Dominique

The film is somewhat syrupy and a bit simplistic, but correct in most essentials and, after all, quite entertaining. The music, of course, is the best thing about it...quite uplifting. "Raindrops" is my particular favorite, but the duet on "Beyond the Stars" is excellent as well. Miss Reynolds' voice is more than adequate to do justice to the music, most of which (I see from the Soundtrack listings) Sister Sourire wrote herself.

As I've been told, when the big boys at 20th Century Fox first saw The Sound of Music in their studio projection room, they said, "This is going to bomb all over the place, so let's get it out in the theaters, make as much money as we can off this fiasco and pull it back in. So, remember that in those days, you didn't know what the preview would be until the film started rolling in the movie theater, and if my memory serves me correct, it was given a sneak preview in Minneapolis, and after the first half played, everyone screamed, clapped and whistled, and after the second half it sounded like the roof of theater was caving in because of the positive response, so Fox said, "Now wait a minute! Maybe we've got something here that we're not aware of, so they released The Sound of Music nationwide on a Reserve Seat basis, and when the critics saw it, they all reported that it would put everyone in a diabetic comma and would last a year, but they were wrong, and the rest is history! O.K., so "The Singing Nun" is not The Sound of Music! Big deal! So, The Sound of Music was just about playing out its 3 year run in most theaters, and as usual, someone in Hollywood says, "Let's cash in on the popularity of the movie and do our own musical about a bunch of Nuns, and Metro Goldwyn Mayers effort was "The Singing Nun" with Jewish convert Debbie Reynolds playing a Nun; that sings as well as Debbie Reynolds, and in all fairness, the movie might not be what the big boys at M.G.M. wanted, but it gave Debbie Reynolds the chance to do her finest singing ever! Her vocals in the movie, as far as I'm concerned, are superb! So, what about the cast and the film itself. Here's Greer Garson at the end of her career, Marshall Thompson, at the end of his, Ricardo Montalban famous for swimming with Esther Williams in her swimming musicals, Agnes Moorehead still looking like she'd like to cast a nasty on Darrin in Bewitched, and Chad Everett still looking like Doctor Gannon who claimed more animism's in his hospital T.V. show than would ever see on T.V. Soap General Hospital or Greay's Anatomy! The Singing Nun is not a good movie, but it's not a bad one either, and in ways it's very entertaining, but once again, it does afford Debbie Reynolds to do her finest singing ever in any of her films! Her singing in The Singing Nun is superb and spiritually uplifting, and fulfilling!

If you want to know about the story of the only singer who got a huge hit in the French language in 1963-64 in the USA,this is not the place to look ; you should rather take "Soeur sourire " (=sister smile) (2009) starring Cécile De France which tells the whole bio,warts and all.

Soeur Sourire was not the person depicted in this vehicle for Debbie Reynolds ;she was a tomboy and enjoyed football games (you see her playing in the movie) ,but she loved girls -she became a nun because of that-, she was deprived of her income by her covent , she was released of her vows ,she fell prey to the gossip papers ; she was a clever woman ,who tried to resume her career and she wrote songs much superior to her famous "Dominique"but attacking the Catholic Church ; she ended her life with a woman ,coming to terms with her homosexuality ;both were ruined and committed suicide.

When she entered the covent,Soeur Sourire was a fan of American rock and roll ,and she considered music as a way to get religious messages across :why not ?Presley, Dion , Harrison , Van Morrison ,Aretha Franklin, to name but five, had their God songs too ....This side (with Ricardo Montalban as the priest who stands by her ) is only skimmed over.

If you consider the movie pure fiction ,it's pleasant to watch :nice colors ,lilting voices,delightful cast and credits in which the nun rides on the staves ,scenes a la "sound of music" , and it's a pleasure to see Greer Garson as mother superior , Agnès Moorehead and the rare Juanita Moore (the unforgettable black mom in Sirk's "imitation of life" )as nuns and Ed Sullivan as himself in a for once true event of the singing nun's short-lived career .

But all that concerns Katherine Ross and her kid brother Dominique (sic) comes from the screenwriters' imagination! So is Reynolds' and Moore's last scene.

Debbie Reynolds portrays the Singing Nun based on a true story, Ricardo Montalban also stars. The music is light and lilting and completely enjoyable with Debbie Reynolds singing many songs throughout the film. At several points you question whether the order is the right place for Sister Ann as several intriguing opportunities are available. Enjoyable music and film.

Despite the best efforts of the actors, this movie is awful. The screenplay can only be described as moronic. I appreciate that it is the songs that draw people to watch it, but if so, do stick to the record.

It's a shame too because Debbie Reynolds, Greer Garson, Ricardo Montelban, Katherine Ross, Agnes Moorehead, Chad Everett all do as well as can be expected - and I am reminded of how wonderful a singing voice Debbie Reynolds has. Moreover, Montelban is truly believable as a priest - as are Garson and Reynolds as nuns. Ross is just fine.

But this is more saccharine than most of the Flying Nun episodes. It's strange too - because most movies about nuns have for some reason been quite good - Black Narcissus, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, The Nun's Story, The French movie, Therese, The Song of Bernadette, even The Trouble with Angels (which bowled me over with how affectingly it evolved).

Most movies succeed in the writing - this one had a great real story to tell - even without emphasizing the astonishingly grim post-convent life of its protagonist -- from her family's life in Paris during W.W.II (her father a figure in the Resistance) to the fascinating relationship with music. (Think of how fantastically the movie Hilary and Jackie showed a woman's conflicts about having her life revolve around music).

When I was a boy, Sister Soeur's songs were the leitmotif of our Catholic grade school - we all had to learn them in French, sing them in Christmas concerts for our parents, etc. It's such a shame that such an awful movie celebrates such light, cheery music. It's truly not worth watching.