Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director 1927-1928

The Contenders:

King Vidor: The Crowd
Frank Borzage: Seventh Heaven (winner)
Herbert Brenon: Sorrell and Son
Ted Wilde: Speedy
Lewis Milestone: Two Arabian Knights (winner)

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 1927-1928

The Contenders:

The Racket
Seventh Heaven
Wings (winner)

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actress 1927-1928

The Contenders:

Gloria Swanson: Sadie Thompson
Janet Gaynor: Seventh Heaven (winner)
Louise Dresser: A Ship Comes In
Janet Gaynor: Street Angel (winner)
Janet Gaynor: Sunrise (winner)

Lying in the Gutter You Can See the Stars

Film: Seventh Heaven
Format: DVD from NetFlix on rockin’ flatscreen.

Despite the fact that I’ve watched a bunch of them, I still tend to find silent films difficult. Silent horror films are interesting and plenty of silent comedies are still funny. But silent dramas? They’re a whole different thing. There’s always a little part of me that dreads them a little when they show up. This might be only the second new-to-me silent drama I’ve seen this year. Seventh Heaven showed up from NetFlix only because I forgot to rearrange the queue when I sent the last film back, so I can’t admit that I was looking forward to it or actively chose it. But I’d have to watch it eventually, right?

Straight off, there are going to be issues here for me. One of our two main characters, Chico (Charles Farrell) admits early in the film that he is an atheist. That’s a huge red flag for me that we’re going to be mired at least some of the time in religious foofaraw. Not many atheists maintain that position in a Hollywood film, and that was far more true back in the day than it is now. So I can guess where Seventh Heaven is going to go eventually within the first couple of minutes.