''7th Heaven'' (also known as ''Seventh Heaven'') is a 1927 American silent

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

directed by Frank Borzage, and starring Janet Gaynor and

Charles Farrell Charles David Farrell (August 9, 1900 – May 6, 1990) was an American film actor of the 1920s silent era and into the 1930s, and later a television actor. Farrell is probably best recalled for his onscreen romances with actress Janet Gaynor ...

. The film is based upon the 1922 play '' Seventh Heaven'', by Austin Strong and was adapted for the screen by

Benjamin Glazer Benjamin Glazer (May 7, 1887 – March 18, 1956) was a screenwriter, producer, foley artist, and director of American films from the 1920s through the 1950s. He made the first translation of Ferenc Molnár's play ''Liliom'' into English in 1921 ...

. ''7th Heaven'' was initially released as a standard silent film in May 1927. On September 10, 1927,

Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...

re-released the film with a synchronized Movietone soundtrack with a musical score and sound effects. Upon its release, ''7th Heaven'' was a critical and commercial success and helped to establish Fox Film Corporation as a major studio. It was one of the first of three films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture (then called "Outstanding Picture") at the

1st Academy Awards The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and hosted by AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks, honored the best films from 1 August 1927 to 31 July 1928 and took place on May 1 ...

held on May 16, 1929. Janet Gaynor won the first

Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year ...

for her performance in the film (she also won for her performances in 1927's '' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'' and 1928's '' Street Angel''). Director Frank Borzage also won the first Academy Award for Best Director while screenwriter Benjamin Glazer won the first

Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include stage plays, music ...

. In 1995, ''7th Heaven'' was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

Chico works in the sewers of Paris. He dreams of becoming a street sweeper and therefore lights candles in the church. He also asks a blonde woman to be his partner. But his wishes are not granted, which makes him bitter. One day Chico saves the young prostitute Diane, who is suffering from her unscrupulous sister Nana. The police want to arrest the prostitute, who is innocent in spite of her job, but Chico saves her by pretending to be her husband. Now the two have to maintain the facade and act as spouses. So Chico allows Diane to move into his attic with him. In fact, the two find each other. But when the war breaks out, Chico is called up. Diane works in an ammunition factory. News of Chico's death reaches her, but Chico is not dead. He returns home to Diane, wounded and blind.

Cast

Production notes

The Broadway play upon which the film is based starred George Gaul and

Helen Menken Helen Menken ( née Meinken; December 12, 1901 – March 27, 1966) was an American stage actress. Early years Menken was born in New York City to a German-French father, Frederick Meinken, and an Irish-born mother, Mary Madden. Her parents wer ...

and ran at the Booth Theatre for 704 performances. When the play was adapted for the screen, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell were cast in the lead roles. The pairing proved to be so popular, the two went on to star in 11 more films together and were dubbed "America's Favorite Lovebirds". ''7th Heaven'' features the song " Diane" by

Ernö Rapée Ernö Rapée (or Erno Rapee) (4 June 1891 – 26 June 1945) was a Hungarian-born American symphonic conductor in the first half of the 20th century whose prolific career spanned both classical and popular music. His most famous tenure was as the h ...

and

Lew Pollack Lew Pollack (June 16, 1895 – January 18, 1946) was an American song composer and musician active during the 1920s and the 1930s. Career Pollack was born in New York City where he went to DeWitt Clinton High School and was active as a boy sopr ...

, who wrote the song specifically for the film. The song is included on the re-released version of the film.

Reception

''7th Heaven'' initially premiered at the

Carthay Circle Theatre The Carthay Circle Theatre was one of the most famous movie palaces of Hollywood's Golden Age. Located on San Vicente Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, it opened in 1926 and was demolished in 1969. The auditorium itself was shaped in the f ...

in Los Angeles replacing another Fox melodrama '' What Price Glory?'', which had been playing since November 1926. A second opening was held at the Sam H. Harris Theatre in New York City on May 25. Both openings earned a total of $14,500. A series of Movietone shorts featuring Ben Bernie and his Orchestra,

Gertrude Lawrence Gertrude Lawrence (4 July 1898 – 6 September 1952) was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York. Early life Lawrence was born Gertr ...

, Raquel Meller, and

Charles "Chic" Sale Charles Partlow "Chic" Sale (August 25, 1885 – November 7, 1936) was an American actor and vaudevillian. Early years Sale was born in Huron, South Dakota, and raised in Urbana, Illinois. He was a son of Frank and Lillie Belle (née Part ...

preceded the film. Upon its release, ''7th Heaven'' was a critical and commercial success. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' critic stated that the film "grips your interest from the very beginning and even though the end is melodramatic you are glad that the sympathetic but self-satisfied Chico is brought back to his heart-broken Diane." The critic also praised Borzage's direction, stating that the director "has given it all that he could put through the medium of the camera." The film went on to play for 19 weeks in New York City and for 22 weeks in Los Angeles. Due to the film's success and the success of other Fox films featuring sound elements (''Sunrise'', ''What Price Glory?''), the studio re-released ''7th Heaven'' with a synchronized Movietone soundtrack, including a musical score arranged by Ernö Rapée and sound effects. The re-release version premiered at New York City's Roxy Theatre on September 10, 1927. By 1932, ''7th Heaven'' had become the 13th-highest-grossing American silent, earning more than $2.5 million at the box office.

Awards and honors

Remakes and adaptations

A comparatively unknown 1937 remake of the film was produced as a sound feature starring

Simone Simon Simone Thérèse Fernande Simon (23 April 1910 or 1911 – 22 February 2005) was a French film actress who began her film career in 1931. Early life Born in Marseille, France, she was the daughter of Henri Louis Firmin Clair Simon, a French J ...

, James Stewart,

Jean Hersholt Jean Pierre Carl Buron (12 July 1886 – 2 June 1956), known professionally as Jean Hersholt, was a Danish-American actor. He is best known for starring on the radio series '' Dr. Christian'' (1937–1954) and in the film '' Heidi'' (1937).Obitu ...

, and

Gregory Ratoff Gregory Ratoff (born Grigory Vasilyevich Ratner; russian: Григорий Васильевич Ратнер, tr. ; April 20, c. 1893 – December 14, 1960) was a Russian-born American film director, actor and producer. As an actor, he was bes ...

, with Henry King directing. Unlike the 1927 version, the sound remake was not as financially successful. ''7th Heaven'' was adapted for the ''

Lux Radio Theatre ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...

'' four times: October 14, 1934, with

Miriam Hopkins Ellen Miriam Hopkins (October 18, 1902 – October 9, 1972) was an American actress known for her versatility. She first signed with Paramount Pictures in 1930. Her best-known roles included a pickpocket in Ernst Lubitsch's romantic comedy '' T ...

and John Boles (the show's premiere episode); October 17, 1938, with

Jean Arthur Jean Arthur (born Gladys Georgianna Greene; October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991) was an American Broadway and film actress whose career began in silent films in the early 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s. Arthur had feature roles in three F ...

and

Don Ameche Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which ...

; October 16, 1944, with

Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned over five decades, she was nominated ...

and

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II. Johnson was described as the embodiment o ...

(on the show's tenth-year anniversary); and finally on March 26, 1951, with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, recreating their original roles. A television adaptation was aired on October 26, 1953, on the

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

Broadway Television Theatre ''Broadway Television Theatre'' is a one-hour syndicated television anthology series produced by WOR-TV in New York City. The series premiered April 14, 1952 and ran through January 25, 1954. Overview ''Broadway Television Theatre'' featured a ne ...

''. The episode stars

Hurd Hatfield William Rukard Hurd Hatfield (December 7, 1917 – December 26, 1998) was an American actor. He is best known for having played characters of handsome, narcissism, narcissistic young men, most notably Dorian Gray in the film ''The Picture of Dori ...

and Geraldine Brooks and was directed by Robert St. Aubrey. On May 26, 1955, a stage musical version of the film opened at the

ANTA Theatre The August Wilson Theatre (formerly the Guild Theatre, ANTA Theatre, and Virginia Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 245 West 52nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1925, the theater was designed ...

starring

Gloria DeHaven Gloria Mildred DeHaven (July 23, 1925 – July 30, 2016) was an American actress and singer who was a contract star for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Early life DeHaven was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actor-director Carter De ...

and

Ricardo Montalbán Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG (; ; November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009) was a Mexican and American film and television actor. Montalbán's career spanned seven decades, during which he became known for performances in a var ...

. It closed on July 2, 1955, after 44 performances.

Home media

On December 9, 2008, ''7th Heaven'' was included in the ''Murnau, Borzage and Fox'' DVD box set released by

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...

In popular culture

Chinese writer-director

Yuan Muzhi Yuan Muzhi (; March 3, 1909 – January 30, 1978) was an actor and director from the Republic of China and later of the People's Republic of China. Career As an actor, Yuan became extremely popular and took on the nickname "man with a thousan ...

's 1937 film '' Street Angel'' has been cited as being influenced by elements of ''7th Heaven'' and another Frank Borzage film '' Street Angel'' (1928). The theatrical poster for ''7th Heaven'' is displayed on the wall of the student Watanabe's lodgings in the oldest surviving film by the Japanese director

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

, '' Days of Youth: A Student Romance'' (''Gakusei Romansu: Wakaki Hi'', 1929). Filmmaker Damien Chazelle has said the ending of his 2016 musical ''

La La Land ''La La Land'' is a 2016 American romantic musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz pianist and an aspiring actress, respectively, who meet and fall in love ...

'' was inspired by the ending of ''7th Heaven''.

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*''7th Heaven'' essay by Aubrey Solomon at

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*''7th Heaven'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 128-13

* * *
''7th Heaven''
at Virtual History

{{Authority control 1927 films 1927 romantic drama films American romantic drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Fox Film films American films based on plays Films directed by Frank Borzage Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award-winning performance Films produced by William Fox Films set in Paris Films set in the 1910s Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award Films with screenplays by Benjamin Glazer Films with screenplays by Bernard Vorhaus Surviving American silent films Transitional sound films United States National Film Registry films Films set on the French home front during World War I Photoplay Awards film of the year winners 1920s American films Silent romantic drama films Silent war films Silent American drama films