Adapted from the play Seventh Heaven by Austin Strong
A sewer-worker-turned-street-washer named Chico rescues impoverished criminal Diane from her abusive sister, then stops her from killing herself. Soon afterwards, he prevents her from being arrested by telling the police she is his wife. Diane goes to live with Chico temporarily, just in case the police decide to check this story, but they end up falling madly in love. Their love is so deep that nothing, not even World War I, can break them apart.
Overall, the story was kept fairly consistent, but with a few notable changes. When I blogged about Janet Gaynor's performance in 7th Heaven, I referred to the movie as cheesy. As it turns out, most of the cheesiest bits are taken directly from the play, such as Chico's catchphrase, "I'm a very remarkable fellow," which he repeats ad nauseam throughout. Another example is how instead of saying, "I love you," they say, "Chico - Diane - Heaven!" although that comes up a lot more in the movie than in the play. Chico and Diane's relationship is essentially the same in both versions, except the movie cut out the part when Diane's rich aunt tries to bribe Chico to break up with her right before the war. That didn't really make sense in the play, and it messed up the pacing, so I think leaving it out of the film was a wise decision.
As is often the case, many of the minor roles were greatly reduced or eliminated altogether in favor of focusing on the lead characters. This usually bothers me, but I think it worked well here. A lot of the minor characters are fairly bland and don't have much to do with the main storyline, so their presence isn't necessary. The play starts with the taxi driver, Boule, trying to get his cab Eloise to run, which does become a recurring plot point in both versions, but the movie doesn't dwell on it nearly as much. The play kind of overdoes that bit. By contrast, the film opens with Chico working in the sewer, which is never actually seen in the play. Obviously, it's easier for a film to take place in more locations than a play, but it's interesting that the film chose to start with Chico, since in the play his first appearance is when he pops out of a manhole to save Diane from her sister. The movie makes it clear from the first shot that Chico is the protagonist; the play keeps the audience guessing for a bit longer and gives him a much more dramatic entrance. I'm not sure which way is better; they're just different.
Because 7th Heaven is a silent film, it should come as no surprise that the movie has much less dialogue than the play. On stage the characters talk at great length about how delicious Diane's cooking is; on film Chico is shown enjoying it. The play jumps straight from the beginning of the war to the end, when characters return and talk about what they did, whereas the film shows a lot of the fighting, both at the front and at home. The play wasn't merely performed in front of a camera; it was modified to take advantage of the differences between stage and screen, which is what I think most adaptations strive for.
Despite their differences, both versions have the same somber yet hopeful tone, and the overarching themes of love, courage, and theology are presented in essentially the same manner. The story itself isn't great, and I stand by the words "cheesy" and "melodramatic" that I used to describe it last time, but I'd say that the movie is a good adaptation of an okay play.
The following year's winner of this award is a lost film, and the year after that the only Oscar-winning screenplay was an original one, so I'm skipping both of those. My next blog post will therefore be about the fourth Best Picture Winner, Cimarron, based on the novel by Edna Ferber. It looks like a fairly long book, so it could be a little while, but it's coming eventually.
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