7th Heaven September 30, 2006

7th Heaven

Directed by Frank Borzage
US 1927, 35mm, silent with music track, b/w, 120 min.
With Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Ben Bard

Frank Borzage auditioned a parade of major theater and movie stars before selecting Gaynor and Charles Farrell as the central couple in his magnum opus, 7th Heaven. Based on the phenomenally successful Broadway play by Austin Strong, Borzage’s tender and luminous film version features Gaynor as the vulnerable gamine who falls in love with Farrell’s stoic Parisian street cleaner against the backdrop of WWI. The picture won a raft of awards, and Gaynor was praised for her ability “to combine ingénue sweetness with a certain suggestion of wideawake vivacity; to mix facial lyricism with a credible trace of earthiness” (New York Herald Tribune).

Official Website: http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2006fall/starlets.html#heaven