Isn't Life Wonderful

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Isn't Life Wonderful
Isn't Life Wonderful - lobby card 1924.jpg
Lobby card
Directed by D. W. Griffith
Written byD. W. Griffith
Based on"Isn't Life Wonderful?"
by Geoffrey Moss
Produced byD. W. Griffith
Starring
Cinematography
Music by
  • Louis Silvers
  • Cesare Sodero
Production
company
D.W. Griffith Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • November 23, 1924 (1924-11-23)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language Silent (English intertitles)
Budget$260,000 [1]
Box office$400,000 [1]
The full film

Isn't Life Wonderful is a 1924 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith for his company D. W. Griffith Productions, and distributed by United Artists. It was based on the short story "Isn't Life Wonderful?" in the 1923 book Defeat by Geoffrey Moss, and it was released under the alternative title Dawn. [2]

Contents

Plot

After World War I, displaced families flood Berlin, including a Polish professor (Erville Alderson) and his relatives. Food is scarce. The family finds housing but can barely afford to eat, sometimes surviving on one potato per person and horse turnips.

Paul (Neil Hamilton) and his cousin Inga (Carol Dempster) want to build a life together. Inga finds work collecting household basics. Paul builds a hut and plants a garden, growing enough potatoes for winter.

A group of starving workers, led by one man (Hans Adalbert Schlettow), follows them during harvest and steals the entire crop. Another worker (Paul Rehkopf) helps with the theft. Paul and Inga lose everything.

Inga tells Paul that despite the loss, they still have each other, and life still has meaning. [3]

Cast

Production

Most of the scenes were filmed in Germany and Austria. Only one was filmed in New York at the studio. The film stars Carol Dempster and Neil Hamilton. The film was a failure at the box office, and it led to Griffith leaving United Artists shortly after its run in theaters. [4]

Reception

The film did receive some positive critical notices at the time, and its stock has risen considerably since its initial release; it has for some decades been considered one of Griffith's great films. [5]

Legacy

The title of the film was spoofed in the Charley Chase comedy Isn't Life Terrible? (1925).

Preservation

Prints of Isn't Life Wonderful are held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, Cinematek (Brussels, Belgium), Filmoteka Narodowa (Warsaw, Poland), Museum of Modern Art, Arhiva Națională de Filme (Bucharest, Romania), George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection, and Danish Film Institute (Copenhagen, Denmark). [6]

References

  1. 1 2 "Griffith's 20 Year Record". Variety. September 5, 1928. p. 12. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  2. ↑ Progressive Silent Film List: Isn't Life Wonderful at silentera.com
  3. ↑ Sewell, Charles S. (December 13, 1924). "Isn't Life Wonderful; Powerful in Its Simplicity and Realism, D. W. Griffith's Latest Is Limited in Its Appeal". The Moving Picture World. 71 (7). New York City: Chalmers Publishing Co.: 624–625. Retrieved June 25, 2021. Among the thousands of refugees who flocked to Berlin was the family of a Polish professor, and the days following the war show them in a terrific struggle for mere existence. They manage to get a place to live, but their combined resources and the high prices of food result in their only being able to get a potato apiece, and for long periods they have to subsist on horse turnips. Despite this, the love of one son, Hans, for his cousin Inga is so great that they determine to overcome all obstacles. Inga works overtime in another place and collects a pitiful supply of things for their new home, while Hans alone builds a little hut and finds a little allotment where he grows enough potatoes to keep him through the winter. All is rosy and they start out to harvest their little crop, but are followed by workmen who, temporarily made beasts through their hunger and suffering, and the suffering of their families, rob them of all. The world looks black, but Inga rises to the occasion and makes Hans realize that they still have each other, and that after all "Isn't Life Wonderful."
  4. ↑ Drew, William M. "D. W. Griffith (1875–1948)". Gilda's Blue Book of the Screen. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Isn't Life Wonderful". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  6. ↑ Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: Isn't Life Wonderful
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