The film 7th Heaven has a lot going on in its almost-two-hour run time. It’s a love story between two members of the lower classes in Paris in the early part of the 20th century, but it’s also a war movie set during World War I. It’s also a commentary on making oneself better through hard work, the possibility that we might have to improve our lot in life. With all of that going on, the film still manages to be visually stunning and quite coherent in its characterizations of the poor and so-called downtrodden.
The two central characters are Chico (played by Charles Farrell) and Diane (Janet Gaynor, one of three award-winning roles she played that year). Chico is a sewer worker, but he has aspirations to be a street washer. He keeps telling everyone, himself included, that he’s a “very remarkable fellow.” Many online sources claim that Diane is a prostitute, but there’s little direct evidence of that in the film itself. She’s certainly poor and under the tyrannical control of her sister Nana (Gladys Brockwell, enjoying playing the part of a villain perhaps a bit too much). Nana terrorizes Diane and frequently beats her harshly with a whip.
Nana is particularly brutal to Diane after their rich aunt and uncle reappear after years away in a foreign country. The couple will take care of the girls, but the uncle wants to ensure that they’ve kept themselves “clean.” I think we all know what that means, but Diane cannot lie. They’ve not been “clean,” so perhaps that is where the implication of her being a prostitute comes from? In retaliation for losing them all the family riches, Nana beats her sister even after the young woman tries to escape to the street. That’s when Chico intervenes and rescues Diane. I suppose that’s what filmmakers of the day would have considered a “meet cute.”
Diane – who is at this point completely hopeless and full of despair – tries to kill herself with Chico’s knife, but he stops her. He also prevents her from being arrested by the police by claiming that she’s his wife. He takes her to his apartment so that she doesn’t wind up in jail like her sister, but he keeps warning her that she cannot stay with him forever. In his mind, this is only a temporary arrangement, at least at first. I think moviegoers back then were probably already guessing that the two of them were destined to be together. It’s not necessarily a new story although the setting and the particular characters are certainly distinctive.
Their journey to his attic apartment is where you can begin to appreciate the quality of the cinematography in 7th Heaven. The camera follows them as they climb the stairs, and we get to see the different floors as they rise in the building. It’s a masterful pairing of cinematography and production design to provide such a moment. Chico’s apartment looks out over the rooftops of Paris. As he puts it, he lives “near the stars.”
Despite what you might expect, especially considering that most reviewers think she’s a prostitute, they don’t sleep together that first night – he’s quite the gentleman, as they say – but she makes him breakfast and helps him get dressed the next morning. You can tell that she’s already smitten with him. We watch as they slowly begin to acknowledge their attraction to each other. There’s a lovely moment when she mends his coat and then puts its sleeves around her as she’s sitting in a chair. It’s just charming, and Gaynor’s large expressive eyes make the scene even more charming. We get to see their love for each other increase until he causes her to cry happy tears when he lets her stay with him. Chico brings her flowers one day and a lovely dress, which turns out to be a wedding gown. He finally says he loves her after seeing how beautiful she is in the dress.
However, here’s where the narrative takes quite the sharp turn. He and his neighbor/co-worker have to go to war. Like, immediately. As in, the soldiers are starting to march through the streets of Paris, and you have to go join them or you’ll be considered disloyal. It’s a bit of a stunner to see how quickly the film pivots from this marvelous happy moment in their dismal lives. They “marry” in his apartment before he leaves at 11 a.m., and he promises that no matter where he is, he will pause at 11 every day to “talk” to her. I guess people used to say things like that when they were being separated by war.
The intercutting of the scenes of him at war with scenes of her at a munitions factory makes for some interesting juxtapositions. He’s being rather heroic, and she’s become stronger and less fearful after driving her awful sister away by beating Nana with her own whip. She’s also managed to fend off a soldier who keeps hitting on her at the factory. When it’s 11 a.m., we get to see their images superimposed as they speak to each other just as he had promised. It doesn’t matter that he’s in a foxhole and she’s in the factory; his fellow soldiers and her coworkers all know what’s going on at 11 each day. Visually, we’re able to see just how connected and close they remain emotionally even though they are far apart geographically.
7th Heaven opts for somewhat of a Hollywood ending for Chico and Diane. She’s been told that he’s died in the war, but she refuses to believe it. When enough people tell her and she starts to think she’s lost him, she breaks down in tears. She’s sad and angry, and Gaynor gets quite the emotional scene. It’s probably a moment that like that clinched the Best Actress Oscar for this role. Of course, he arrives at their apartment at just that precise moment, and the lighting makes him seem almost ghost-like (or Christ-like, you pick). He’s alive, yes, but blinded. However, he claims that he won’t stay that way long because, as he’s stated repeatedly, he’s a “very remarkable fellow.” Having a catchphrase like that can do wonders for a somewhat underdeveloped character. It perhaps explains why Farrell tends to overplay his lines while Gaynor is much more subdued and subtle.
The film’s look, especially the scenes in the streets of Paris, is clearly influenced by German Expressionism. It was a common style at the time, as evidenced by some of the other films nominated for Oscars in that first year. The print that I watched did not seem to be fully restored, but you could tell that some of the images are almost as beautiful as those in Sunrise, another film from the same year starring Gaynor. Unfortunately, the version I saw also had a score that used the song “Manhattan” (“We’ll have Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island too…”) throughout the movie. Since the film is set in Paris, I kept getting distracted by music associated with another city and another continent. Apparently, 7th Heaven was released with an original score and sound effects, but I certainly hope it wasn’t the one that I listened to.
Oscar Wins: Best Actress (Janet Gaynor), Best Directing of a Dramatic Picture (Frank Borzage), and Best Writing/Adaptation
Other Nominations: Outstanding Picture and Best
Art Direction
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