SYNOPSIS:
Father O'Malley arrives at his new home as priest
of the parochial school and St. Mary's church in
a poor neighborhood of New York. He is drawn right
away into the problems of the neighborhood and the
students, all of which leads him to form a choir
to bring the boys in off the streets. The daily
life of the school causes him to draw closer to
Sister Benedict, the Mother Superior of the convent
and director of the school, and to participate in
the hopes of the congregation: that a millionaire
will donate a modern building nearby to be the new
home of the aging school.
Review: It's not possible to have a discussion
of a film by McCarey without someone having a fit.
And this one is no different, with children, priests,
and nuns all mixed together, the typical parish
choir and a terribly contrived story. Nevertheless,
from it are drawn mountains of memorable
scenes, some characters who accompany us the rest
of our lives and the highest level of emotion that
can be brought to a film.
The Bells of St. Mary's was the follow-up to Going
My Way (Leo McCarey, 1944), a film that was made
as a result of pressure by the U.S. Catholic church
on the bank in charge of managing its accounts to
influence some of the Hollywood studios it had interests
in to make "Catholic" films. After the success of
the first picture (a smash hit in the USA, ranked
third for years among the most-watched films in
the country), a second effort was made that kept
only the main character, Father O'Malley, a young
priest and former singer, and someone who could
be considered 'modern' at that preconciliar time.
The Bells of St. Mary's was also a success, and
jumped to sixth place in the ranking of the most-watched
films in the history of the United States; it became
such a symbol of goodness and 'well-being,' that
when, in It's A Wonderful Life, George Bailey gets
his identity back, one of the houses of prostitution
in Pottersville changes into a movie theater in
Bedford Falls that is showing The Bells of St. Mary's.
One of the most famous scenes in the film, astonishing
in its absolute lack of support and its spontaneity,
is one in which a group of six-year-old children
are practicing the Christmas play in the empty theater,
occupied only by an amazed Father O'Malley and a
smiling Sister Benedict, who look on as the children
act out and revise the story at their own discretion.
And there's the talk about the cat and the hat,
the conversations between the nuns and the crabby
millionaire, the boxing classes taught by Sister
Benedict, or the final farewell of the two main
characters. Unsurpassable.
|
 |
| Original
title |
The Bells of St. Mary´s |
|
| Country
of origin |
USA |
|
| Year |
1945 |
|
| Director |
Leo
McCarey |
|
| Producer |
Leo
McCarey |
|
| Screenplay
|
Dudley Nichols |
|
| Cinematography
|
George Barnes |
|
| Cast
|
Bing
Crosby, Father Chuck O'Malley
Ingrid Bergman, Sister Benedict
Henry Travers Horace, P. Bogardus
William Gargan, Father of Patsy
Ruth Donnelly, Sister Michael
Joan Carroll, Patricia "Patsy" Gallagher
Martha Sleeper, Mrs. Gallagher, mother
of Patsy
Rhys Williams, Dr. McKay
Dickie Tyler, Eddie
Una O'Connor, Mrs. Breen |
|
|
|
|
Argentina | Brazil | Colombia | Costa Rica | Chile | El Salvador | Guatemala
