NipPierce Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

michaelcarraher This is the first time ever I've seen a movie in which I disliked Jimmy Stewart. His character was his self-absorbed, intolerant and selfish. Hisfather (Walter Huston) is rigid, self-righteous and physically abusive. The mother (Beulah Bondi) is weak and ineffectual, unwilling to protect her defenseless young son. At times I was torn between sympathy for Jimmy, a victim of extreme physical abuse from his father, and finding his character so obnoxious I'd think we deserved what he was getting. Characters are poorly developed and the plot was improbable. There are so many great pictures with any of these actors. Watch them instead of this one.

blanche-2 Walter Huston, Beulah Bondi, and James Stewart star in "Of Human Hearts," a film from 1938.In other hands, this film could have been a piece of sentimental claptrap. In the hands of Clarence Brown and this wonderful cast, this is a beautiful film that pulls at the heartstrings.Huston plays a preacher who comes into a poor community and has to take what little money, food, and hand-me-downs they give him for himself, his wife (Bondi) and his young son Jason (Gene Reynolds). Jason always resents it and has an uneasy relationship with his strict father. When he grows older, he realizes he can't stay there, and, desiring to be a doctor, he leaves.Jason, with the help of money his mother sends him and working his way through school, succeeds in becoming a doctor. While he is in school, his father dies, and he returns home, losing time at school.Once he gets back to school, he constantly writes to his mother asking for money, and little by little over the years, she sells everything she has. After not hearing from him for several years and the Civil War going on, she is afraid that he might be dead.This is the story of a family, told with honest emotion that at times is almost painful to watch. Huston plays his role with great dignity and a no-nonsense Puritan spirit. Bondi, as the warm, sympathetic mother, devoted to her husband, is fantastic.James Stewart gives a multilayered performance - though he plays an ingrate, he is likable and sincere. The character's ingratitude is not from lack of love -- it comes from being self-involved and also unaware of the sacrifices his mother is making.Guy Kibbee, John Carradine, Gene Reynolds, and Ann Rutherford, are all wonderful. And might I mention, Pilgrim the horse is a real standout.Gene Reynolds, who plays the young Jason, became the producer of shows such as M*A*S*H and is also a director. The child actress who played the young Annie Hawks (who becomes Ann Rutherford) was Leatrice Joy Gilbert, the daughter of John Gilbert. I had the pleasure of speaking with her once - a lovely woman.Don't miss this touching film.

pdabbs This movie is a reminder of the treasures we have to enjoy from the early eras of movie-making. Walter Huston portrays a minister who has sensitivity and understanding for his parishioners but is bound by the restrictive morals of his background. The story takes place in the period before and during the Civil War. The minister has moments when he really is an admirable man; he even has the courage to grab and stop a runaway horse. That horse becomes a thread that winds through the rest of the movie. However, his treatment of his young son is a good example of why ministers' children are often described as troubled. Beaulah Bondi plays the saintly wife/mother whose love binds the family. Her unconditional love and sacrifice first console the boy and then elicit a narrow selfishness from the boy when he leaves home and goes to medical school in Baltimore.There are some wonderful moments in this movie. It is notable that James Stewart could play such a callow young man who takes advantage of his mother's generosity.

telegonus Antebellum, or pre-Civil War America, is seldom dealt with in movies. In the studio age it was largely ignored. Of Human Hearts is an exception. Set in frontier Ohio it concerns the rebellious son of a decent but inflexible minister who seeks to be a doctor and learn about the world. He get more than he bargained for after the guns fire on Fort Sumter, and the film traces his life from uneasy boyhood to uncomfortable manhood. James Stewart excels in an early lead role; and as his father Walter Huston is suitably starchy and forbidding. The backlot recreation of early small town America is wonderfully realized by director Clarence Brown and Company. There are some splendid supporting performances by, among other, Beulah Bondi, Charlie Grapewin, and especially Charles Coburn, as the village doctor who likes to drink and who becomes Stewart's mentor. As an historical footnote it's worth mentioning that the film was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the late thirties, and is an atypical product for them, as they were poaching, as it were, on movie territory that one associates with the more folsky Fox studios of the time, and did a rather good job at it, too.