User Reviews

Although this is, to the point of caricature, the typical propaganda film, it was not made until 1918 and dos not seem to have gone on general release until 1919, so it strictly speaking less of a propaganda film and more of a simple hate-film. This late date does however also allow the battle scenes and the conditions in the trenches to be made with considerable realism and Holubar makes the most of it.

It is, in a sense, a kind of test-film. What effect had the war and the war propaganda had on what could be shown on screen? How far had the need to blacken the reputation of the enemy pushed the barriers back with respect particularly to sex and violence?

The film is grotesque as much in its maudlin Catholic religiosity as in its message a hate (it veers nauseously between the two modes). But for the history of cinema, it has the great virtue of providing the most extreme of roles to the man Universal billed as "the man you love to hate" - Erich von Stroheim. For several years Stroheim would trade on this extreme image (establishing that, where a villain was concerned, virtually anything could be shown) to evade the censor and greatly extend the range of possibility open for film.

Once a character has been shown defenestrating a baby while raping a nurse(I mark this as a spoiler for form but it is the scene everyone knows and the scene everyone waits for), it is difficult to find grounds for censoring a rather similar character for, shall we say, raping a mentally retarded minor (Foolish Wives).

Being the man he was, Von Stroheim would always to seek to push those bounds further and further (the scenes never shown at the time from the end of Queen Kelly are still quite shocking to watch) and by the late twenties had, alas, more than used up his capital.... So the US would, for perhaps the first but by no means the last time, hound from the industry one of its finest directors.

Nevertheless, even when the possibility to direct was no longer allowed him, the role of a typical German and a typical villain would go on being useful to him in his acting career.

Let's face it: no one watching this cares about the noble sufferings of Nanette, mother, nurse, and Lillian Gish wannabe extraordinaire. Everyone into silent film has seen the clip where Erich von Stroheim tears the heroine's nurse uniform off with his teeth and then throws a crying baby out a window when its weeping interrupts his rapey plans. It's a shocking, savage scene most non-silent fans would not associate with 1910s film, yet such cinematic sensationalism was common when it came to making the Hun out to be the ultimate evil during World War I.

Aside from Stroheim's nasty but memorable performance as the lecherous German officer, THE HEART OF HUMANITY has nothing to recommend it. It is beyond ridiculous, playing like a parody of DW Griffith's worst excesses as a filmmaker. The battle scenes are initially interesting, but go on and on and on, and the editing is often confusing. The story meanders and preaches, only allowing the audience any fun when the Germans show up to do something over the top and evil.