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Hearts of the World

Alternate Title: Love's Struggle
Director: D. W. Griffith (Dir)
Release Date: 12 Mar 1918
Duration (in reels): 13

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Cast:	Lillian Gish	(The girl, Marie Stephenson)
	Robert Harron	(The boy, Douglas Gordon Hamilton)
	Dorothy Gish	(The Little Disturber)
	Adolphe Lestina	(The Grandfather)
	Josephine Crowell	(The mother)
	Jack Cosgrove	(Douglas' father)
	Kate Bruce	(Douglas' mother)
	Ben Alexander	(The littlest brother)
	Marion Emmons
	Francis Marion	(Douglas' other brothers)
	Robert Anderson	(Monsieur Cuckoo)
	George Fawcett	(The village carpenter)
	George A. Siegmann	(von Strohm)
	Fay Holderness	(The innkeeper)
	L. Lowry	(A deaf and blind musician)
	Eugène Pouyet	(A poilu)
	Anna Mae Walthall	(A French peasant girl)
	Yvette Duvoisin	(A refugee)
	Herbert Sutch	(A French major)
	Alphonse Dufort
	Jean Dumercier	(Poilus)
	Jules Lemontier
	Gaston Riviere	(Stretcher bearers)
	Georges Loyer	(A poilu)
	George Nichols	(A German sergeant)
	Mrs. Mary Gish	(A refugee mother)
	Mrs. Harron	(Woman with daughter)
	Mary Harron	(Wounded girl)
	Jessie Harron	(A refugee)
	Johnny Harron	(Boy with barrel)
	Noël Coward

Summary:

After a prologue which shows director D. W. Griffith setting up a camera in the British front lines under the auspices of the British War Official Cinematograph Committee, meeting war correspondents and shaking hands with David Lloyd George, Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing Street in London, the story begins. In a little village in northern France, Marie Stephenson falls in love with Douglas Gordon Hamilton, the eldest of an American artist's four sons. The romance is threatened when Marie sees a street singer called the Little Disturber embracing Douglas, but he soon explains that his heart really belongs to Marie and the two are reunited. The Little Disturber finally accepts the attentions of Monsieur Cuckoo, while Douglas and Marie become engaged. With the outbreak of World War I, Douglas, Monsieur Cuckoo and the village carpenter join the French army, and while they fight on a nearby battlefield, the village is shelled and occupied by the Germans. After the deaths of her mother and grandfather, Marie, demented, wanders through the ruined village in her wedding gown until she finds Douglas lying wounded and unconscious on the ground. Although Marie believes him dead, he eventually regains his health at the Red Cross hospital and later infiltrates the German lines as a spy. In the village, the Germans brutally mistreat the townspeople, and Douglas' mother finally collapses and dies. Douglas returns to the village and hides in Marie's room, but is discovered by a German sergeant, who reports his presence to the brutal and lecherous von Strohm. The Germans are about to enter the room when the French retake the village and rescue Douglas and Marie.

Production Company:	D. W. Griffith
Distribution Company:	State Rights
Director:	D. W. Griffith	(Dir)
Producer:	D. W. Griffith	(Prod)
Writer:	M. Gaston de Tolignac	(Scen)
	Captain Victor Marier	(Translated into English by)
Photography:	G. W. Bitzer	(Cam)
	Karl Brown	(2d cam)
Music:	Carli D. Elinor	(Mus accompaniment arr by)
Country:	United States
Language:	English

Copyright Claimant	Copyright Date	Copyright Number
David W. Griffith	12/3/1918 dd/mm/yyyy	LP12521

Physical Properties:	b&w:
	Si:


Genre:	Drama
Sub-Genre:	World War I

Subjects (Major):	France
	France. Army
	Germany. Army
	Military occupation
	World War I

Subjects (Minor):	Americans in foreign countries
	Artists
	Brothers
	Carpenters
	Combat
	Espionage
	Lechery
	Red Cross
	Rescues
	Street musicians
	Village life
	War atrocities
	War injuries
	War victims

Note:	D. W. Griffith sailed to England on 17 Mar 1917 after accepting a commission from Great Britain to depict in motion pictures "an authentic history of the World War," according to a news item. Cameraman G. W. Bitzer and actors Robert Harron, Dorothy Gish and Lillian Gish arrived in England on 8 Jun 1917. Griffith stayed in Europe until Oct 1917 shooting scenes with the cooperation of the British War Office and the French government in France, Belgium and Great Britain, some of which were incorporated into Hearts of the World . Modern sources state that Bitzer, because of his German ancestry and name, was not allowed in France and that Griffith used an Army cameraman instead. Most of Hearts of the World was shot after Griffith's return to the United States at the D. W. Griffith Studio in Hollywood. The film had a pre-release showing under the title Love's Struggle on 15 Feb 1918, and had its premiere at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles on 12 Mar 1918. It opened in New York on 4 Apr 1918 and was later released on a road show basis, under the management of Elliott, Comstock and Gest. After this, the film was released on a state rights basis. Because the Pennsylvania Board of Censors ordered that seven scenes which depicted brutality be cut, the Philadelphia opening was cancelled. A "peace edition" of the film, containing several additional scenes, opened in New York on 11 Aug 1919 as the third offering in the D. W. Griffith Repertory Season at the George M. Cohan Theatre. M. Gaston de Tolignac and Captain Victor Marier were pseudonyms for D. W. Griffith. The film included shots of Rene Raphael Viviani, the French premier and minister of foreign affairs, and Sir Edward Grey, the British secretary of state for foreign affairs, addressing their respective parliaments in Aug 1914. According to the 1921 MPSD , Erich O. H. Von Stroheim was involved in this film in some manner. Modern sources credit him with technical supervision. According to modern sources, Famous Players-Lasky Corp. financed the film. Modern sources add the following credits: European photography, D. P. Cooper; film editors, James and Rose Smith; music arrangements, Carli Elinor and D. W. Griffith; additional cast members, Mary Hay as a dancer and Erich von Stroheim as a German soldier. Var noted that Lillian Gish's authentic peasant dress was created by Nathan of London.

Bibliographic Sources:	Date	Page
ETR	30 Mar 18	p. 1365.
ETR	21 Sep 18	p. 1298.
Life	18 Apr 18	p. 642.
MPC	24 Aug 18	p. 1018.
MPN	20 Apr 18	p. 2337.
MPN	17 Jan 20	p. 890.
MPW	13 Apr 18	p. 228.
MPW	20 Apr 18	pp. 369-70.
MPW	11 May 18	p. 835.
MPW	18 May 18	p. 986.
MPW	15 Jun 18	p. 1598.
MPW	26 May 17	p. 1289.
MPW	23 Jun 17	p. 1946.
MPW	3 Nov 17	pp. 680-81.
NYDM	30 Mar 18	p. 33., 6664
NYDM	13 Apr 18	p. 513.
NYDM	20 Apr 18	p. 552.
New York Times	5 Apr 18	p. 13.
New York Times	12 Aug 19	p. 7.
Photoplay	Jun 18	p. 48, 111
Variety	15 Mar 18	p. 47, 49
Variety	29 Mar 18	p. 49.
Variety	12 Apr 18	pp. 2-3, 43
Variety	7 Jun 18	p. 37.
Wid's	12 May 18	pp. 31-32.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.



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