Isn't Life Wonderful
{{short description|1924 film by D. W. Griffith}}
{{about|the 1924 American film|the 1953 British film|Isn't Life Wonderful!|other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Isn't Life Wonderful
| image = Isn't Life Wonderful - lobby card 1924.jpg
| caption = Lobby card
| director = D. W. Griffith
| producer = D. W. Griffith
| writer = D. W. Griffith
| based_on = {{basedon|"Isn’t Life Wonderful?"|Geoffrey Moss}}
| starring = Carol Dempster
Neil Hamilton
| music = Louis Silvers
Cesare Sodero
| cinematography = {{Interlanguage link multi|Hendrik Sartov|fr|3=Hendrik_Sartov}}
Harold S. Sintzenich
| editing =
| studio = D.W. Griffith Productions
| distributor = United Artists
| released = {{Film date|1924|11|23}}
| runtime = 120 minutes
| language = Silent (English intertitles)
| country = United States
}}
File:Isn't Life Wonderful (1924).webm
Isn't Life Wonderful is a 1924 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith for his company D. W. Griffith Productions, and distributed by United Artists. It was based on the short story "Isn’t Life Wonderful?" in the 1923 book Defeat by Geoffrey Moss, and it was released under the alternative title Dawn.[http://silentera.com/PSFL/data/I/IsntLifeWonderful1924.html Progressive Silent Film List: Isn't Life Wonderful] at silentera.com
Plot
As described in a review in a film magazine,{{cite journal |last=Sewell |first=Charles S. |author-link= |title=Isn't Life Wonderful; Powerful in Its Simplicity and Realism, D. W. Griffith’s Latest Is Limited in Its Appeal |journal=The Moving Picture World |volume=71 |issue=7 |pages=624–625 |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Co. |location=New York City |date=13 December 1924 |url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor71novd/page/624/mode/1up |access-date=25 June 2021}} among the thousands of refugees who flocked to Berlin was the family of a Polish professor (Alderson) and the days following the war show them in a terrific struggle for mere existence. They manage to get a place to live but their combined resources and the high prices of food during the Great Inflation result in their only being able to get a potato apiece and for long periods they have to subsist on horse turnips. Despite this, the love of one son, Paul (Hamilton), for his cousin Inga (Dempster) is so great that they determine to overcome all obstacles. Inga works overtime in another place and collects a pitiful supply of things for their new home, and Paul builds a little hut and finds a little allotment where he grows enough potatoes to keep him through the winter. All is rosy, and they start to harvest their little crop, but they are followed by workmen who, temporarily made beasts through their hunger and the suffering of their families, rob them of all. The world looks grim, but Inga rises to the occasion and makes Paul realize that they still have each other and that after all, “Isn’t Life Wonderful.”
Cast
{{Cast listing|
- Carol Dempster as Inga
- Neil Hamilton as Paul
- Erville Alderson as The professor
- Helen Lowell as The grandmother
- Marcia Harris as The aunt
- Frank Puglia as Theodor
- Hans Adalbert Schlettow as Leader of the Workers
- Paul Rehkopf as Hungry Worker
- Walter Plimmer as The American
- Lupino Lane as Rudolph
- Robert Scholtz
- Dick Sutherland
- Louis Wolheim
}}
Production
Most of the scenes were filmed in Germany and Austria. Only one was filmed in New York at the studio. The film stars Carol Dempster and Neil Hamilton. The film was a failure at the box office, and it led to Griffith leaving United Artists shortly after its run in theaters.{{cite web|last1=Drew|first1=William M.|title=D. W. Griffith (1875-1948)|url=http://www.gildasattic.com/dwgriffith.html|website=Gilda's Blue Book of the Screen|access-date=February 24, 2018}}
Reception
The film did receive some positive critical notices at the time, and its stock has risen considerably since its initial release; it has for some decades been considered one of Griffith's great films.{{Cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/isnt_life_wonderful/|title=Rotten Tomatoes|date=April 6, 2015|website=rottentomatoes.com|publisher=Richard Brody|access-date=April 16, 2016}}
Legacy
The title of the film was spoofed in the Charley Chase comedy Isn't Life Terrible? (1925).
Preservation
Prints of Isn't Life Wonderful are held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, Cinematek (Brussels, Belgium), Filmoteka Narodowa (Warsaw, Poland), Museum of Modern Art, Arhiva Națională de Filme (Bucharest, Romania), George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection, and Danish Film Institute (Copenhagen, Denmark).[http://lcweb2.loc.gov:8081/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.680/default.html Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: Isn't Life Wonderful]
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Isn't Life Wonderful}}
- {{IMDb title|0015018}}
- {{Internet Archive film|IsntLifeWonderful|Isn't Life Wonderful}} (30 minute abridgement)
{{D. W. Griffith}}
Category:American silent feature films
Category:1920s English-language films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Films directed by D. W. Griffith
Category:Films scored by Louis Silvers
Category:Silent American drama films
Category:English-language drama films