Hearts of Oak (1914)

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Ralph Stewart | Wilbur Hudson | Wray Bartlett Physioc (Director)

Rest of cast:

Frederick Roland | George W. Middleton | Del De Lewis | James A. Fitzgerald | D. H. Turner | Violet Horner | Mary Navarro | Audine Stark | Em Gorman | Joe Moore | James A. Herne (Play)

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“Hearts of Oak”

Five-Reel Mohawk feature from James A. Hearne’s play, directed by Wray Bartlett Physioc.

Reviewed by Louis Reeves Harrison.

High credit is due Wray Physioc for his artistic adaptation of what Mr. Hearne admitted to be a crudely constructed play, for Hearts of Oak never ranked high in the author’s own estimate. The screen version is characterized by a realism and much natural beauty due to a most faithful interpretation of environment. The conventional plot, a variation of that told in “Enoch Arden,” is as detrimental to photodrama as to the original, but the pictured scenes put one’s ear very close to the human heart, and there is slowly evolved a presentation that glows at times with a rare warmth of kindness such as Dickens [Charles Dickens] injected into the portrayal of Daniel Peggotty and his household.

Aside from the skill with which Mr. Physioc has handled a very difficult subject, and his admirable choice of types among the grown-up characters, he is to be congratulated upon his rinds in the two children of the play. Little Crystal [Violet Horner] is a gem of the purest ray serene, a beautiful little girl and an accomplished So sweetly is her role enacted that we feel a regret that she must grow up. Only second in charm is Baby Gorman, a veritable miniature comedienne. These children are heavy contributors to whatever popularity the photodrama Hearts of Oak is destined to enjoy.

James A. Hearne’s fame rests upon other than his initial ventures; his art became less erring as he progressed, but it is all characterized by a tendency which searched for artistic expression in the quietude of common lives, and his marvelous acting had much to do with the success of his characterizations. He made plays that were pure and clean in their simple portrayal of family life, but he fell occasionally into theatricalism, especially that of heroic self-sacrifice all out of accord with human experience if not out of harmony with the sympathy of common sense.

It is not an unusual situation for a girl to wed a guardian to whom she has become attached by a thousand ties of affection and then find that her wavering heart inclines to a younger man — that has been shown in hundreds of stories, but that guardian is bound to enlist the sympathy of an audience and a feeling of disappointment ensues when he gives up wife and child to become an Enoch Arden, sail away for many years and return to find his wife married to the other man. It is opposed not only to common sympathy, but to common sense of justice that the noblest character should desert his wife and child for the sake of another man.

The right of the child to a father’s love, guidance and support is far superior to any other consideration in such a case, hence the act of running away strips the strongest character of his strength and leaves no one to whom sympathetic interest can be consistently attached. The wife has varied; the young lover commands no respect; the action to follow develops into a weak last act with a forced climax. The young man who attempts to wrong his lifetime benefactor is the chief beneficiary by that noble benefactor’s death, giving Mr. Hearne as an actor some concluding opportunity, but not affording an end satisfying to the average moving picture audience.

We may feel neither approval nor disapproval, neither sympathy nor antipathy in watching such a termination, but it is deplorable to tell a story of that length without affording tonic stimulus or satisfaction to the great mass of people in front.

The free handling of Wray Physioc has done so much for the play, glorifying some very simple situations with artistic beauty, that Hearts of Oak was generously applauded when his picture sense was at its best. The young director is certainly on his way to a very high class of production.

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Love’s Young Dream; Scene from Hearts of Oak.

Wilbur Hudson and Violet Horner in Hearts of Oak.

Collection: Moving Picture World, May 1914

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see also Hearts of Oak (1924)