Isn't Life Wonderful

Isn't Life Wonderful
Isn't Life Wonderful
	Lobby card
Directed by	D. W. Griffith
Written by	D. W. Griffith
Based on	"Isn't Life Wonderful?"; by Geoffrey Moss
Produced by	D. W. Griffith
Starring	Carol Dempster; Neil Hamilton;
Cinematography	Hendrik Sartov [fr]; Harold S. Sintzenich;
Music by	Louis Silvers; Cesare Sodero;
Production; company	D.W. Griffith Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	November 23, 1924;
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)
Budget	$260,000
Box office	$400,000

The full film

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.^[2]

Plot

After World War I, displaced families flood Berlin, including a Polish professor (Erville Alderson) and his relatives. Food is scarce. The family finds housing but can barely afford to eat, sometimes surviving on one potato per person and horse turnips.

Paul (Neil Hamilton) and his cousin Inga (Carol Dempster) want to build a life together. Inga finds work collecting household basics. Paul builds a hut and plants a garden, growing enough potatoes for winter.

A group of starving workers, led by one man (Hans Adalbert Schlettow), follows them during harvest and steals the entire crop. Another worker (Paul Rehkopf) helps with the theft. Paul and Inga lose everything.

Inga tells Paul that despite the loss, they still have each other, and life still has meaning.^[3]

Cast

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 Jr. 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.^[4]

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.^[5]

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).^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b "Griffith's 20 Year Record". Variety. September 5, 1928. p. 12. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
^ Progressive Silent Film List: Isn't Life Wonderful at silentera.com
^ Sewell, Charles S. (December 13, 1924). "Isn't Life Wonderful; Powerful in Its Simplicity and Realism, D. W. Griffith's Latest Is Limited in Its Appeal". The Moving Picture World. 71 (7). New York City: Chalmers Publishing Co.: 624–625. Retrieved June 25, 2021. Among the thousands of refugees who flocked to Berlin was the family of a Polish professor, 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 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, Hans, for his cousin Inga 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, while Hans alone 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 out to harvest their little crop, but are followed by workmen who, temporarily made beasts through their hunger and suffering, and the suffering of their families, rob them of all. The world looks black, but Inga rises to the occasion and makes Hans realize that they still have each other, and that after all "Isn't Life Wonderful."
^ Drew, William M. "D. W. Griffith (1875–1948)". Gilda's Blue Book of the Screen. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
^ "Isn't Life Wonderful". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
^ Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: Isn't Life Wonderful

External links

Isn't Life Wonderful at IMDb
Isn't Life Wonderful is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive (30 minute abridgement)

[var-1] "Griffith's 20 Year Record". Variety. September 5, 1928. p. 12. Retrieved March 21, 2023.

[2] Progressive Silent Film List: Isn't Life Wonderful at silentera.com

[MPW-3] Sewell, Charles S. (December 13, 1924). "Isn't Life Wonderful; Powerful in Its Simplicity and Realism, D. W. Griffith's Latest Is Limited in Its Appeal". The Moving Picture World. 71 (7). New York City: Chalmers Publishing Co.: 624–625. Retrieved June 25, 2021. Among the thousands of refugees who flocked to Berlin was the family of a Polish professor, 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 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, Hans, for his cousin Inga 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, while Hans alone 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 out to harvest their little crop, but are followed by workmen who, temporarily made beasts through their hunger and suffering, and the suffering of their families, rob them of all. The world looks black, but Inga rises to the occasion and makes Hans realize that they still have each other, and that after all "Isn't Life Wonderful."

[4] Drew, William M. "D. W. Griffith (1875–1948)". Gilda's Blue Book of the Screen. Retrieved February 24, 2018.

[5] "Isn't Life Wonderful". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 16, 2016.

[6] Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: Isn't Life Wonderful

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Films directed by D. W. Griffith
1908	The Adventures of Dollie The Fight for Freedom The Tavern Keeper's Daughter The Black Viper The Red Man and the Child Deceived Slumming Party The Bandit's Waterloo A Calamitous Elopement The Greaser's Gauntlet The Man and the Woman The Fatal Hour For Love of Gold Balked at the Altar For a Wife's Honor Betrayed by a Handprint Monday Morning in a Coney Island Police Court The Girl and the Outlaw Behind the Scenes The Red Girl The Heart of O'Yama Where the Breakers Roar A Smoked Husband The Stolen Jewels The Devil The Zulu's Heart Father Gets in the Game Ingomar, the Barbarian The Vaquero's Vow The Planter's Wife Romance of a Jewess The Call of the Wild Concealing a Burglar After Many Years The Pirate's Gold The Taming of the Shrew The Guerrilla The Song of the Shirt The Ingrate A Woman's Way The Clubman and the Tramp Money Mad The Valet's Wife The Feud and the Turkey The Reckoning The Test of Friendship An Awful Moment The Christmas Burglars Mr. Jones at the Ball The Helping Hand
1909	One Touch of Nature The Maniac Cook Mrs. Jones Entertains The Honor of Thieves Love Finds a Way The Sacrifice A Rural Elopement Those Boys! The Criminal Hypnotist The Fascinating Mrs. Francis Mr. Jones Has a Card Party Those Awful Hats The Welcome Burglar The Cord of Life The Girls and Daddy The Brahma Diamond Edgar Allen Poe A Wreath in Time Tragic Love The Curtain Pole His Ward's Love The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals The Hindoo Dagger The Politician's Love Story The Golden Louis At the Altar The Prussian Spy His Wife's Mother A Fool's Revenge The Wooden Leg The Roue's Heart The Salvation Army Lass The Lure of the Gown I Did It The Voice of the Violin The Deception And a Little Child Shall Lead Them A Burglar's Mistake (lost) The Medicine Bottle Jones and His New Neighbors A Drunkard's Reformation Trying to Get Arrested The Road to the Heart A Rude Hostess Schneider's Anti-Noise Crusade A Sound Sleeper Lady Helen's Escapade Lucky Jim Jones and the Lady Book Agent Resurrection Two Memories Eloping with Auntie The Cricket on the Hearth The Violin Maker of Cremona A New Trick The Lonely Villa The Son's Return Her First Biscuits The Country Doctor The Cardinal's Conspiracy Tender Hearts The Friend of the Family The Renunciation The Mended Lute The Sealed Room The Little Darling The Hessian Renegades Comata, the Sioux Getting Even In Old Kentucky Leather Stocking Pippa Passes or The Song of Conscience Fools of Fate His Lost Love The Gibson Goddess Nursing a Viper The Death Disc: A Story of the Cromwellian Period Through the Breakers The Red Man's View A Corner in Wheat A Trap for Santa Claus In Little Italy To Save Her Soul The Day After Choosing a Husband Bill Sharkey's Last Game
1910	The Rocky Road The Woman from Mellon's The Englishman and the Girl In Old California Faithful The Two Brothers As It Is In Life A Romance of the Western Hills The Unchanging Sea Ramona In the Season of Buds A Child of the Ghetto In the Border States What the Daisy Said A Flash of Light An Arcadian Maid The House with Closed Shutters Wilful Peggy The Modern Prodigal A Mohawk's Way The Oath and the Man Rose O'Salem-Town The Fugitive Winning Back His Love
1911	The Two Paths The Italian Barber His Trust His Trust Fulfilled Fate's Turning Heart Beats of Long Ago What Shall We Do with Our Old? Fisher Folks His Daughter The Lily of the Tenements A Decree of Destiny Was He a Coward? The Lonedale Operator The Spanish Gypsy The Broken Cross How She Triumphed The New Dress The Crooked Road The White Rose of the Wilds The Smile of a Child Enoch Arden: Part I Enoch Arden: Part II The Primal Call Fighting Blood The Indian Brothers A Country Cupid The Last Drop of Water Out from the Shadow The Blind Princess and the Poet Swords and Hearts The Stuff Heroes Are Made Of Her Awakening The Making of a Man The Adventures of Billy The Long Road Love in the Hills The Battle Through Darkened Vales The Miser's Heart A Woman Scorned The Voice of the Child
1912	The Eternal Mother The Old Bookkeeper For His Son The Transformation of Mike A Sister's Love Under Burning Skies The Sunbeam A String of Pearls The Girl and Her Trust The Root of Evil The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch The Punishment The Female of the Species Just Like a Woman One Is Business, the Other Crime The Lesser Evil A Beast at Bay An Outcast Among Outcasts Home Folks A Temporary Truce The Spirit Awakened Man's Lust for Gold Man's Genesis The Sands of Dee The Narrow Road The Inner Circle A Change of Spirit An Unseen Enemy Blind Love The Massacre Two Daughters of Eve Friends So Near, yet So Far A Feud in the Kentucky Hills The Chief's Blanket In the Aisles of the Wild The One She Loved The Painted Lady The Musketeers of Pig Alley Heredity Gold and Glitter My Baby The Informer Brutality The New York Hat My Hero The Burglar's Dilemma A Cry for Help The God Within
1913	Three Friends The Telephone Girl and the Lady An Adventure in the Autumn Woods The Tender Hearted Boy A Misappropriated Turkey Brothers Oil and Water A Chance Deception Love in an Apartment Hotel Broken Ways A Girl's Stratagem The Unwelcome Guest Near to Earth Fate A Welcome Intruder The Sheriff's Baby The Hero of Little Italy The Perfidy of Mary The Little Tease A Misunderstood Boy The Left-Handed Man The Lady and the Mouse If We Only Knew The Wanderer The Stolen Loaf The House of Darkness The Yaqui Cur Just Gold The Ranchero's Revenge A Timely Interception Death's Marathon The Mothering Heart The Sorrowful Shore The Enemy's Baby The Mistake Two Men of the Desert (lost) Madonna of the Storm The Battle at Elderbush Gulch The Conscience of Hassan Bey
1914–1931	Judith of Bethulia (1914) Battle of the Sexes (1914, lost) Brute Force (1914) Home, Sweet Home (1914) The Escape (1914, lost) The Avenging Conscience: or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" (1914) The Birth of a Nation (1915) Intolerance (1916) Hearts of the World (1918) The Great Love (1918, lost) Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal (1918, lost) The Greatest Thing in Life (1918, lost) A Romance of Happy Valley (1919) The Girl Who Stayed at Home (1919) Broken Blossoms (1919) True Heart Susie (1919) Scarlet Days (1919) The Greatest Question (1919) The Idol Dancer (1920) Remodeling Her Husband (1920, lost) The Love Flower (1920) Way Down East (1920) Dream Street (1921) Orphans of the Storm (1921) One Exciting Night (1922) The White Rose (1923) America (1924) Isn't Life Wonderful (1924) Sally of the Sawdust (1925) That Royle Girl (1925, lost) The Sorrows of Satan (1926) Drums of Love (1928) The Battle of the Sexes (1928) Lady of the Pavements (1929) Abraham Lincoln (1930) The Struggle (1931)