Reseñas de usuarios

Many of Capra's films point out the nobility of small town America, but here he seems to be doing just the opposite - bringing to light how one small town has just fired their preacher for the unpardonable sin of aging and hired a younger man to replace him without a backwards glance to the consequences to the displaced older man. The old preacher dies dictating his last sermon. We don't see this but we hear it from his daughter Florence played by Barbara Stanwyck. The farewell sermon she gives the parishioners has them walking out - or should I say running - as she calls them murderers, thieves, adulterers, closet drunks - being the preacher's daughter she knows where the bodies are buried and she tells them. A con man is in the congregation for some reason and he says if she wants to get even - and rich - she should run a faith healing con on this same type of small town hypocrite. The world is full of them according to her mentor.

The plan works - Florence is as fiery as a fake preacher as she was as a real one and soon the two are rolling in dough with the help of lots of paid fakers. What makes it easy is that the crowd seems to be there for a circus more than a sermon and they do certainly get their money's worth and ask no questions. However, Florence soon has double trouble on her hands. It turns out that her mentor has a darker side than she figured on who keeps her on a very short leash, and then there is the appearance into her life of a man who was blinded in WWI - David Manners as John, a failed songwriter, who claims one of her radio sermons kept him from jumping from his high rise apartment window to his death.

What is good about this film? Stanwyck of course. Just a couple of years after sound came into films the lady is fire and ice with the spoken word. Plus even in these early films Capra is visiting the themes of depression, class warfare, suicide, the forgotten man, the power of the individual, and the madness and fickleness of the mob - all which show up in his later efforts.

What holds the film back is the rather unexplained relationship between Manners' and Stanwyck's characters. There just doesn't seem to be any reason for them to be together other than that each would be completely alone in the world as far as human comfort goes without the other due to their isolated existences. In spite of that, their relationship and scenes together are believable.

Overall, this film does a good job of exploring the fact that for those who lose their faith, it's usually not God that's hard to love but rather the people He created due to their overall indifference towards anything outside of their own little world.

Clearheaded, consistently entertaining indictment of shear-the-sheep religion, from an unsuccessful Broadway play that starred Alice Brady, this quick-moving melodrama benefits from a terse Robert Riskin screenplay where every line counts, atmospheric Joseph Walker photography, and some very fine acting. Capra, as usual, makes his points quickly, finds humor where there's humor to be found (note the drunken party greeter repeatedly falling out of his chair), and gives even the minor characters distinctive personalities. Best of all is a blazing Barbara Stanwyck, who has a stunning first scene and doesn't let up from there, and the camera loves her. As the blind vet who adores her, David Manners plays blind very well, is un-self-consciously handsome, and minimizes the annoyingly angelic aspects of his character. It's over in an hour and a half, meaning it makes the same points as "Elmer Gantry" in about half the time, right down to the similar finale.

Stanwyck's performance in this early Capra film is underplayed, believable and quite charming. One can see how, from even this early stage, she was a performer of unique talents, perfectly suited for the new technology of sound. Her acting style is timeless, quite different from the histrionic style of the early talkies. Capra and Stanwyck took a story which could have been a ludicrously overplayed melodrama of the early 30's, and turned it into something quite captivating. Clever bits of exposition and some snappy dialogue round out this entertaining early entry in the Capra canon.

Barbara Stanwyck is "The Miracle Woman" in this 1931 film directed by Frank Capra and also starring David Manners.

Stanwyck plays Florence Fallon, the daughter of a religious leader who becomes angry and bitter toward her father's congregation when he is ousted and later dies. She is approached by a promoter who launches her on a preaching career with an audience loaded with shills, while he collects money for an alleged tabernacle and makes payoffs.

Meanwhile, a blind composer (David Manners) is saved from suicide by one of Sister Fallon's radio broadcasts and becomes devoted to her. The two fall in love, and Florence, who has never been happy being a fraud from the beginning, becomes less and less enchanted with the business she's in.

The character of Florence Fallon was inspired, as was Sharon Falconer in Elmer Gantry, by the real-life miracle woman, Aimee Semple McPherson, a popular evangelist. She founded the Foursquare Church, still in existence today, and had hundreds and hundreds of healings credited to her. Barbara Stanwyck, about 24 years old here, gives a passionate performance as a conflicted woman, and handsome David Manners does a nice job as her blind beau.

Very absorbing early Capra, quite different from what he would do in the future. In fact, if you're not a Capra fan, you might like this film of his best of all.

"Beware of false prophets which will come to you in sheep's clothing… 'The Miracle Woman' is offered as a rebuke to anyone who, under the cloak of Religion, seeks to sell for gold, God's choicest gift to humanity - FAITH," introduces this grand collaboration between director Frank Capra and Barbara Stanwyck (as Florence "Faith" Fallon). A pastor's daughter, Ms. Stanwyck opens the drama by taking her recently deceased father's congregation to task for causing his death. Among the worshipers is sleazy Sam Hardy (as Bob Hornsby). Impressed by Stanwyck's Biblical knowledge and preaching skills, Mr. Hardy offers to become her manager...

Stanwyck hears Hardy pontificate, "Religion is like everything else - great if you can sell it, no good if you can give it away." She becomes a successful Christian evangelist, delivering fiery sermons to her tabernacle flock and hosting a successful radio show. The money rolls in, but sister Stanwyck is filled with isolation and guilt. Meanwhile, suicidal songwriter David Manners (as John Carson) decides not to jump out of his window when he hears Stanwyck on the radio. Also a blind ventriloquist, Mr. Manners endeavors to meet Stanwyck. She mistakes him for one of her shills, and predicts God will cure his blindness. Eventually, he heals hers...

This should have been Stanwyck's first "Best Actress" notice. The "Academy Awards" were later kind, and the "New York Film Critics" joined them in recognizing her work in "Double Indemnity" (1944). However, in hindsight, "The Miracle Woman" is undeniably award-worthy. Also notable is fine work from Mr. Capra, who worked wonders with Stanwyck and co-star Manners, perfectly cast as the blind ventriloquist, along with skilled photography by Joseph Walker, and obviously strong supporting roles. The film feels like a Bob Dylan or Pete Seeger song come to life; like those, the story fascinates with a timeless relevance.

********* The Miracle Woman (7/20/31) Frank Capra ~ Barbara Stanwyck, David Manners, Sam Hardy, Beryl Mercer

Frank Capra reteams with the woman he could have married had they both been single at the time, Barbara Stanwyck, for a romantic drama about a woman who fakes the ability to perform miracles to get rich, except the film does everything it can to never make her a villain, making this a nice little romance that avoids having any real bite at the same time. Capra would say later about his work in general that his generation of filmmakers treated their work like a newspaper man treated his: to be consumed once and then tossed out. I bring it up because it feels like, while I do like the film overall, it was construed in a way to make it an easy bit of consumption without much of a challenge upon its audience. In taking on the subject of hypocrisy in religion, that perhaps left a lot on the table that could have been accomplished.

Florence Fallon's (Stanwyck) father, a preacher in a small church, dies after being fired by his congregation, lights into the people who drove him out and to death, citing chapter and verse about their hypocrisies. She's approached by Bob (Sam Hardy), a conman who latches onto her, giving her a way to get rich and get even with the hypocrites who drove her father to death to become an evangelist on the radio, drawing in the money. One day, her sermon on the radio convinces the despondent wannabe song writer, who also happens to be blind from an incident in the war, John (David Manners), to not leap to his death. He goes to one of her live services with his landlady Mrs. Higgins (Beryl Mercer) where he makes an impression by joining Florence on stage (with a sarcastic intent) alongside some lions. The whole show is a fake, including several versions of cripples who are supposed to come up to the stage, but John being a genuine blind man makes him stand out.

What follows is this gentle little love story between John and Florence as they meet outside the revival, mostly in his apartment, where they get to know each other. He's not only a musician, but he also has a ventriloquist he pulls out from time to time to entertain, and she gets him to write some hymns for her, none of which she can use because they're "too personal", though she loves them anyway.

Where the film really tries to have its cake and eat it too is around Florence. She's a conwoman, knowingly taking part in fake miracles to steal money from well-intentioned rubes, but she's not running the show. That would be Bob. He's the real bad guy, even though she's completely complicit in it all, but she's played well by Stanwyck so we can glide past these uncomfortable truths and just focus on the nice romance between Florence and John. She does have her crisis of confidence in what she's doing, living large off of these donations accepted on false pretenses that she's known about the whole time, but because it's Stanwyck and her relationship with John is so nice and wholesome, it's easy to just kind of forget it while it's happening. That the movie sidesteps it completely is a problem, but not enough to derail things.

The relationship grows, Florence's affection for John burgeons, Bob gets mad because he wants Florence for himself. He uses her position in the criminal organization to try and manipulate her to leave John, which mostly works, except that John won't let her stay.

And this is where things get interesting. It'd be easy to let actual miracles happen in a film called The Miracle Woman, but...they don't. Instead, we get another con job to try and save her from herself. There's a big fire, a more dramatic form of the chaos that Capra had unleashed in films like Rain or Shine and The Strong Man, and a nice denouement that actually does kind of fit with the journey that Florence took. She may not get justice, but she is humbled, and it's good.

I again think back to the Capra quote about the films of this era being like newspapers, used once and tossed aside, and it's nice to see even with that attitude he can produce good little films like The Miracle Woman. It's not going to end up the top tier of his work, but it's the kind of well made, entertaining, and slightly touching work that great filmmakers tended to pad their resumes with (John Ford had a whole bunch of these). It's also nice to see the quality becoming more consistent the deeper into the sound era he went.

A preacher is tired of not getting through to his parishioners, and they are tired of him. When he is asked to leave and tries to make his final sermon, he falls ill and is unable to. Daughter Barbara Stanwyck gets behind the pulpit and tells the church they never appreciated her father and tells them off. An out-of-towner, who's a chiseler of some kind and who was passing through, was in the church and heard her. He persuades her to preach. ('Cause she has the talent for it, he says. And, that'll show these people.)

She becomes a faith healer, spouting the words and claiming to heal people, of whom this guy pays to act sick and volunteer to "be cured." Enter David Manners, who really is blind and who stands up out of pure devotion to God and the Word. He doesn't get cured but only gets closer to Babs.

But that's not what's center stage, as director Frank Capra throws at us a very personal film about faith and our relationship with God. Stanwyck tires of the scam and the plot plays out like something out of today's films, very dramatically and with a Judgment Day touch to it.

I was very impressed with everything about this movie, with Stanwyck as usual, with Manners who is probably given his best movie role here, and with the whole presentation and treatment of the subject matter which doesn't talk down to the viewer and take lightly of the situations. The viewer is immersed in her world completely.

Kudos to Frank Capra, who probably made his most adult film here, with the exception of The Bitter Tea of General Yen, also with Stanwyck. Miss this and you miss Capra and Stanwyck at their best.

A young – and gorgeous – Barbara Stanwyck steals the film as a fire-and-brimstone evangelist whose initial cynicism at the hypocrisy of the churchgoers who discarded her elderly preacher father for a newer model is eroded by the love of a blind man (David Manners). The story is one that couldn't have been told in the manner it is a couple of years later when the code was enforced, which is partly why the film is so fascinating: so few pre-code films are broadcast on TV these days – the vast majority of films shown on TV today are no more than 20 years old – that they are intriguing to watch to discover why the censors got so worked up about them.

The film is a bit talky in parts, especially in the scenes shared by Manners and Stanwyck, but the subject matter is strong enough to overcome these moments. Capra's work is assured and the script is good. While the film may not appeal to a modern audience, it stands as a fine example of superior studio product from Hollywood's golden age.

I can't believe I've never seen this film before. After all does a Christmas pass without "It's a Wonderful Life"? Could anyone over forty possibly not be exposed to Mr Deeds, It Happened One Night. Meet John Doe or Mr Smith Goes to Washington (especially around American elections)? Yet in my 57 years I have never seen this Capra film until TCM aired it today.

Hallelujah! This is like discovering Beethoven's 10th. I could not take my eyes off this movie for one second. From the very first scene when Stanwyck enters to deliver her father's final sermon and her first, the story grabs you by the throat and won't let go. This movie has all the essential Capra elements: the innocent among the villains and cynics who've lost their innocence; the crowd being swayed by sham theatrics; the hard-boiled woman revealing the heart of gold; and most of all, the sheer unpredictability of his vision and the compelling logic of his moral universe. And how he makes you care for those innocents and even the cynics caught up in riptides of life.

He had such a great hand in directing his actors too. especially the women. Is it possible that Barbra Stanwyck has looked more beautiful or sexy? It doesn't hurt of course that he had a great actress and a stunning women to work with. Her work is truly fine here.

Our villain here (Sam Hardy) does a lovely job of making us care about his hapless victims too. His touch is just restrained enough for us to believe one could fall for his temptations and evil enough to be afraid of. And he's balanced by oddly convincing hero, blind composer David Manners who makes a great innocent as well as not a bad ventriloquist.

This is definitely a must see for any Capra fan!

Barbra Stanwyck plays a phony evangelist named Florence 'Faith' Fallon. She's sick of preaching the Gospel and "curing" supposedly ill people (they're workers for her), but her unscrupulous boss (Sam Hardy) convinces her to keep on doing it. Then she meets a kind, blind man (David Manners) and falls in love. He loves her too and wants to be with her. But her manager won't let her go....

Still strong drama was (surprisingly) a bomb in its day. It's now considered one of the best movies of the 1930s. Stanwyck is just superb--you feel her pain over lying to people for money and her love for Manners. Even Manners (usually pretty bad) is very good. He's tall, very handsome and totally believable. You're really rooting for him and Stanwyck.

Sadly, this film is still very up to the minute. There are plenty of fake evangelists still at work taking money from good, religious people. It's kind of sad that a movie over 70 years old still mirrors problems that we have today.

Well worth seeing--maybe Manners best performance.

Based on real facts that later became a play called "Bless You Sister" took and adapted to large screen, Stanwyck plays Florence Fallon a daughter of a honest Pastor who end die poor and neglected by small community, then through an inflamed speech she lost his faith in God, she accidentally meets a smart crook Bob Hornsby (Sam Hardy) that offers an shady agreement to make money in a new church, as usually done nowadays, then Bob provides many crippled men to be healed in the impromptu temple which Florence applies his gift and those men miraculously leaving the temple walking, Bob uses a massive broadcasting program to spread Florence Fallon as Miracle woman, gathering more followers, however she felt sorrow and alone, surround by strong surveillance of his older partner, until meets a blind man John Carson (David Manners) saying that she saves his life, hereafter she gets involved with John seeing how much she was so wrong and regretful, Frank Capra handles this matters with strong social commentary over countless false prophets that are selling the heaven for the fools!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5

In Hollywood's classic age Columbia Studios was infamously dubbed "poverty row", because of its low budget prodcutions and lack of star power. However it did prove itself a fertile ground for talent and a lot of up-and-comers who would later be big names got their first break there. Such a one was Barbara Stanwyck, here on the ascendant as The Miracle Woman.

Unlike most of the bigger studios, Columbia's biggest asset during the 1930s was not a star but a director. Just like Stanwyck, Frank Capra was just starting to make a name for himself. For The Miracle Woman Capra demonstrates his increasingly passive camera positioning, often putting us audience members in the place of observer amid the crowd, which is rather appropriate for this picture all about display and performance. Capra still has something of the naïve show-off about him however, and there are quite a few attention-grabbing whip-pans and "impossible" shots like the one staring up through the fireplace, which don't really add a lot. And Capra's camera perhaps hangs back a bit too much, making the romantic scenes a little cold. Perhaps this picture of one-on-one relationships is not really suited to him. Capra really came into his own when dealing with groups, families and communities.

Ms Stanwyck however barely has any need of a decent director, being absolutely able to command our attention when she is on the screen. Her standout scene is actually her first, when she vehemently addresses a congregation after the death of her father. She manages the difficult task of being passionately enraged, for a good few minutes, without becoming hysterical, a particular rarity in this age of hammier acting. And throughout the picture she proves herself to be deep and subtle with her emotion, with a performance that is convincing and totally absorbing. Unfortunately the same cannot quite be said of her co-stars. David Manners was fairly popular at the time, and he was pretty good in the somewhat phoney world of Dracula (1931), but here he is rather wooden. He's certainly a good ventriloquist, but his ventriloquism act seems to have been shoehorned into the plot simply because it was something he could do. He doesn't really convince as a blind man either, more than once making eye contact with Stanwyck or obviously seeing his way around the set.

And apart from Stanwyck's performance there is very little to recommend about The Miracle Woman. The plot is a second-rate rip-off of Sinclair Lewis's novel Elmer Gantry (which, incidentally, was so controversial it was not filmed until 1960) and while the very competent Jo Swerling has adapted the John Meehan/Robert Riskin* play lucidly for the screen, it remains a rather lacklustre affair. There is some potential for pathos, but sadly the script is not lively enough to bring it out. Yet amid it Stanwyck stands out like a fiery beacon, and the picture is just about worth seeing for her alone. Hollywood honchos would be taking note as well, and the young actress would soon be bound for big roles at the major studios.

*Later a crucial yet unsung Capra collaborator, Riskin would write some of the finest screenplays of the 1930s. We can only assume that his ability was not fully fledged at the time he was writing The Miracle Woman, which is supported by the fact that he and Meehan chose to steal most of their plot from a popular novel of the day rather than coming up with something original. Nevertheless Riskin would soon go on to great things, and he deserves this footnote by way of a disclaimer. Oh, and John Meehan later did some pretty good screenplays too.

This gorgeous film is a bit too dark and too harsh on sister Aimee, but it is riveting throughout, and the best Stanwyck movie I have seen. Her acting is so much subtler than in later years. In the final scene she is absolutely ravishing. Fascinating characters, plot, cinematography, with just the right dash of nastiness. They really don't make them like this anymore. The big mystery is where, when and how did cinema learn its craft so early, and why did it lose it sometime in the fifties. Today's movies just cannot compare with this artistry. Today's movies don't look like movies at all. They rather look like documentaries about movie-making. Roll camera is the only special effect they seem know.

This was indeed a strange curio from the early 1930s. This film was inspired by Aimee Semple McPherson's traveling evangelistic crusades of the 1920s. At first, Aimee (just like Barbara in the film) seemed sincere and over time, the attraction of fame and riches turned this "crusade" into a sleazy business. While not as cynical and amazing to watch as the later and very similar movie, ELMER GANTRY, this film is very daring to take on the topic of fraudulent faith healers. Given that this is one of Barbara Stanwyck's earliest films, she does an amazing job. The script is engaging as well and Frank Capra shows us that he's an excellent director with great things ahead in his career.

Fascinating throughout and well worth watching.

After an unappreciated minister dies, his daughter loses her faith in God, prompting her to open a phony temple with a con man. Florence Fallon's father dies but his activity was unappreciated in the church where he preached for many years, she then becomes embittered and loses faith . Later on, Florence (Barbara Stanwyck) takes on the task that her father interrupted, dedicating herself to preaching the Bible, with great fervor and enthusiasm. Her impact is enormous and draws crowds, but in reality, behind her fervor and her almost supernatural powers lies a commercial montage. She teams up with a wily conman Hornsby (Sam Hardy), to become big business as an evangelist . But the love and trust of a blind man (David Manners) restore her faith in God and her fellow man. Glorious Romance of A Virtuous Sinner!. Romance of a glorious girl who betrayed her faith-but could not deceive her love! . Disclosing the private life of an alluring beauty who lifted multitudes to heights of flaming frenzy...until love found her heart. Could You Confess to the World You're a Liar?. Can the love of a blind person restore her faith and happiness?

Here Frank Capra criticizes the manipulation of the masses through religion, false miracle preachers and the hypocrisy of the upper classes in this redemptive melodrama superbly performed by Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity, Ball of Fire). Riveting cautionary tale from the play ¨Bless , you, Sister¨ by John Meehan and Robert Riskin (Capra's usual screenwriter) . Loosely inspired by th Aimee Semple MacPherson affaire , very popular in the USA during 20s decade and Faye Dunaway brought to life in a telefilm: The disappearance of Aimee (1976) . With a magnificent Stanwyck as a minister's daughter seeking vengeance against the faithful who hounded her father to his death and performs fake miracles for profit. This top-notch movie perfectly exposes and denounce the flamboyant , small-town evangelists tours spreading throughout at the Depression time . It contains top-drawer performances , strong sense of period and place conveyed by a lush camerawork , there's still plenty to enjoy . A magnificent look at the discredited charlatans and popular religion which , with the passing of the years is still holding many eye-brows . That said , it is intelligent , witty , entertaining and provoking thanks largely to the awesome presence of Barbarbara Stanwyck, along with David Manners, Sam Hardy, Beryl Mercer, Charles Middleton, among others . Stunning camerawork from cinematographer Joseph Walker makes a joy of the evangelist razzmatazz, climaxed when Stanwyck does her preaching from a lion's cage, but is equal to the more delicate shading of the comeuppance in which she see the true light after bringing illumination to a blind songwriter.

This engrossing and moving film was competently and originally directed by Frank Capra. It is one of the most unclassifiable rarities of Capra's filmography, as well as one of Francis Ford Coppola's favorite films . The picture was a box office failure due to the scabrous representation of mixed race for the time, (in fact it was banned in the USA until 1967). Today, however, it is considered a hidden masterpiece, being one of the first American films in which an interracial love relationship is addressed. Frank Capra is deemed to be one of the best filmmakers in American cinema; always accompanied by his usual screenwriter and collaborator Robert Riskin, being one of the first collaborations: The Bitter Tea of General Yen(1932). Frank directed seven Academy Award Best Picture nominees: Lady for a Day (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937) that won the Oscar for best production design and best editing, You Can't Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). It Happened One Night and You Can't Take It with You both won Best Picture. Rating The Miracle Woman(1931): 7/10. Better than average. An odd film, but oddly stirring. Especially recommended to classic film enthusiasts.

This is another pairing of director Frank Capra and the exceptional golden era Hollywood actress Barbara Stanwyck. In this film she plays Sister Florence, a woman who is built up by a shyster of a manager as a bonafide miracle worker. He approaches her at a low moment, upon her father's death as she is doing his regular sermon and blaming his parish for his death. He feeds her a line about how she can get even with these hypocrites and helps build her up into a mega traveling evangelical preacher often heard on the radio. Unfortunately, they are ask for money for a temple and pocket the money instead and even maybe even more egregiously they perform fake miracles on stage to encourage bigger donations.

The character of Sister Florence was based on the real life mega evangelist Amy Semple MacPherson and her headlines.

Florence is on the radio where she prevents a blind former aviator, now wannabe composer from committing suicide with a speech about quitters.

"Why did God give man a spine...to stand up. It's easy to forgive sinners, but not quitters."

The two then meet in real life as John Carson (David Manners) goes to see Sister Florence in person at one of her big revivals where he ends up volunteering to join her inside the lion's cage to prove his faith. The two meet a second time in the rain where they share a ride.

The rain won't hurt me.-John Neither will I.-Florence

The two end up striking up a friendship that involves a puppet named Al and communications via cutout letters glued on paper. The two are quite sweet till her unscrupulous manager murders one of their salesmen and gets between the two lovers.

There is a fire and everything ends with the Salvation Army! Barbara Stanwyck is delightful, but the real surprise for me is David Manners. He was tall and quite dashing as the leading male and I really enjoyed watching his performance.

I'm not sure this is a strong recommendation, but it is an interesting watch and reminded me of season one of the new Perry Mason series which also had a mega evangelista.

The Miracle Woman (1931) : Brief Review -

The early Barbara Stanwyck you'd like to remember. No miracle, but a fine attempt at religious circus and human conscience. Many would recognise Barbara for Stella Dallas (1937), Ball Of Fire (1941), The Lady Eve (1941), Meet John Doe (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), Christmas In Connecticut (1945), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), No Man Of Her Own (1950), and other films that she did after The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933). But here's one more film you should look at to see her early days. Not because she looks extra gorgeous, but because she has performed much better than one would have expected. The film could have been much better, though, since it attempted a challenging subject like a religious circus with an overdose of a simple love story. Richard Brooks did the same after almost 3 decades with Elmer Gantry (1960), but again with the same love story issue. I somehow saw the Bollywood classic "Teesri Kasam" (1966) here in The Miracle Woman. A bad woman falls in love with a naive man, and then she has to quit him to keep her fake image intact. Here, the man tries to quit things, and then the woman does the same. Somehow, that's overdoing it. You could have simply ended things with one powerful conflict on religious faith that would relate to human conscience more than the miracle, and I guess Capra would have cracked a film of a lifetime. Stanwyck's stunning looks and amazing performance made me forgive a few things, and how calm and composed was David Manners here? Frank Capra's early days were experimental, but I always looked at him as the best man to tell rom-coms rather than serious films. He did some really good serious films later, but the early 30s weren't enough. With a better and more intelligent second half, The Miracle Woman would have been a great film. Nevertheless, a fine attempt in the early talkies era.

RATING - 6/10*

By - #samthebestest.

A blind man hopes, in all humility, to serve a famous female evangelist in her ministry, but soon he finds himself falling in love with THE MIRACLE WOMAN.

Columbia Pictures, and young director Frank Capra, had to walk a fine line between the sacred and the profane in this topical feature, and ended up with a solid piece of entertainment. Good production values only serve to underscore the excellent acting in the two leading roles. A balance is maintained between sanctity, sanctimoniousness & sentiment. Contemporary viewers, whether churched or not, should find material here to interest them. It is a shame this fine film has become so obscure.

Barbara Stanwyck dominates & fascinates in the title role, never slipping into caricature or allowing her character to become cardboard. She presents a well rounded portrait of a complicated, lonely female who experiences the pangs & joys of unexpected love. She is careful, though, to keep her portrayal sympathetic - realizing that her character was not entirely fictional - but she is never dull. In fact, watching Stanwyck give an impassioned exhortation from inside a lions' cage has got to be one of the more unique scenes from any film of the 1930's.

As the blind former aviator, David Manners gives one of the finest performances of his career, deftly underplaying his role, while letting just enough of the character's angst show through. He gives us the portrait of a man who doesn't need his eyesight to be a moral hero.

Plump little Beryl Mercer scores as Manners' cheery landlady. Sam Hardy is most convincing as Stanwyck's crooked manager. Charles Middleton portrays a hardhearted Deacon early in the film.

******************************

Stanwyck's character in THE MIRACLE WOMAN is heavily based on the most famous & beloved female evangelist of all time, Aimee Semple McPherson. At the height of her popularity, there was not a movie star in Hollywood who could rival her celebrity.

Born Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy on October 9, 1890 in Ontario, Canada, Sister Aimee was the daughter of a Methodist farmer & a Salvation Army worker mother. Completely uninterested in spiritual things as a girl, this changed when she met & romanced dynamic young Pentecostal missionary Robert Semple. In 1908 she gave her life to both God & Robert and married and moved with him to the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. They both became very ill in China and upon his death from malaria in 1910, his widow relocated to New York City with their infant daughter, Roberta.

In 1912 Sister Aimee married Rhode Island grocery salesman Harold McPherson, but she warned him that the call of God was on her life and if she felt the need to preach, she would have to leave him. Harold agreed, but the marriage didn't last her entry into the revival circuit (a future third marriage also ended in divorce). News of her preaching spread from town to town, and soon Sister Aimee was in demand as an evangelistic speaker. With Roberta & baby son Rolf, she toured in her Gospel Car and became perhaps the first woman to solo drive from coast to coast.

In 1918 Sister Aimee settled in Los Angeles, California, and it remained her headquarters city for the rest of her life. Physically striking as well as intelligent, Sister Aimee was a forceful, charismatic speaker and it did not take her long to gather a large & loyal body of adherents. She built the magnificent Angelus Temple in 1923, and there in its 5,300 seat auditorium she would present her lavish illustrated sermons before the spellbound eyes of her congregation. In 1924 Sister Aimee became the first female to operate her own radio station, which she bought for $25,000. Speaking or broadcasting 22 times a week, and never charging admission, Sister Aimee beat the movies at their own game with her highly entertaining & theatrical services. Stars such as Douglas Fairbanks & Charlie Chaplin regularly attended to marvel at her stage presence.

It is hardly surprising that controversy and even scandal followed such a notable individual. Indeed, at one time she was the subject of 45 separate legal suits. But it is the mystery surrounding her disappearance in 1926 that continues to encourage speculation: while swimming in the Pacific Ocean on May 18, Sister Aimee vanished. The nation mourned her apparent drowning. Thousands converged on the beach at Santa Monica; one diver died & a female follower committed suicide, claiming she wanted to accompany Sister Aimee to Heaven.

But then mysterious ransom notes began appearing at Angelus Temple and the complexion of the story began to change. Finally, on June 23, Sister Aimee suddenly reappeared in Douglas, Arizona, telling a tale of kidnapping & miraculous escape. She said she had been approached on the beach by a distraught couple, desperately wanting her to come pray for their dying child. She was whisked away in a waiting car, but ended up across the border in Mexico, where she was kept tied in a shack and tortured with burning cigarettes. Biding her time, she waited until she was alone, rolled off her cot and cut her bonds on the edge of a metal can lid. Then she stumbled into the Mexican village of Agua Prieta, where she was able to get a taxi to Douglas. This was her story. 50,000 people met her train when it arrived from Arizona.

The faithful adored her all the more, but her enemies whispered about a possible love tryst. The Los Angeles District Attorney charged her before the Grand Jury for corruption of morals by staging a hoax. However, her story could never be proven or disproved, and the perjury case was dismissed for lack of evidence. But who would want her kidnapped? A possible solution is this: Born again bootleggers would broadcast their testimonies at Sister Aimee's radio station, naming the corrupt officials who helped them. This could prove disastrous to any number of men in high positions of authority, and giving Sister Aimee a solid scare might remedy their problem. What is known for sure is that the District Attorney who persecuted her was later imprisoned himself at San Quentin for bribery. Sister Aimee came and prayed for him.

Rebounding stronger than ever, Sister Aimee incorporated the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in 1927, based on the tenets of belief of Jesus Christ as Savior, Baptizer, Healer, and Soon-Coming King. During the 1930's, Sister Aimee was at the height of her influence and fame. In addition to her church services, touring revival crusades and radio station, she operated a Bible school, edited a magazine, wrote books, composed stirring songs and oversaw her denomination of 200 churches.

Her healing ministry came in for much scrutiny, but no one has ever proven that it was faked or phony. Sister Aimee, who spent as long as eight hours after services praying for the sick, was quick to give all the glory to God. And there were undeniable positive results: folks who arrived in ambulances returned home on streetcars.

Sister Aimee's death in Oakland, California, on September 27, 1944, was the tragic result of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. After the funeral in the Angelus Temple, 35,000 mourners passed by her grave in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Her son, Rolf McPherson, assumed leadership of The Foursquare Denomination, which is still strong & vibrant today.

While her lavish lifestyle and oversized personality made Sister Aimee an easy mark for ridicule and even spoofery, it should not be forgotten that she provided hope & comfort to millions of desperate Americans during the darkest days of the Great Depression. That's not a bad legacy.

Sort of reminds you of Elmer Gantry with Burt Lancaster but not as good. Barbara Stanwyck stars as a precher's daughter who father has just died and she goes out and tells off the members about what they did to her father. A man in attendance hears her and thinks she would make a great phony evangelist. They set up a big tent and promises to heal people but the only people healed are fakes. They are just in it for the money but Stanwyck doesn't like it. When she finds out she stopped a blind man from committing suicide, she wants to quit but her manager won't let her and would send her to jail. It just isn't very interesting and Stanwyck does a good job but It's disappointing.

This was another example of why the Hays Code was put in as anti-religious movies were on the increase, along with everything else you see and hear in films today. Here we see a minister and followers (both mainstream and charismatic) made to look stupid and corrupt. Over 70 years later, Hollywood still thinks that's the only kind worth showing on screen. (Do you see good ones, like Billy Graham, ever on film?)

Supposedly, this story was based on a real-life female preacher named Aimee Semple McPherson. In the film, we first see a man who dies while writing his last sermon. He had been booted out of his church because he was too old and they wanted a younger man. The daughter (Semple, played by Barbara Stanwyck) goes up to the pulpit, starts to read the partial sermon, then tells what happened to her father and tells off the congregation, calling them all kinds of names. That part, frankly, was very dramatic and interesting to watch.

But then the film starts to get carried away with its agenda of a fake evangelist. A huckster, who happened by when Florence "Faith" Falon (Stanwyck), talks the bitter woman into getting back at people by using her biblical knowledge to be an evangelist, earn a lot of money and bilk the public with fake healing and the like. She does just that.

She gives sermons at her "Faith Temple" that are so New Age and unlike anything you would really hear - whether she was faking it or not - that it's an insult for anyone who knows what sermons sound like. They also make the people in the audience so corny and so unlike anyone that would attend a service that it, too, is ludicrous.

Only non-church goers would believe the stuff in this movie.

Note: before the film began, a disclaimer was put on screen with a quote from the book of Matthew warning people to beware of "false prophets." Well, I agree, false prophets have always been with all and always will be, but I also warn people to be aware of false propaganda they see in movies! Like those false teachers, don't believe everything you see on screen.