"Hearts of the world" (1918) director D. W. Griffith, cinematographer Billy Bitzer

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"Hearts of the world" is a war drama directed by D. W. Griffith. This film illustrates the work of actor Robert Harron and cinematographer Billy Bitzer, stars of Silent Hall of Fame.
You can see a slideshow of stills from this film and other interesting stuff on our website silent-hall-of-fame.org. Please support the legacy of silent movie stars by making a tax deductible contribution.
Two American families share a house in a peaceful French town. The Boy (Robert Harron) of one family and the Girl (Lillian Gish) of the other have a romance.
When the war breaks out the Boy joins the army and the Girl puts her wedding dress in a box. Despite heroic resistance from the defenders of the town, they are overcome by the brutal onslaught of the enemy.
The Boy crosses the enemy lines and gets back in town, where he finds the Girl. Their hideout is discovered, however, and they perform a symbolic ceremony to meet death as man and wife. Then they hear the noise of the advancing friendly troops.
The allied attack to liberate the town seems a race against the clock for the Boy and the Girl just as enemy soldiers are trying to break the door of their shelter.
Directed by D. W. Griffith
Produced by D. W. Griffith
Scenario by M. Gaston de Tolignac (D.W. Griffith)
Starring Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Dorothy Gish
Cinematography Billy Bitzer
Editing by Rose Smith, James Smith
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date 12 March, 1918
Running time 1 hour, 58 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent film, English intertitles
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976:
"Allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

[@Visforelvenshireling]

Rilla of Ingleside brought me here. Excellent book! Fine piece of film making!

[@photographyguru2135]

same!😀

[@d.v.crystal5589]

Same here!

[@analiamolinapessino2840]

Same here! :)

[@avariceseven9443]

Listened to the series at least 10x already and this is the first time i got to search for the movie mentioned. Did not expect it to be real!

[@emilycarlson1976]

Me too!

[@fabiorodrigues2683]

Fine film

[@taylortimeless]

Sheeeesh! Lillian Gish is gorgeous!

[@AmazingGuy13]

This came out over one hundred years ago... Damn.

[@Northatlantic2012]

Great movie. Very powerful.

[@rorysnow7937]

Wow this movie is 100 years old

[@davidgriffiths1688]

Nicely shot.

[@nanikbutani5822]

Excellent movie Nanik Butani

[@benhamslibrary4403]

fantastic movie, too bad they didn't make hundreds of these during the war and show more the sentiments of the people of the time. would be great to have now-a-days

[@photographyguru2135]

1:35:56 "the knife is in your stocking! The knife is in your stocking!!!" -Rilla Blythe August 31, 1918

[@kmb6296]

Specifically went to the comments to see if anyone would mention Rilla! Made my day!

[@photographyguru2135]

@@kmb6296 so Glad to hear! I adore Lucy Maud and Anne and Rilla!

[@leefrancis48]

Love Lillian Gish. Just love looking at her.

[@jonathanpikecoleman8838]

Unfortunately, no mûsic. My print has music but, unfortunately, again,97% of the music is from Wagner's Germananic stuff. Rotten Tomatoes gives this two "stars?". I had a classroom of 35 high school studens mesmerized to the very end and gave it a nine. Fifteen students asked to see it again.Even "The Big Parade-1925" didn't achieve that rating!

[@jacobneff1587]

+Jonathan Pike Coleman, I found it more entertaining than I thought it would be.

[@Feuillade]

Jonathan Pike Coleman I wrote a paper in grad school on “Hearts of the World” and called it Griffith’s most underrated film. Definitely deserves a lot more attention than it gets. Thanks for making it available!

[@benhamslibrary4403]

play russian classical music in the background, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Rimskij-Korsakov, that'll do the job and gives great background music for people with little attention span, aka students

[@uweloewel3110]

back in three weeks with a lock of hair: the Kaiser's moustache

[@regjulienne9112]

2:00 ,noel coward in a bit part.

[@charlietheanteater3918]

I just watched the movie and it was okay. I can see why this film isn’t as remembered as Griffith’s other works especially compared to Intolerance and Birth of a Nation. It wasn’t bad at all, but it didn’t leave much of an impact, I’m probably going to forget I saw it in a week. It was a bit weird to see two American families in France, I’m sure it could potentially happen but it’s a little jarring seeing an American in the French army, but whatever. The story was simple enough but I feel it needed a bit more depth. As racist as Birth of a Nation was, it was still an enjoyable film because the characters had some personality, Intolerance was lacking in this regard but it still had some good characters. Besides the main villain who was well played by George Sigemann (Silas Lynch from brith of a nation) the characters felt way too simplistic, and I didn’t feel invested in anyone. I do like the concept of the film though, the struggle of a little French village being rescued. But holy hell did a lot of time pass, I said “okay so I’m guessing this is taking place in 1916 due to the helmet change” then the title card mentions the Americans making this in 1918. So somehow four years pass and the little siblings of the main character don’t age a day? I felt like there was a lot of missed opportunities in this movie, I wished the main love interest died in the trenches, that was a really moving moment of Lilian Gish sleeping over his “dead” body overnight. While I was watching that scene I said “Did Sam Mendes watch this before making 1917? Because I see parallels here to Blake’s death scene” But no it was a death fake out and he’s still alive. I was really hoping Griffith would do something new and different than most films coming out at the time. I didn’t care much for the side characters, the one that was trying to hook up with the main male love interest got on my nerves quick. I’m sure it was supposed to be charming, but it was pretty annoying to me. However, I do like the production value of this. I hear Griffith filmed some scenes with the british reserve army at England and some actual scenes in the trenches. I had to remind myself that I was watching a film that was made during WWI and not after it- wow. It makes me wonder where they got all those uniforms from. And I especially liked the scene where the children have to bury the mother under the floorboards. I enjoyed the final battle scenes in the village and the rescue (it was like birth of a nation, especially the scene where the main German villain tries to advance on Lillian Gish. Both are the same actors and I notice George Siegmann even did the same pose he did in birth of a nation with Gish in his arms). I see a lot of lost potential in this film, it clearly had a lot of good ideas, but I feel like Griffith failed to fully explore those ideas. This could have been on the scale of Birth of a Nation, but it lacks that grand scale or the feeling of being an “epic” it simply feels like a sideshow. The right pieces were certainly there, but not enough to make a complete puzzle. Overall I’d give this one a 6/10.

[@Northatlantic2012]

I'd give it a 10.

[@Highbrow99]

Before Hitler 😂

[@theresaholguin699]

Damn all that kissing just gross. A lot of the silent movies had kissing where old men were kissing daughters and mothers kissing sons just gross. I didn't kiss my father on his mouth. He also didn't kiss me on my mouth. That was too strange. Good movie otherwise. Love Lillian Gish and Robert Harron. He died such and awful way. Gone too soon