7th Heaven

Chico works in the sewers of Paris. He wants to get up; even street cleaning looks like a rise to him. He does not believe in God and says so aloud; he describes praying and getting no answer. In the street he saves Diane; she is fleeing her sister's violence and the police are about to take her. Chico says she is his wife. To keep up the lie he has to take her home. The two climb seven flights and start living in the attic. Then the war comes and Chico goes to the front. Frank Borzage directs. Charles Farrell plays Chico and Janet Gaynor plays Diane. The film is silent. Janet Gaynor won best actress at the Academy's first ceremony for this and two other performances; at the time the award was given for a body of work rather than a single film. Frank Borzage took the directing award at the same ceremony; the film also won for adapted screenplay. The staircase scene was shot in one unbroken movement; the camera rises through seven floors following them, and the section is often cited technically. The matter it treats is belief; Chico does not believe and the narrative does not show that as a lack. Its ending is not realistic and the narrative does that deliberately. Gaynor and Farrell went on to play together in many productions. Its limit is form; the silent narration and the melodrama are strong by present measure. Who it is for: viewers who like silent cinema and classic melodrama. Who it is not for: the emotional register is high, the ending unconvincing, and the pace slow.