{{distinguish|text=A Hungry Heart, a film of the same year starring Alice Brady, sometimes called The Hungry Heart}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = The Hungry Heart | image = | alt = | caption = | director = Robert G. Vignola | producer = | screenplay = Charles Maigne | based_on = {{based on|''The Hungry Heart''|David Graham Phillips}} | starring = Pauline Frederick<br>Howard Hall<br>Robert Cain<br>Helen Lindroth<br>Eldean Steuart | music = | cinematography = Ned Van Buren | editing = | studio = Famous Players Film Company | distributor = Paramount Pictures | released = {{Film date|1917|11|5}} | runtime = 50 minutes | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) | budget = | gross = }} thumb|right|A contemporary newspaper publicity photograph. '''''The Hungry Heart''''' is a 1917 American silent drama film directed by Robert G. Vignola and written by Charles Maigne based upon the novel of the same name by David Graham Phillips. The film stars Pauline Frederick, Howard Hall, Robert Cain, Helen Lindroth, and Eldean Steuart.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/495846/the-hungry-heart|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220022026/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/495846/the-hungry-heart|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 20, 2020|title=The Hungry Heart (1917) - Overview - TCM.com|work=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=5 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="afi">{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/16943-THE-HUNGRY-HEART |title=AFI Catalog of Feature Films: ''The Hungry Heart'' |work=afi.com |access-date=May 7, 2026}}</ref><ref name="deGroat">{{Citation |title=The Pauline Frederick Website: ''The Hungry Heart (1917)'' |last=de Groat |first=Greta |date=2005-09-16 |url=https://web.stanford.edu/~gdegroat/PF/reviews/hh.htm |publisher=stanford.edu |access-date=May 7, 2026}}</ref> The film was released on November 5, 1917, by Paramount Pictures.<ref name="afi"/>
==Plot== As described in a film magazine,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Reviews: ''The Hungry Heart'' |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=5 |issue=21 |publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company |date=November 17, 1917 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald05exhi/page/n34 25] |url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald05exhi}}</ref> Courtney Vaughan is very much in love with her husband Richard. However, when he neglects her for his chemistry work, she turns to Basil Gallatin, her husband's partner and a homewrecker. When Richard learns that Courtney desires her freedom he divorces her, giving her custody of their little son. After a separation of some time, Richard returns to the home and asks permission to use the laboratory. He asks Courtney to assist him, which she does. Basil, learning that Courtney is free, returns to her only to be turned away. He then goes to Richard and demands Courtney, but Courtney tells Richard to kill both her and Basil. Basil, frightened, runs away, and Courtney and Richard make arrangements to start life anew.
== Cast == *Pauline Frederick as Courtney Vaughan *Howard Hall as Richard Vaughan *Robert Cain as Basil Gallatin *Helen Lindroth as Nanny *Eldean Steuart as Winchie
==Reception== Like many American films of the time, ''The Hungry Heart'' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors required cuts in reel 2 of the intertitle "My love, my love, I might have killed you", the woman embracing man on balcony and entire scene of man in woman's bedroom, in reel 4 the intertitles "Old Nanny's paralyzed. I found her yesterday morning in the hallway" and "You need not fear to confess that he took advantage of a weak moment", and in reel 5 the intertitles "I have no desire to punish, but Winchie and the world must never know", "If he finds us, he will kill us both", and "He has held me in his arms". After reinspection, the Chicago board required additional changes, after the closeup of Courtney on stairway and her husband has gone into Nanny's room, insert the intertitle "Convinced that the meddlesome Nanny has misunderstood their affection, Courtney thinks only of the safety of Gallatin" and eliminate the intertitles "It is true", "Where is he", and "There are times when a man must ignore or kill".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=5 |issue=22 |page=33 |publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company |location=New York |date=24 November 1917 |url=https://archive.org/stream/exhibitorsherald05exhi#page/n1052/mode/1up}}</ref>
==Preservation== ''The Hungry Heart'' is currently presumed lost.<ref name=''LOC''>{{cite web|date=2017-01-05|others=|title=The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''The Hungry Heart''|url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.6351/default.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321012449/http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.6351/default.html|archive-date=2023-03-21|access-date=2026-05-07|website=memory.loc.gov}}</ref><ref name="deGroat"/> In February of 2021, the film was cited by the National Film Preservation Board on their Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films list.<ref name="Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films">{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/SFF-LostFilmsList020421.pdf|title=7,200 Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films (1912-29)|publisher=National Film Preservation Board|date=2021-02-04|access-date=May 7, 2026}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0008126|The Hungry Heart}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20201220022026/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/495846/the-hungry-heart#synopsis ''The Hungry Heart'' (1917) - Full Synopsis] at Turner Classic Movies *Phillips, David Graham (1909), ''[https://archive.org/details/hungryheartnovel00phil The Hungry Heart]'', New York: Grosset & Dunlap, on the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hungry Heart, The}} Category:1917 films Category:1917 American films Category:1917 drama films Category:1917 English-language films Category:1917 lost films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent feature films Category:English-language drama films Category:Films directed by Robert G. Vignola Category:Lost American silent drama films Category:Paramount Pictures films