Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

• Frank Borzage April 11th, 1958 audio interview (27:44 - English with French subtitles)

• Photo gallery (40 images)

• 28-page booklet with photos and text (French only)

Bitrate:

 

Description: Academy Award-winning drama SEVENTH HEAVEN follows the fate of a beaten-down Paris street urchin who meets and finds redemption in the arms of a bold working man, while war rages all around. A romantic classic of the Silent film era.

 

 

The Film: ...This is an exceptionally well-acted place of work and Janet Gaynor's performance as Diane is true and natural throughout. This young woman was discovered by Winfield R. Sheehan, general production manager for the Fox Film Corporation. Never once does she falter in her difficult task of reflecting the emotions of the character she portrays. There is no effort to make her unduly beautiful with a halo over her head. She is winsome from the moment one beholds her countenance. She can cry and smile simultaneously and she impresses one by her depiction of faith when every day at 11 o'clock she "meets" her Chico, who is in the trenches. Sometimes Miss Gaynor reminds one of Lillian Gish and in other moods she resembles Lois Moran. Yet in her acting there is nothing imitative, but always an earnest and successful effort to impersonate the French girl who is rescued from hardship and cruelty by that "very remarkable fellow," Chico....

Posters

Mr. Borsage, who produced some passages of this production in the French capital, reveals no little imagination in his work and sometimes when it is least expected. He has a happy way of setting forth a touch of comedy at the psychological moment. Take the moment when Papa Boule's dear Eloise explodes. All that is left of the taxicab is the old-fashioned horn, and Papa Boule, brushing away a tear, declares that Eloise died for France. You will always remember the bit where a poilu, a sewer companion of Chico's, steals a chicken, and the officers in lieu of observing a roast fowl when the dish cover is raised observe to their chagrin nothing but a block of wood.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Intertitle Sample

1) BFI (Frank Borzage Volume One) - Region 2 - PAL  - TOP 2) Carlotta - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

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1) Fox (Murnau, Borzage, and Fox) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) BFI (Frank Borzage Volume One) - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE 3) Carlotta - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

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1) Fox (Murnau, Borzage, and Fox) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) BFI (Frank Borzage Volume One) - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE 3) Carlotta - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

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1) BFI (Frank Borzage Volume One) - Region 2 - PAL  - TOP 2) Carlotta - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

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1) BFI (Frank Borzage Volume One) - Region 2 - PAL  - TOP 2)Carlotta - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

More Blu-ray Captures

Audio :

Extras :

Although a French Blu-ray production - there are only two things specifically English unfriendly. Au Septiéme Ciel has author Hervé Dumont discussing the film for 20-minutes in French with no subtitle options. There is also a French-only text 28-page booklet with photos. Accessible to English-locked audiences are an April 11th,1958 audio only Frank Borzage interview for almost 1/2 hour. I found this very interesting. We also get a 25-minute Screen Director's Playhouse "Day is Done" directed by Borzage - this is also in English. There is an impressive photo gallery of film stills (40 images) and some disc credits.

NOTE: It has been reported that some North American systems have difficulty in playing the video supplements.