The Great Heart (1938) User Reviews

True story of Father Damien in this MGM short...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 12 February 2011]

Based on the true story of a Belgian priest, Father Damien, who made breakthroughs in the treatment of Leprosy in the 1860s. TOM NEAL is cast as the young priest who is the first to respond to the leprosy crisis and becomes instrumental in helping the colony clean up its act.

In doing so, he eventually succumbs to the disease through his contact with the suffering souls under his care.

Narrated by Carey Wilson, it's the tale of a brave man who triumphed over great odds until his own death after years of making inroads in improvements. Not done with any great flair and a bit overly dramatic, it's an above average short subject that was nominated for a 1938 Best Short Subject Oscar.

He Really Walked The Walk

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 13 January 2010]

In this day and age we're living in, religious figures have come under intense scrutiny for some really serious failings, it's a pleasure to know that some really do walk the walk. No one more so than Father Damien of Molokai who found his calling ministering to the leper colony of Molokai until he himself came down with the ancient biblical plague, known in the modern world as Hansen's Disease.

The short subject is narrated by Carey Wilson and a young Tom Neal played Father Damien in the short docudrama. A much more ambitious production was done as a made for TV film with Ken Howard as Father Damien. The big screen in America has not touched this inspiring story oddly enough.

I think it's ironic that Tom Neal should be playing Father Damien considering the problems he later got into. Let's just say his life was far from saintly.

The Great Heart got an Oscar nomination for Best Short Subject. It's a cheaply made film, but with the most inspiring of subjects.

Leprosy

[boblipton · 7/10 · 17 May 2019]

This short, written and narrated by Carey Wilson, is about Father Damien, a Belgian priest who dedicated his life to tending to victims of leprosy on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, until he succumbed to the disease himself and died after sixteen years of service.

He was honored in his time by the Hawaiian monarchy. At least three movies have been made about him -- this was the first -- and he was canonized by the Catholic Church on 11 October 2009.

Although leprosy is no longer the terrifying and mysterious affliction it had been since Biblical times, this simple, if typically overwrought movie in Wilson's series of shorts for MGM demonstrates the dedication that can still inspire truly good people.

Nice Short

[Michael_Elliott · 13 February 2009]

Great Heart, The (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Carey Wilson short received an Oscar-nomination for Best Short and takes a look at the life of Father Damien, a Belgian priest who began work as a missionary in Hawaii. On his first day there he got involved with a man with leprosy and soon the villagers were frightened of him. The only exception were the people he was helping but soon the priest found himself with the disease. This short really plays out as a tribute to the man as his story is giving loving detail and every scene jumps off the screen like the director begging you to see the importance of this man. I had never heard of him before watching this but it certainly seemed like he lived a rather amazing, if somewhat short, life. The direction by Miller is pretty good as is the screenplay even though it gets a tad bit over-dramatic at times. Tom Neal does a fine job in the role of the priest.

A nice, brief overview of the life of Father Damien.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 8 May 2022]

"The Great Heart" is a short film about Father Damien, a famous and recently cannoized 19th century priest who gave his life ministering to the lepers on Molokai Island, Hawaii.

This short film is similar in style to many of MGM's shorts of the late 1930s...it's narrated as actors silently act out what the narrator is saying. While I don't love this style, the film is well made and gives a nice overview of the man's ministry. Far better, you might want to see a longer biography of the great man, such as "Father Damien the Leper Priest" or "The Story of Father Damien".

compelling service

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 9 June 2023]

In Feb. 1936, the King of Belgium requests a transport from the Americans for a Belgian hero. Joseph Damien de Veuster has been dead for 50 years. Known as Father Damien (Tom Neal), he worked with the banished lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.

It's an Oscar nominated MGM short. It's an old fashion biopic. It's a fascinating life doing God's work. I've never heard of him. I can do without the Carey Wilson narration. I would rather hear the words from the Father's own mouth. The narration keeps the audience at an arm's length. It's a simple short. I can see this being nominated more for the man's service.

The Great Heart

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 8 February 2024]

In 1936, a US naval vessel travels from Hawaii at the behest of King Leopold III of Belgium to repatriate the body of Jozef De Veuster (Father Damiaan). Why? Well fifty years earlier he befriended a local population of lepers on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i where only the sick were permitted to live. With bodies strewn in what passed from the streets, he dealt with a dissolute community that openly - and correctly - blamed the white man for bringing the ghastly disease in the first place. His priestly duties see him take charge of their future and in but a decade, the place has become a home for Christianity, hope and even running water. Just how long, though, can he survive before he too succumbs to this disease? When it does arrive, this man uses the news to improve the lot for his people - supplies arriving from all over the world to make their lives better and to offer them hope and medication for the future. Carey Wilson narrates this story and Tom Neal portrays this missionary without any dialogue and that didn't quite work for me. It's an interesting story but I found that the limiting nature of the photography brought little to what would have been a better radio broadcast that allowed us to use more of our own imagination. Still, it's a story worth watching of an illness the treatment of which hadn't really advanced since the times of Ben Hur. (PS: Father Damiaan was canonised in 2009).

Good, but not great, short about Father Damian

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 30 October 2001]

This short, nominated for an Academy Award, is a look at the true story of a Belgian priest who went to tend to lepers in Hawaii and contracted the disease himself. At least one film has been made about Father Damien and it's a fascinating story. Thi short is good, if a bit melodramatic at times and the narration is sometimes a bit droning. Turner Classic Movies runs this between movies regularly and almost invariably runs it in March as part of their "31 Days of Oscar" feature. Worth watching.

On the verge of appalling human cruelty comes life lesson of real compassion.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 15 April 2019]

The story Father Damien has been told in several ways, but this one reeler narrated by Carey Wilson from MGM's short department is certainly a good way to learn about the basic story. Father Damien, a Belgian priest sent to Hawaii, visits a leper colony after encountering a leper on one and is aghast by what he sees. The lepers, made outcasts on a secluded Island where nobody else is allowed under threat of banishment there, are more concerned with the human pleasures in an attempt to alleviate their pain, lead a life of drunkenness and sinfulness until he gets through to them and begins to work in cleaning up where they reside. It takes a while for him to get any followers, but his patience and virtue pays off at the expense of his own health. Certainly, there is much more to the story but this makes the point, and in 1938, all you would have to do was head to your library to find out more.

With World War II just around the corner and appalling cruelties on the verge of killing millions, this was an important short about what human compassion should be all about. In that sense, it is ahead of its time and a bit eerie in the hints of a nearby future. Tom Neal, who would go on to star in the film noir classic "Detour", is the face if not the voice of Father Damien. We see him age from a young man to a dying one, and there is a bit of a ghostly presence as the short wraps up. There is a level of incompleteness that surrounds this short because there was much more to the story. But nevertheless, this made an impact at the time and garnered an Oscar nomination. Perfect? No. A necessity for film historians? Absolutely.