Sally and Saint Anne

Although the scenes showing the 26 year old Ann Blyth as a Catholic school girl were a bit awkward, on the whole Sally And Saint Anne is a tender and well done family picture about growing up Catholic during the Truman- Eisenhower era. I only wish that Blyth had been given a song or two for the film.

Blyth plays Sally O'Moyne youngest and only girl in the O'Moyne family a rather eccentric clan where the parents seem to indulge children. Parents are Otto Hulett and Frances Bavier and Ann's three older brothers are Hugh O'Brian, Jack Kelly, and Lamont Johnson. These kids are indulged like the inhabitants of Lionel Barrymore's place in You Can't Take I With You. Still they're a lovable crew. They have an enemy in their lives like the Vanderhoffs in the person of John McIntire who wants to acquire a piece of land that grandfather Edmund Gwenn owns and isn't above using the power of being an Alderman to do it.

One day in Catholic school in a bit of a rush Blyth says a quick prayer to the statue of St. Anne and gets her prayer answered in one of those mysterious ways God works. After that St. Anne becomes a personal spiritual lifeline she goes to and somehow things work out. That last thing which involves brother O'Brian is a pip.

Blyth is one of the group of actresses who are well known Catholic lay people and they also include Loretta Young, Rosalind Russell, and Irene Dunne. I'm sure this was a project from which she derived great satisfaction.

And while the view of the Roman Catholic Church has changed considerably since 1952, Sally And Saint Anne is still a nice family picture especially for Catholics.

Sally and Saint Anne is a very funny movie. The first time my Mom told me about it I was 7 and Saint Anne had just been the Saint I had for my Communion Saint. My Mom knew this, so she told me to watch this with her. I did, and have seen it many times since because it is really funny. Aunt Bea from the Andy Griffith Show was in it and Sally's grandfather was the guy who played Santa Claus in Miracle On 34th Street. So, there were lots of actors we seen on TV shows too. There is a bad guy who keeps trying to steal the house away, and Sally keeps trying things with St. Anne to help raise money so they can keep the house. That includes a boxing match with Hugh O'Brian who plays her older brother. This is a good and funny movie that I still love.

This film centered on a young lady who makes prayers to help her family and friends when they encounter difficulties in life. It made me think of other movies like the "Song of Bernadette" and "Francis of Assisi" and has a very strong Catholic faith influence in the film. Ann Blyth is very charming as first, the Catholic school student and then later as a young woman who buys a statue of Saint Anne (which is the name of the street that I live on, by the way) and makes many prayers for the saint's intercession whenever problems come up in her life. Frances Bavier (Aunt Bea from the Andy Griffith show) and Edmund Gwenn (from Miracle on 34th Street) play relatives of her. A local priest of mine used to say that my sister resembled Ann Blyth and the both of them have the same first and middle names. A nice good family film that came from an era when life was a bit more simpler.

This is a family comedy -- in the very best senses of the term. Uncomplicatedly about faith and family, Ann Blyth, with the help of everybody's favorite Grandpa, Edmund Gwenn, gets divine help in lifting the O'Moyne's above the would-be vengeance schemes of Goldtooth McCarthy (John McIntire). Pure fun.

I was lucky (smart?) enough to have taped this movie back in my 'beta' days, made a copy to VHS later but always kept the original which I later used to move it to DVD, yes I still have a working Beta Machine! ..thank goodness because I have not seen it on TV since and people think I make up the movie when I talk about it every Christmas.

I would snap it up so fast if they would only put it out in DVD format.

I have a slew of movies I watch in December and this one and "Say One For Me" (another hard to find movie) are 2 that I save for Christmas Eve.

Such a sweet movie and so wonderfully 'dated' ..."prunes..."

dc