Seventh Heaven (1937)
Seventh Heaven (1937)
„Seventh Heaven“ is a 1937 Black & White romantic drama film directed by Henry King. The screenplay by Melville Baker is based on the 1920s play of the same name by Austin Strong.
In 1914, in an infamous Paris district, „The Sock,“ a sewer cleaner, Chico, rescues timid Diane as she is being beaten by her brutal sister Nana for refusing to entertain a male customer in Nana’s seedy café.
Chico laments his fate with his friends, Boul the Cab Driver and the Sewer Rat. Kindly Father Chevillon offers to get Chico a coveted job as a street washer if he will care for Diane and try again to believe in God. Chico agrees, and when Nana’s angry customer brings the police to the café, Chico tells them that Diane is his wife so that they will not arrest her. One of the gendarmes threatens to come to Chico’s apartment to check on their story, and so Chico is forced to take Diane home. As the pair talk, the brash and cheerful Chico tries to impart his optimistic philosophy of life to Diane.
After Chico leaves for work the next morning, the gendarme visits the apartment and, satisfied that Diane lives there, says he will not be back. Diane is about to leave when Chico returns and tells her they will celebrate his new job with their neighbors, the Gobins.
Eccentric neighbor Aristide the Astrologer accuses Diane of taking advantage of Chico and convinces her that her wickedness will destroy any chance he has of achieving greatness.
Time passes as Diane overcomes her timidity. and Chico proposes to her, but on their wedding day, he receives a draft notice. Before he leaves, the lovers exchange vows, declare they are married in the eyes of God, and promise to think of each other every morning at 11:00.
Nana attempts to take Diane back to the café, but Diane, strengthened by Chico’s love, beats her sister until she flees.
Four years pass as Chico fights in the trenches and Diane works as a nurse. The couple think of each other every day at 11:00 a.m.
After the war ends, Gobin and Aristide try to convince Diane that Chico was killed, but she refuses to believe them until Father Chevillon gives her the medal that Chico gave to him when he lay wounded on the battlefield. Diane is heartbroken and renounces her belief in God, but when the clock strikes 11:00, she once again feels Chico’s presence. She rushes home and finds Chico, who was only blinded in the explosion that was thought to have killed him. The young lovers embrace and tearfully reaffirm their belief in each other and in God.
Cast:
- Simone Simon – Diane
- James Stewart – Chico
- Jean Hersholt – Father Chevillon
- Gregory Ratoff – Boul the Cab Driver
- Gale Sondergaard – Nana, Diane’s Sister
- J. Edward Bromberg – Aristide the Astrologer
- John Qualen – Sewer Rat
- Victor Kilian – Gobin
- Thomas Beck – Brissac
- Sig Ruman – Durand
- Mady Christians – Marie
- Rollo Lloyd – Matoot
- Rafaela Ottiano – Madame Frisson
- Georges Renavent – Sergeant Gendarme
- Edward Keane – Gendarme
- John Hamilton – Gendarme
- Paul Porcasi – Gendarme
- Leonid Snegoff – Officer
- Adrienne D’Ambricourt – Nurse
- Eugene Borden – Frenchman
- Joe De Stefani – Frenchman
- Constant Franke – Frenchman
- Alphonse Martell – Frenchman
- Marcelle Corday – Frenchwoman
- Carol Adams – Girl
- John Bleifer – Lamplighter
- Evelyn Selbie – Old Slattern
- Frank Puglia – Postman
- John Picorri – Proprietor
- Gene Massett – Wounded Soldier
„Im siebenten Himmel“ (Seventh Heaven) ist ein romantisches Schwarz-Weiß-Drama aus dem Jahr 1937 unter der Regie von Henry King. Das Drehbuch von Melville Baker basiert auf dem gleichnamigen Theaterstück von Austin Strong aus den 1920er Jahren.
1914 rettet der Kanalreiniger Chico in dem berüchtigten Pariser Viertel „The Sock“ die schüchterne Diane, die von ihrer brutalen Schwester Nana verprügelt wird, weil sie sich weigert, einen männlichen Kunden in Nanas schäbigem Café zu bewirten.
Chico beklagt sein Schicksal mit seinen Freunden, Boul, dem Taxifahrer, und der Kanalratte. Der gütige Pater Chevillon bietet Chico einen begehrten Job als Straßenwäscher an, wenn er sich um Diane kümmert und wieder versucht, an Gott zu glauben. Chico stimmt zu, und als Nanas verärgerter Kunde die Polizei ins Café bringt, sagt Chico ihnen, dass Diane seine Frau ist, damit sie sie nicht verhaften. Einer der Gendarmen droht, in Chicos Wohnung zu kommen, um ihre Geschichte zu überprüfen, und so ist Chico gezwungen, Diane nach Hause zu bringen. Während die beiden sich unterhalten, versucht der forsche und fröhliche Chico, Diane seine optimistische Lebensphilosophie zu vermitteln.