Ever feel like you’re doing everything right but still failing the people you love? That’s basically the gut-punch at the center of the of human hearts movie. Released in 1938, it’s not just some dusty relic from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Honestly, it’s one of those rare films that manages to be incredibly uncomfortable and deeply moving at the same time.
Most people know James Stewart for his "aw-shucks" heroes. Here? He plays a guy who is, quite frankly, a jerk to his mother. It’s jarring. Directed by Clarence Brown, this MGM production was a passion project that almost didn’t happen because the studio thought Civil War dramas were "box office poison" (this was a year before Gone with the Wind changed everything).
The Plot: A Family Tearing at the Seams
The story kicks off in a muddy, impoverished Ohio village in the mid-1800s. We meet the Wilkins family. Ethan Wilkins (played with a terrifying, holy intensity by Walter Huston) is a preacher who believes that poverty is a spiritual badge of honor. He forces his family to live in rags to set an "example" for his equally poor parishioners.
His son, Jason, isn't having it.
Young Jason (Gene Reynolds) and later adult Jason (James Stewart) grows up resentful. He doesn't want to save souls; he wants to save bodies. He wants to be a doctor. The tension between father and son is thick enough to cut with a dull knife. Ethan sees Jason’s ambition as worldly pride. Jason sees his father’s "holiness" as a cruel excuse for neglect.
The Mother Caught in the Middle
If there is a soul to the of human hearts movie, it’s Beulah Bondi as Mary Wilkins. She is the bridge. To fund Jason's medical school dreams, she goes behind her husband’s back and sells her precious family heirlooms—literally her silver spoons and eventually her wedding ring—just so her son can have a life better than the one they share.
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She gives everything.
He gives almost nothing back.
Once Jason gets to medical school in Baltimore, he becomes a success. But he also becomes "busy." We’ve all been there, right? You get caught up in your own life and forget to call home. Except Jason takes it to a 19th-century extreme. He stops writing. He stops visiting. Even when his father is dying, he barely makes it back in time.
When Abraham Lincoln Enters the Chat
The movie takes a wild turn into the Civil War. Jason is now a high-ranking surgeon on the front lines. He’s a hero, technically. He’s saving lives and losing sleep. But he’s still haven't written a single letter to his mother in two years.
Mary, thinking her son is dead, writes a letter to President Abraham Lincoln.
Now, this sounds like typical Hollywood melodrama, but the book it was based on—Benefits Forgot by Honoré Morrow—was actually based on a popular legend about Lincoln. John Carradine plays Lincoln here, and he doesn't give Jason a medal. He gives him a verbal beatdown.
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Lincoln summons Jason to the White House and basically tells him that "ingratitude" is the worst human failing. It’s a powerful, weirdly intimate scene. Imagine the President of the United States pulling you out of a war zone just to tell you to write to your mom. It works because Carradine plays Lincoln with such weary, fatherly authority.
Production Secrets and Why it Looks So Real
MGM didn't go cheap on this. To recreate the Ohio frontier, they built an entire village at Lake Arrowhead, California.
- They constructed over 50 buildings.
- They planted actual cornfields and cabbage patches.
- They even brought in a working steamboat.
Director Clarence Brown was obsessed with authenticity. He wanted the mud to look like real mud. He wanted the struggle to feel heavy. The battle scenes alone cost around $50,000—a massive sum in 1938—and involved 2,000 extras.
Interestingly, the title of human hearts movie wasn't the original choice. The movie was filmed under the title Benefits Forgot (a Shakespeare reference). MGM held a contest to rename it, and a 17-year-old high school student named Roy Harris won. He got to see the premiere in his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. Not a bad claim to fame for a teenager.
The Stewart-Bondi Connection
One reason the chemistry feels so authentic is that Beulah Bondi played Jimmy Stewart’s mother in five different projects.
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- Of Human Hearts (1938)
- Vivacious Lady (1938)
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
- The Jimmy Stewart Show (TV, 1971)
By the time they did It's a Wonderful Life, they were basically family. But in the of human hearts movie, their relationship is much more painful. Bondi was actually nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this role. She deserved it. The way she looks at Stewart—with a mix of pride and heartbreak—is something you don't see in many modern movies.
Why You Should Care Today
This isn't just a "Civil War movie." It's a movie about the cost of ambition. Jason Wilkins isn't a villain in the traditional sense. He's a doctor. He’s doing "good" work. But the film asks: what is the value of your public success if you’ve destroyed your private relationships to get there?
It’s a question that feels knd of relevant in our "hustle culture" today.
Actionable Takeaways for Film Buffs
If you’re planning to track down a copy of the of human hearts movie, here’s how to get the most out of the experience:
- Watch the background: Look at the set design by Cedric Gibbons. The frontier town isn't glamorous; it’s claustrophobic and gritty. It helps you understand why Jason wanted to escape so badly.
- Listen to the silence: Unlike many 1930s films that were overstuffed with "mickey-mousing" (music that mimics every action), this film uses quiet moments to let the emotional weight sit.
- Compare the "Jimmy": Watch this back-to-back with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. You’ll see how much range Stewart actually had. In one, he's the ultimate idealist; in the other, he's a selfish son seeking redemption.
You can usually find it streaming on platforms like Apple TV or Amazon, or catch it on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). It’s 103 minutes of your life that will probably make you want to call your parents immediately after the credits roll.
To dive deeper into the history of this era of filmmaking, you might want to look into the filmography of Clarence Brown. He was Greta Garbo's favorite director and had a knack for finding the human pulse in massive, big-budget productions. Exploring the transition from the silent era to these "pre-war" dramas reveals a lot about how Hollywood learned to tell more complex, less "perfect" stories about family life.