OF HUMAN HEARTS (1938)

It took three years and a dozen films, but M-G-M finally figured out what to do with the gangly potential hiding in plain sight under young James Stewart’s thick head of hair.   Or maybe it was just underrated director Clarence Brown getting hold of him.*  Whomever it was, Stewart lands, fully formed at last. This story of a hardscrabble life for preacher Walter Huston, wife Beulah Bondi and grown son Stewart in the pioneer days of a small town in pre-Civil War Ohio is first-rate Americana.   Exceptional in the first act where debuting Gene Reynolds has the Stewart role as a 12-yr-old.   Starkly drawn, with Huston both admirable & unyielding, faith & religion more cudgel than comfort, feelings & affection kept under wraps; his behavior accepted & feared rather than explained.   The film becomes more conventional as it goes along, as Stewart, unaware his survivor instincts toward a close-minded town & father have curdled into an excuse for selfish, hurtful behavior toward his beloved mother.  Running off to medical school, then to the Civil War as an army surgeon, the second & third acts seem a bit rushed compared to the first.  But with a wealth of town characters, and stellar character actors to play them (John Carradine a surprising success as Pres. Lincoln), this superb production, strong in lively location shooting, shows Brown’s work standing comparison to the best in this field (think John Ford, King Vidor, Henry King).  It deserves far more visibility than it gets these days.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  Frank Capra usually gets credit for putting Stewart’s career on track in YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (with Jean Arthur).  But that was after HEARTS; VIVACIOUS LADY (w/ Ginger Rogers) and SHOPWORN ANGEL (w/ Margaret Sullavan).

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  *Brown’s best-known films don’t show him at his best.  Those famous Early Talkies with Greta Garbo, hopelessly slow & stiff, they seriously hold down his rep.  He did finally loosen up with Garbo for ANNA KARENINA/’35, in spite of disemboweling censorship issues, but Brown made many better sound films and, of course, classic Garbo silents.