. . . "7th Heaven" probably the most fascinating picture yet produced . . . The reason for this is that Frank Borzage, familiar in Salt Lake and the director of "Humoresque," has at last found a story . . . which permitted his genius full play.
- Deseret News, Jan. 21, 1928Frank Borzage, who was born in Salt Lake City in 1893, won the first best-director Oscar for his silent classic "7th Heaven" (1927), a picture that made the team of Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell a staple in movies for the next several years. And Borzage would win a second Oscar four years later for the sound film "Bad Girl" (1931).
Borzage was a curly-haired, blue-eyed boy attending the Forest Dale School in Sugarhouse, and few people would have guessed that he had a driving desire to go into show business. When his father attempted to put a stop to the notion, the younger Borzage got a job at the Silver King mine in Park City. Big for his age and strong, he earned enough money to enroll in a local theatrical school. He then joined several traveling stock companies and learned all phases of the theater. By age 19 he had worked his way up to leading-man status on the stage.
After seeing much of the United States, Borzage landed in Hollywood and became fascinated by the young movie industry. He began working at the Thomas Ince Studios, where his good looks and stage experience soon landed him several leading film roles.
Eventually, he stepped behind the camera when a director became ill, which introduced him to the thrill of seeing his ideas put on film. And he gradually became more interested in directing, discovering that his acting background served him well in this new area.
Borzage's 1920 film "Humoresque," won the first Photoplay Magazine Gold Medal as best picture of the year. Based on a Fannie Hurst novel, the film became a celebration of mother love.
But it was the love story "7th Heaven" that made Borzage world-famous. And "Street Angel" (1928) was almost as popular, reuniting stars Gaynor and Farrell.
After "7th Heaven" opened on May 6, 1927, in the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, it ran for 21 weeks (two performances a day), taking in $337,000. In New York, at the Sam H. Harris Theatre, it played for 15 weeks as a roadshow engagement and earned $141,163. Then, at the Roxy, which was then the world's largest theater (6,254 seats), it earned $231,900 in two weeks - which was amazing for 1927.
Salt Lake audiences eagerly awaited the film. And on Jan. 17, 1928, "7th Heaven" finally arrived at the Pantages Theatre (which later became the Utah) and played to huge crowds.
My aunt, Ruth Hale Larsen, was 13 at the time and attended the first matinee showing. She was supposed to be at work by noon (at her father's business). But she was captured by the magic of the love story and sat through the two-hour movie twice!
Instead of the usual one-week showing, "7th Heaven" played for a second week, and then several weeks later returned for an additional engagement at the same theater.
Last year, I had the opportunity to help design and co-teach a course at the University of Utah titled "The Utah Connection." At the end of the course students were asked to select their favorite film shown in class. Surprisingly, two-thirds of them selected "7th Heaven"! When shown properly (with a good live musical score), the film still has the magic that Frank Borzage caught on film 70 years ago.
In the 1930s and '40s, Borzage turned out some wonderful "talkies" that are still worthy of rediscovery.
Gary Cooper, who starred in two Borzage films during the '30s - Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" and "Desire" - said Borzage "directs with less effort and more effect than any other director in Hollywood . . . It was he who taught me that the best acting was not acting at all, but a perfect naturalness."
Borzage's best work explores what critic Andrew Sarris describes as "the wondrous inner life of lovers in the midst of adversity."
For Borzage, it is through love and adversity that souls are made great. And some of his best films are available on video:
- "A Farewell to Arms," starring Cooper and Helen Hayes (1932).
- "Desire," Cooper and Marlene Dietrich (1936).
- "History is Made at Night," Charles Boyer and Jean Arthur (1937).
- "Three Comrades" Robert Taylor and Margaret Sullavan (1938).
- "The Mortal Storm" James Stewart and Sullavan (1940).
- "Strange Cargo" Clark Gable and Joan Crawford (1940).
- "His Butler's Sister" Deanna Durbin (1943).
- "Moonrise," Dane Clark and Gall Russell (1949).
Unfortunately none of Borzage's silent work has been made available on video.
Borzage's last film was the 70mm production of Lloyd C. Douglas' "The Big Fisherman" (1959), a biblical epic starring Howard Keel.
He died in 1962 at the age of 69.