Le miracle des cloches

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION & THAT IS WHAT IS GOING ON HERE FOR THIS FILM! NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 Christmas MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM FARE

In this film a publicity man is escorting a woman body back to her hometown. In flashbacks we see who this woman was. In a nutshell she is an actress who just finished her 1st starring role. The day after the film is completed she passes away. The man escorting her body however is very sad. See not only did he never tell her how he felt about her he found out the studio is going to not release film. They are going to remake it.

The film today is dated. Most people will get hired of hearing Fred MacMurray ending almost every sentence with "Baby". Putting that aside the film is still very good. It is a winner!

Maltin's "guide", which should be called a "MIS-Guide", oh so generously bestows this film with a whopping star and a half. The truth is this is a fine piece of film-making, a tad unwieldy at times and perhaps 20 minutes overlong, but made with a high level of care and craft. There are many moving, poignant scenes, particularly one set early on at Christmas time. MacMurray and Valli unexpectedly run into each other and proceed to share a relaxed and blissfully unrehearsed Christmas Eve dinner at a Chinese restaurant that they have all to themselves (not unlike in the more recent A Christmas Story). The chemistry between the two and the restaurant's benevolent Asian owner is nearly heavenly.

The film has that irresistible Citizen Kane-ish structure where a character is gradually revealed and only truly understood AFTER their death. It also is refreshing in its positive depiction of religion and the important role it plays in so many people's lives. And it does so without insulting those in the audience who may not happen to be a member of that faith (Catholicism) or suggest that because they are not, that they're going to hell. If only more of today's film-makers had such courage and insight.

Performance-wise I was most impressed with Fred MacMurray who clearly invested a lot emotionally in his character. Valli is fine as the angelic aspiring actress and Lee J. Cobb is commanding as always as a studio mogul with more integrity than one might expect. Frank Sinatra as a devout small town priest? He's not bad but he hadn't yet been influenced by Montgomery Clift's method acting style in From Here To Eternity, and he comes across as a mite green for the part.

Quality work. Maltin's off by a star or two once again.

I discovered this movie about ten years ago, on TV. The next day, a co-worker asked if I had watched it; I said yes, and we both agreed we had been moved by it. For my co-worker, this was not surprising; she was a Catholic. But for me, a Jewish semi-secular humanist, it was odd to admit I had felt something close to faith because of a late-40s studio picture. The message of "The Miracle of the Bells" is that regardless of one's faith, there is the possibility of hope. The goodness that exists in human beings is not brought out by rigid observance to rules, but by acts of kindness and understanding. I don't want to say how this comes about or whether there really is a miracle in the Biblical sense. That is for viewers to find out. But the film brings tears to my eyes. Alida Valli is amazing-watch her face, her eyes, especially in the sequences where she plays Joan of Arc-she seems lit from within by faith. I love the scene in the Chinese restaurant, a scene of friendship and love. I wish this movie, like its heroine, was more well-known. I try to help it along by mentioning it whenever I can as one of those little gems, a quiet picture that may make you think, a nice example of Hollywood fantasy films of the 1940s, and a movie that will help you feel better if you feel down.I know I just rented it for that reason.

If you get a chance check out the post I left on Helen Burgess's page on this site. Helen Burgess was a young contract player for Paramount who made four films. One of them was Cecil B. DeMille's The Plainsman where she played the second lead female role as Louisa Frederici Cody under Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, and James Ellison. She died of pneumonia at the age of 19 as the film was being released. This would have been a breakout role for her and she might have had a long screen career.

I'm sure that the creators of this film had Helen Burgess in mind when they made it. It's good in spots, I like the performances of Fred MacMurray, Alida Valli, Lee J. Cobb and Philip Ahn which another reviewer very correctly singled out.

I guess since Bing Crosby made such a hit as a priest Frank Sinatra had to try it. He lays one big omelet as Father Paul. He had to wait until Meet Danny Wilson for a part he could carry on acting as well as singing.

This film was also made in the days of John L. Lewis as head of the United Mine Workers. One of the big issues for that union was the pollution that caused the premature deaths of a lot of their members and families. In that sense Miracle of the Bells was a very socially relevant movie for its time and even today.

A film I had never seen before, and it is highly recommended for all those who believe in faith and miracles. A Hollywood press agent, Fred MacMurray, inspires a new actress to attain higher goals in movies; she is played by Valli, who underplays her role with much emotion. Lee J. Cobb plays the tough producer and director. She dies just before the film ends, so the film is shelved by the money men. But this press agent believes in her and goes back to her hometown of Coaltown, PA where there are only a few old churches. One of them is Catholic, and Frank Sinatra plays the Catholic priest, who the press agent tries to get him and all the other pastors and ministers of the other churches to ring their bells constantly at her funeral. The day comes and the Catholic Church is loaded with townspeople who witness angelic sculptures in the pulpit turning to look at the body of the actress, and causing a national stir of publicity. All of this causes the producer director to come to terms and release the film publicly. But there is more involved in this film because it shows how sincerely faith of any kind can cause miracles to happen. I found this film to be highly entertaining and highly underrated for the period of time it was made in 1948