I'll get to what my title means later, but first, is there anyone creepier than Walter Huston when he's playing self-righteous religious types, like here and in "Rain"? Now Huston's son, Jason Wilkes, as a child is a true brat, always complaining and acting snooty. As an adult though, where James Stewart takes over the role, he is more self-centered, too taken up with his education and then career as a doctor to do more than write his parents when he needs money. Now this requires his parents selling off family heirlooms, and even the family horse which is more a pet than beast of burden, but Jason never seems to give their hardship a thought.Then Jason's father dies, Jason joins the Union army as a surgeon when the Civil War breaks out, and is able to save many lives and limbs at a time when most doctors just amputated. But then an executive order comes from Abraham Lincoln demanding a meeting with Jason. This is where my title comes from. I had no idea presidents issued executive orders 150 years ago. Jason thinks it is perhaps to recognize his performance as a military surgeon, but it turns out this audience is because Jason hasn't written home in two years, his mother thought he was dead and wrote Lincoln to find out where he was buried! Honest Abe gives Jason the tongue lashing he has long deserved. Will he see the light? Watch and find out.At first I thought this looked and felt like a 20th Century Fox film since it is so picturesque and unpretentious. With the mid 19th century rural setting, and John Carradine as Abraham Lincoln (he's very effective, even with that mask-like makeup), it was easy to get confused. Bondi is very convincing as the long suffering impoverished widow. Guy Kibbee believably hard nosed as general store proprietor. Charles Coburn is wonderful and mischievous as the alcoholic, warm hearted doctor. And it's wonderful seeing James Stewart on the brink of stardom, here all earnest and sensitive, with a lot of his boyish mannerisms coming to the fore. The movie always threatens to turn mawkish, but never does.The two children who played Jason as a child and Jason's childhood sweetheart also had interesting stories. They were Gene Reynolds and Leatrice Joy Gilbert, respectively. Reynolds would be a successful TV director and producer working on shows such as Lou Grant, M.A.S.H, Room 222, Hogan's Heroes, and My Three Sons. Leatrice Joy Gilbert was John Gilbert's daughter and played a big part in championing her dad's work and having him being better remembered than just the guy whose squeaky voice got him thrown out of talkies.Are there some over the top melodramatic moments? Of course there are. But this is the kind of small family film that MGM excelled at making at the time. I'd therefore recommend it.

Jason Wilkins (James Stewart) grows up poor and resentful towards his minister father Ethan (Walter Huston). Ethan is a good man but stern and rigid in his beliefs. Ethan's self-sacrificing wife Mary (Beulah Bondi) tries to balance his hardness by being as kind and gentle to their son as she can. When Jason is older he leaves home to go study to become a doctor. He's supported through this by money his parents send him from things they sell. After Ethan's father dies, Jason begins to neglect his mother more, writing home less and less except to ask for money. Eventually he stops writing altogether.This is an interesting one. I expected after reading some of the lukewarm reviews that it would be a stinker but I actually liked it. It's flawed, for sure, but it's also unique. There is a somewhat muddled message I suppose. The first half of the movie, where Jason is a child (excellently played by Gene Reynolds) creates a sympathetic portrait of him and an unsympathetic one of his father. But after Jason has grown up, he's a selfish ingrate who needs to be slapped around. His father, while still a hard-ass, is shown to have a kinder side and a genuine concern for his fellow man. The two halves do not necessarily have to be out of sync with one another. It's perfectly reasonable to assume that Jason's harsh upbringing has led him to being bitter and selfish. The problem is that the film doesn't seem to take this point of view. Once Jason is an adult, the focus is on his faults only and there's never a hint that his father was ever wrong at all. Add to that the shameful treatment of his saintly mother and Jason becomes downright villainous.Still, it's an interesting drama with a homespun folksy charm and healthy doses of humor sprinkled throughout. The leads are all good. Guy Kibbee, Charles Coburn, Gene Lockhart, Charley Grapewin, and Sterling Holloway are among the wonderful character actors who brighten things up. Adorable Ann Rutherford is always nice to see, even though she gets little to do here but look pretty. The most famous scene from the movie is where Abraham Lincoln (John Carradine) lays the verbal smack down on Jason. This scene is mocked by many but I loved it. Was it hokey? Sure, but it was also fun and added a nice twist to the movie's climax. A better movie than I think its given credit for being. Stewart and Huston fans should enjoy it.

"Of Human Hearts" is a schmaltzy historical melodrama that starts out okay, but gradually becomes ridiculous.It begins in the 1840's, when the Reverend Ethan Wilkins (Walter Huston), arrives at a small town on the Ohio River, with his wife Mary (Beulah Bondi) and young son Jason (Gene Reynolds). The townspeople are a parsimonious group, led by George Ames (Guy Kibbee), the skinflint owner of the general store. At a meeting to welcome the new minister to their church, they trick the minister into accepting less salary than was agreed upon. But Rev. Wilkins accepts this, even though he knows he is being cheated.Also, the town is not exactly big on education. After the schoolhouse burned down, the townspeople decided not to rebuild it, figuring "it wasn't good to bother the kids with too much book larnin'." The Rev. Wilkins is very strict and forbids his son Jason to read magazines, even after Jason's mother buys her son a subscription to the news magazine "Harper's Weekly." (It's never stated exactly why the Reverend hates magazines.) But Jason befriends the town's drunken doctor (Charles Coburn), and develops an interest in medicine.When Jason grows up (now played by James Stewart), he rebels against his father (with the usual father-son fistfight), and leaves home to attend medical school. Rev. Wilkins dies, and Mary Wilkins must occasionally sell items (i.e. silverware, furniture) inherited from her family. She sends the money to Jason, to keep him in medical school.When the Civil War comes, Jason distinguishes himself as a Union Army surgeon, treating wounded soldiers on the battlefield. But he neglects to write his mother for three years, and she fears him dead.Then comes the movie's most ridiculous scene. President Lincoln (John Carradine) receives a letter from Mary Wilkins asking him to find her son. He summons Jason Wilkins to the Oval Office -- calling him right out of a major battle where Wilkins is tending the wounded -- and demands to know why Wilkins hasn't written to his mother! "You ungrateful young man!" Lincoln rails. "How could you forget to write to your own mother?" "But...but Mr. President, I've been fighting the war for the past few years!" Wilkins stammers. "I've been saving wounded soldiers on the battlefield!" "Sit down at my desk there and write your mother immediately!" says the President. "And if you don't write her once a week from now on, I'll have you court-martialed!"(Unfortunately, I'm not making that last line up. Seems to me that Abe didn't have to call Jason in off the battlefield. He could've just sent a presidential order, "Write your mother, or else!")Anyway, the movie is a silly historical melodrama and is probably best forgotten. Beulah Bondi does give a good performance, but it's not enough to save this picture for posterity.

I found this movie very heartwarming as I am a big fan of Jimmy Stewart. I wish movies were still made like this - with heart. It can be all to true to raise a son or daughter who grow up and they kind of forget about their parents. While I admit there are some rather cheesy parts I'd rather watch that than some of the crap that comes out of Hollywood these days! As a mother myself, the parts where she is basically giving her very last dime to send to her son were all too true. What mother would not give everything she had to give her children if she though they needed it? When the son talks to Abraham Lincoln (yes, I believe that was a little far fetched) but I could see a mother writing, believing her son dead, as that could be the only explanation as to why he has not written. All in all this movie was very heartwarming!! I guess to watch it you have to have a heart!