Main Cast: Carol Dempster, Neil Hamilton, Erville Alderson, Helen Lowell, Frank Puglia
Release Year: 1924
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Producer/director D.W. Griffith's feature is a fairly realistic study of the deprivations visited on the German people after their defeat in World War I. In her best-ever performance, Griffith protégée Carol Dempster plays Inga, who does her best to hold her family together and keep food on the table despite grinding poverty, debilitating illness and out-of-control inflation. The most memorable scene finds Inga desperately trying to maneuver a basketful of near-worthless Deutschmarks to a market before the prices rise again and she is unable to buy meat. Aware that anti-German sentiment still prevailed in the US, Griffith cannily inserted an opening title which noted that the main characters were Polish. A further title explains that "The Story is laid in Germany only because the conditions there were most suitable to show the struggle of love over hardship." Filmed on location in Germany, Isn't Life Wonderful sentimentalizes things just a tad towards the end, but otherwise remains an uncompromising forerunner of the semi-documentary European "street" dramas of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Alas, the film failed completely at the box office, ending D.W. Griffith's career as an independent producer (he would continue to direct, but only as a "hired hand" for various studios). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Marcia Harris - The aunt; Lupino Lane - Rudolf; Walter Plimmer, Jr. - The American; Paul Rehkopf - Hungry Worker; Robert Scholz - Hungry Worker; Hans Adalbert von Schlettow - Leader of the Hungry Workers
Credit
D.W. Griffith - Director, Louis Silvers - Composer (Music Score), Hendrik Sartov - Cinematographer, Hal Sintzenich - Cinematographer, D.W. Griffith - Producer, D.W. Griffith - Screenwriter, Goeffrey Moss - Short Story Author
Isn't Life Wonderful? (1924) is a film, directed by D. W. Griffith for his company D. W. Griffith Productions, and distributed by United Artists. It was based on the novel by Geoffrey Moss and it went under the alternative title Dawn. The title of the film was spoofed in the Charlie Chase comedy Isn't Life Terrible (1925).
Most of the scenes were filmed in Germany and Austria. Only one was filmed in New York at the studio. The film also stars Carol Dempster and Neil Hamilton. The film was also a failure at the box office, and led to Griffith leaving United Artists shortly after its run in theaters.[1]
The film did receive some positive critical notices at the time, but its stock has risen considerably since; it has for some decades been considered one of Griffith's greatest films. Most also feel this film features the finest performance by leading actress Carol Dempster.
The movie has been released on VHS but, oddly, has yet to see a DVD release.
A family from Poland has been left homeless in the wake of World War I. They move to Germany and struggle to survive the conditions there, during the Great Inflation. Inga (Carol Dempster) is a Polish war orphan who has only accumulated a small amount of money from the rubble and hopes to marry Paul (Neil Hamilton). Weakened by poison gas, Paul begins to invest in Inga's future and he serves as their symbol of optimism.
