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Rating: - Another Gripping Griffith Masterwork!
This film really should be on DVD because it has all the traditional Griffith hallmarks of drama, suspense and hard-hitting messages as many of his other popular films already on DVD. Not only that, but Griffith also wrote "Hearts of the World", went to the British front to film parts of this war saga and received personal good wishes from the British Prime Minister regarding this film. All this is shown briefly in a prologue, and then we are introduced to a peaceful French village and its inhabitants, in particular two American families and a young couple. Then we see how cruelly lives and families are torn apart when German troops conquer the village while its men are fighting in the trenches. Griffith's message is, of course, to show the brutality and utter uselessness of war and its effects on the innocent citizen who becomes the victim. In other words, it's not a light, happy film for mere entertainment, but still very rewarding in other aspects.

In the cast are some of Griffith's regular actors such as Robert Harron, Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish, whose performances in "Hearts of the World" are among the best I've seen of these stars, especially Dorothy Gish playing "the Little Intruder" in the village: an unusual, boisterous and mischievous young woman to add colour to the cast of characters. There are also a few very brief glimpses of Erich von Stroheim - as a German hun, of course! The acting is excellent overall; the drama grabs and sucks you in, and the suspense nearing the end is as good as other famous Griffith films. Many scenes might also be valuable for those interested in history and World War I, as there are details about some actual events, and scenes which surprised me (being not so knowledgeable about World War I) such as funny-looking zeppelins, odd tanks and the use of poison gas among the battle scenes.

The picture quality is very good overall, though it probably could be just a bit clearer if it were on DVD. And a dramatic war-saga as this could also do better with an appropriate orchestral score instead of the traditional piano accompaniment, but it's still not bad at all and extremely gripping viewing all the way through.