Actor Jimmy Steward, known for his highly dramatic scenes in domestic situations, had yet to show his dynamic range in his first three years in Hollywood. In February 1938 "Of Human Hearts," Stewart made up for lost time in his role as Union Army surgeon Jason Wilkins.
"Of Human Hearts" is a story of a mother who supports her son while his ornery preacher father, Rev. Ethan Wilkins (Walther Huston), applies strict discipline when Jason was a boy (Gene Reynolds). Jimmy Stewart arrives on the scene 42 minutes into the motion picture as director Clarence Brown zips forward to show Jason now as an adult who goes off to medical school in Baltimore, leaving his poverty-stricken parents behind in a small Ohio town. To pay for tuition, his mother, Mary (Beulah Bondi), sells much of her personal possessions after her husband dies. Jason enlists in the Union Army when the Civil War breaks out, and to pay for his $70 Army surgeon officer's uniform mom has to sell her son's beloved horse Pilgrim
Bondi gives a heartrending performance as the abandoned mother who never hears from her son for two years while the war rages. Says James Stewart's biographer Gary Fisgall, the actress "was never better. Her simple, good-hearted woman, torn between a stubborn husband and a callow son, provided the picture's solid core." Bondi earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, her second after nominated in the same category in 1936's "The Gorgeous Hussy." Bondi was earlier named as May Robson's last minute replacement as Aunt Polly in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," but Robson made a miraculous recovery from her illness, allowing Bondi to appear in "Of Human Hearts." This was the first of four movies Stewart and Bondi paired up, including two roles as Jimmy's mother in both "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" and in 1946's "It's A Wonderful Life."
Based on an actual incident during the Civil War, "Of Human Hearts" has Jason summoned by Abraham Lincoln when he received a letter from Mary lamenting she hadn't heard from her son for two years and was worried he died. History showed Lincoln had reprimanded a young soldier who was recalled from the battlefield because he failed to correspond with his mother. Stewart's biographer Donald Dewey claims this was the actor's best early performance. "His emotional persuasiveness in a monologue to Bondi that veers back and forth from contempt for the family's living conditions to a wonder at the mysteries contained by human bones, rates as one of his best screen moments before World War II." "Of Human Hearts" also is the first time Stewart, who played in a series of Westerns, is seen riding a horse, in this case on Pilgrim.
"Of Human Hearts" was given the green light by MGM after Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel "Gone With The Wind" became a runaway best seller. Previous movies about the Civil War were box office poison. Director Clarence Brown had long wanted to produce a film based on the Willsie Morrow 1917 novel 'Benefits Forgot,' but was rejected at every turn. As the motion picture was about to be released, MGM conducted a contest to name the movie, with the winning entry "Of Human Hearts." Greenville, South Carolina high school student Ray Harris won $5,000, and the studio premiered the film in his hometown. Stewart, Bondi and the rest of the cast attended the big event surrounding the picture's release in the South Carolina city.
"Of Human Hearts" is a story of a mother who supports her son while his ornery preacher father, Rev. Ethan Wilkins (Walther Huston), applies strict discipline when Jason was a boy (Gene Reynolds). Jimmy Stewart arrives on the scene 42 minutes into the motion picture as director Clarence Brown zips forward to show Jason now as an adult who goes off to medical school in Baltimore, leaving his poverty-stricken parents behind in a small Ohio town. To pay for tuition, his mother, Mary (Beulah Bondi), sells much of her personal possessions after her husband dies. Jason enlists in the Union Army when the Civil War breaks out, and to pay for his $70 Army surgeon officer's uniform mom has to sell her son's beloved horse Pilgrim
Bondi gives a heartrending performance as the abandoned mother who never hears from her son for two years while the war rages. Says James Stewart's biographer Gary Fisgall, the actress "was never better. Her simple, good-hearted woman, torn between a stubborn husband and a callow son, provided the picture's solid core." Bondi earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, her second after nominated in the same category in 1936's "The Gorgeous Hussy." Bondi was earlier named as May Robson's last minute replacement as Aunt Polly in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," but Robson made a miraculous recovery from her illness, allowing Bondi to appear in "Of Human Hearts." This was the first of four movies Stewart and Bondi paired up, including two roles as Jimmy's mother in both "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" and in 1946's "It's A Wonderful Life."
Based on an actual incident during the Civil War, "Of Human Hearts" has Jason summoned by Abraham Lincoln when he received a letter from Mary lamenting she hadn't heard from her son for two years and was worried he died. History showed Lincoln had reprimanded a young soldier who was recalled from the battlefield because he failed to correspond with his mother. Stewart's biographer Donald Dewey claims this was the actor's best early performance. "His emotional persuasiveness in a monologue to Bondi that veers back and forth from contempt for the family's living conditions to a wonder at the mysteries contained by human bones, rates as one of his best screen moments before World War II." "Of Human Hearts" also is the first time Stewart, who played in a series of Westerns, is seen riding a horse, in this case on Pilgrim.
"Of Human Hearts" was given the green light by MGM after Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel "Gone With The Wind" became a runaway best seller. Previous movies about the Civil War were box office poison. Director Clarence Brown had long wanted to produce a film based on the Willsie Morrow 1917 novel 'Benefits Forgot,' but was rejected at every turn. As the motion picture was about to be released, MGM conducted a contest to name the movie, with the winning entry "Of Human Hearts." Greenville, South Carolina high school student Ray Harris won $5,000, and the studio premiered the film in his hometown. Stewart, Bondi and the rest of the cast attended the big event surrounding the picture's release in the South Carolina city.