In Seventh Heaven, one of the greatest romantic films of the twenties and winner of the first Oscar, Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor give wonderfully natural, intimate performances as two sub-proletarian characters living in Paris on the eve of World War I. Dirt poor, they create a “heaven” for themselves in a seventh-floor Montmartre garret. When he is called to the front, their promise to communicate with one another each day at 11:00 a.m. foreshadows an ending that “destroys narrative logic and physical reality to reveal the strength of the spirit...” (John Belton, The Hollywood Professionals). Borzage's backdrops of poverty and war typically serve to test the purity and transcendent power of love; nevertheless, his settings are effectively rendered and add depth to spiritual romances like Seventh Heaven. Georges Sadoul writes in Dictionary of Filmmakers, “Borzage's lovers are rarely isolated from their environment.... In addition to his understanding of human relationships and his poetic tenderness, he had a social awareness and many of his films express a hatred of war....”