7th Heaven (1927 film)

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, which is worse.

Lobby card with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell

The Broadway play upon which the film is based starred George Gaul and Helen Menken and ran at the Booth Theatre for 704 performances.[7]

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".[8][9]

7th Heaven features the song "Diane" by Ernö Rapée and Lew Pollack, who wrote the song specifically for the film. The song is included on the re-released version of the film.[10]

7th Heaven initially premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles replacing another Fox melodrama What Price Glory?, which had been playing since November 1926.[1] A second opening was held at the Sam H. Harris Theatre in New York City on May 25.[11] Both openings earned a total of $14,500.[12] A series of Movietone shorts featuring Ben Bernie and his Orchestra, Gertrude Lawrence, Raquel Meller, and Charles "Chic" Sale preceded the film.[13]

Upon its release, 7th Heaven was a critical and commercial success.[14] The New York Times 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."[11] The film went on to play for 19 weeks in New York City and for 22 weeks in Los Angeles.[13]

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.[10]

By 1932, 7th Heaven had become the 13th-highest-grossing American silent, earning more than $2.5 million at the box office.[2]

A comparatively unknown 1937 remake of the film was produced as a sound feature starring Simone Simon, James Stewart, Jean Hersholt, and Gregory Ratoff, with Henry King directing. Unlike the 1927 version, the sound remake was not as financially successful.[15]

7th Heaven was adapted for the Lux Radio Theatre four times: October 14, 1934, with Miriam Hopkins and John Boles (the show's premiere episode);[16] October 17, 1938, with Jean Arthur and Don Ameche;[17] October 16, 1944, with Jennifer Jones and Van Johnson (on the show's tenth-year anniversary);[18] and finally on March 26, 1951, with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, recreating their original roles.[19]

A television adaptation was aired on October 26, 1953, on the anthology series Broadway Television Theatre. The episode stars Hurd Hatfield and Geraldine Brooks and was directed by Robert St. Aubrey.[20]

On May 26, 1955, a stage musical version of the film opened at the ANTA Theatre starring Gloria DeHaven and Ricardo Montalbán. It closed on July 2, 1955, after 44 performances.[21]

On December 9, 2008, 7th Heaven was included in the Murnau, Borzage and Fox DVD box set released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.[22]

Chinese writer-director Yuan Muzhi's 1937 film Street Angel has been cited as being influenced by elements of 7th Heaven and another Frank Borzage film Street Angel (1928).[23]

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, Days of Youth: A Student Romance (Gakusei Romansu: Wakaki Hi, 1929).[24]

Filmmaker Damien Chazelle has said the ending of his 2016 musical La La Land was inspired by the ending of 7th Heaven.[25]

• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)

• Bradley, Edwin M. (2004). The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography of 171 Features, 1927 through 1932. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2029-2.
• Clark, Peter, ed. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-958953-1.
• Crafton, Donald (1999). The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926–1931. New York: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22128-4.
• Dietz, Dan (2014). The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefiel. ISBN 978-1-4422-3505-2.
• Dumont, Hervé (2006). Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2187-9.
• Dyer MacCann, Richard, ed. (1996). Films of the 1920s. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-3256-5.
• Eyman, Scott (1997). The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926–1930. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4391-0428-6.
• Goble, Alan (1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-095194-3.
• Hischak, Thomas S. (2008). The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533533-0.
• Holston, Kim R. (2012). Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911–1973. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-9261-9.
• Melnick, Ross (2014). American Showman: Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 1908–1935. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-15905-0.
• Morefield, Kenneth R.; Olson, Nicholas S., eds. (2015). Faith and Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema, Volume III. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-7498-4.
• Soloman, Aubrey (2011). The Fox Film Corporation, 1915–1935: A History and Filmography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-8610-6.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 7th Heaven (1927 film).

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

7th Heaven (film)

• 7th Heaven essay by Aubrey Solomon at National Film Registry
• 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 ISBN 0826429777, pages 128-130
• 7th Heaven at IMDb
• Synopsis at AllMovie
• 7th Heaven at Rotten Tomatoes
• 7th Heaven at Virtual History