The Heart of a Hero Reviews

In 1916, with the United States facing its first involvement in a European war, patriotic subjects abounded in popular culture. It would probably be too much to expect that many of the resulting works would show exceptional complexity -- and Emile Chautard's The Heart of a Hero, adapted from Clyde Fitch's play +Nathan Hale, is an exemplar of the problem; sophistication would come later. Here there's mostly a lot of reverence for the subject at hand, the life, career, and sacrifice of Nathan Hale during the American Revolution. What is impressive is Gail Kane's full-blooded, joyful, and, in its own subtle way, lusty interpretation of the heroine. The movie is enjoyable on more than an academic level today entirely because of her work, though it is also a fascinating artifact from a period in which patriotism was being consciously used to prepare the country for war.