Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

JohnHowardReid I could write a very large book that touched upon films that, while primarily love stories, actually also have very strong noir elements. Indeed in some of these movies, like "Sunrise" (1927), available on a 10/10 Fox DVD, the noir plot at times totally overwhelms the romance. The star of "Sunrise", Janet Gaynor, had previously headlined the film under review, "7th Heaven" (1927) (another 10/10 Fox DVD) in which, rather than a murderous husband, she was at the mercy of a sadistic sister, from whom she was rescued by a sewer worker (!) only to fall back into the clutches of the whip-wielding sister when her lover is called up to defend Paris from the brutal German invaders of 1914. Extravagantly produced, masterfully directed by Frank Borzage, and beautifully acted by fellow-director David Butler, as well as the stars, Janet Gaynor and her frequent movie partner, Charles Farrell, "7th Heaven"'s strikingly composed studio set-ups were superbly lit by Joseph A. Valentine. Valentine's photography in this movie is centered in a heavily contrasted black-and-white Germanic style, which was soon imitated so much by other cine photographers that it became known in the trade as "Valentine lighting". A decade later, it became a standard component of film noir.

evanston_dad "Seventh Heaven," Frank Borzage's poetic romantic melodrama from 1927, was the last of the three films nominated for the first Best Picture Oscar that I have now finished viewing (the other two being Lewis Milestone's "The Racket" and William A. Wellman's "Wings"). It's a sweet little movie about a meek waif (Janet Gaynor) who meets cute with a macho street cleaner (Charles Farrell) and then proceeds to fall in love with him, and he with her, while living together as a fake husband and wife in order to fool the authorities and prevent Gaynor from going to jail (that's another story, and is disposed of within the film's first 20 minutes or so). From there, the film transitions into full-blown melodrama as Farrell goes off to war and Gaynor waits stoically for him to return.This all would be enough to make one gag, if someone other than Borzage had directed it. He had a knack for taking the most saccharine subject matter and handling it with utmost delicacy; as a result, you're utterly charmed and swept up in the film's romanticism even as your head tells you you should be rolling your eyes. It also helps that Farrell and especially Gaynor were very good actors, and they make the characters believable while keeping the rampant sentimentality at bay.Borzage won the first Best Director Oscar for his work, and Gaynor was Oscar's first Best Actress, winning for this and two other films, "Street Angel" and "Sunrise," back when Oscars were given for entire bodies of work over a year and not for one specific film. Writer Benjamin Glazer completed the film's triplicate wins by taking home the first Oscar for Writing (Adaptation), before a screenplay award even existed."Seventh Heaven" was passed over in the Best Picture category for "Wings," and it also lost Art Direction (for Harry Oliver's impressive Parisian loft and WWI battlefield sets), but with five nominations it emerged as the most nominated film in Oscar's debut year.Grade: A

Cdorothygale-1 This love story is so much a product of its' era, a time of innocence and charm. The leads, Gaynor and Farrell, are simply perfect as the lovers who are parted by World War I. Janet Gaynor is beautiful and Charles Farrell is handsome. SEVENTH HEAVEN has it all: prostitution, romance, war, a sadistic whipping, and religion. It is melodramatic, to be sure, but this is part of the charm. It is a winner of multiple 1st Academy Awards, and deserves to be seen on DVD in a Fox release. Perhaps if we wrote to Fox Home Entertainment. They allowed that abysmal tape of SEVENTH HEAVEN to be circulated by Critics Choice. It's time to correct a bad judgment.

sunlily Well Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell are a couple of "remarkable fellows" in this gem of a romance! They truly prove that heaven is where your heart is, even a 7th floor tenement in what is surely not the best part of Paris! Their chemistry together is remarkable and their love transcends time and space! Ah! Isn't that the way it's supposed to be? The fact that they compliment and lift each other up is the start of their romance. They bring out the best in each other. Not many movies today bring out the subtle nuances of character development the way they did in the old days! The secondary characters are fine in this too. I especially liked the rotund cab driver and his cab Eloise who gave her life for the war effort! And the married couple neighbors were a nice touch as well in rounding out the story.On a slightly critical note, I think the movie would have been better had not the soupy tints been added. I would've preferred it in black and white, but hey, the fact that the film still exists for generations to enjoy more that makes up for that! My Mom saw it too and she liked it as well! Not to be missed !