Falam os Sinos

I saw this charming, slickly produced film as a young parochial grammar school kid at a theater in downtown Boston (near where my family lived at the time) and remember being tremendously amused at the scene where the two sisters, played by Loretta and Celeste (saddled with having to approximate a French accent), blithely tore up a parking ticket, placed on the windshield of their borrowed open WW II-era Jeep, thinking it was just an advertisement. Sister Celeste tosses the pieces into the air as they drive off from in front of New York's St. Patrick Cathedral where they'd illegally parked. (I doubt that she felt obliged to confess that little venial sin, do you?) There's a lot more to be amused and entertained by, of course, and the behind-the-camera artisans, as well as the well-chosen actors, especially Hugh Marlowe and Elsa Lanchester as well as Misses Young and Holm, all contributed some very professional work. Henry Koster, the director, was an old hand at keeping a project such as this from slipping entirely into a bath of over-the-top sentimentality.

So much has changed since those somewhat more innocent times and a gentle story such as this, with two ladies encased in those heavy, enveloping habits (with only their perfectly made-up faces visible to the world, by the way), is almost inconceivable today. See it and be transported back to a time when goodness, sincerity, and religious beliefs that don't descend into fanaticism were the order of the day, at least in Hollywood movies aimed at the family trade.

One interesting little tidbit: in one scene Hugh Marlowe's character (a song writer) sings the Academy Award-nominated song, "Through a Long and Sleepless Night" (which didn't win - and you'll hear why), and his singing voice was dubbed by Ken Darby, who was chiefly responsible for directing most of the choral work in many of Twentieth's films for many years. I have a suspicion that Mr. Darby probably rejected quite a few male candidates who wanted to join the Fox studio's choir if they didn't sound any better than he did!

For some reason we bought this movie years ago. Every time I started to watch it I fell asleep before the end. It sat in storage for years and I took it out last week and FINALLY watched it from beginning to end. What a surprise! It's a heartwarming movie. It's definetly a period film, but it's not corny. I think I like the respect that God gets in the storyline. A 10 out of 10, just because!!

During the late 1940s Clare Booth Luce, wife of Henry Luce of the Luce Publications, noted playwright, Republican Congresswoman had a celebrated conversion to Catholicism courtesy of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. There's nothing like the zeal of the newly converted so this screenplay was written to show how God does move in mysterious ways for the believers.

What's hard to believe is that the same author of The Women actually wrote Come to the Stable. But it's true and Luce is a skilled writer and she fashioned a very easy to take tale of two nuns over from France trying to build a children's hospital in memory of the kids they couldn't save in World War II.

The two nuns are played by Loretta Young and Celeste Holm. There was no doubt that Young would be one of the three leads. Loretta Young, Irene Dunne and Rosalind Russell were three of the leading female Catholic lay people in the country at that time. I'm sure all were approached with this film.

Young and Holm were both recent Oscar winners, for The Farmer's Daughter and Gentlemen's Agreement and both were nominated for Best Actress here. Both lost the big sweepstakes to Olivia DeHavilland who was also a recent winner for To Each His Own. Strange are the ways of the Academy voters. Elsa Lanchester was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the religious artist who offers the nuns shelter and lodging during their quest. Lanchester is her usual charming, but off the wall self in her part.

In today's audience some may find all the happy coincidences a bit much. But then again that is precisely the point of the film, that God will help those who help themselves.

One other thing. Some very rough and irreligious people contribute to the sister's endeavor and I think the message there is that on occasion, man can rise above just looking out for himself and think of the human race at large.

"Come to the Stable" is a beautiful, sentimental movie, in the vein of "Bells of St. Marys" and "Going My Way." I saw it many years ago before buying the video and seeing it again. Loretta Young, unquestionably one of the great actresses of all time, is outstanding as a dedicated nun. So is Celeste Holm. It is easy to see why they were nominated for oscars. The picture itself received (I believe) six nominations.

The picture has you pulling for these dedicated nuns to accomplish their task. As with movies of this era, of course they do.

It is well worth watching.

Charming old-fashioned dramedy about a pair of nuns (Loretta Young, Celeste Holm) who travel from France to the small New England town of Bethlehem with the intention of building a children's hospital there. They meet various characters while they try to raise the necessary funds for the construction of the hospital. A simple but heartwarming story, suitable for Christmas viewing but good to watch any time of the year. Loretta Young and Celeste Holm are both perfect for their roles. The always enjoyable Elsa Lanchester is the movie's scene stealer as a quirky artist who takes the nuns in. The rest of the cast includes Hugh Marlowe, Thomas Gomez, Regis Toomey, Dorothy Parker, Mike Mazurki, and Dooley Wilson. It's a beautiful-looking film whose sets and cinematography both received Oscar nominations (it received seven Oscar nods overall). It features the nice song "Through a Long and Sleepless Night," sung by the obviously dubbed Hugh Marlowe and Dorothy Parker. Dripping with sentiment, humor, and good will, it's a lovely film. 'The kind they don't make anymore,' as they say.