story that you will cherish dearly.