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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.

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.

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.

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.

"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