The Miracle of the Bells (1948)

Absolutely the worst movie.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Copyright 16 March 1948 by Jesse L. Lasky Productions, Inc. An RKO Radio picture. New York opening at the Rivoli: 16 March 1948. U.S. release: 1 March 1948. U.K. release: December 1948. Australian release: 30 September 1948. 10,924 feet. 121 minutes. SYNOPSIS: The events that follow the death of a young Hollywood actress whose body is taken to a drab Pennsylvania mining town for burial. Copyright summary.NOTES: Despite the popularity of Russell Janney's best-selling novel in America, the film version failed to ring any box-office bells on domestic release. It was not until the movie hit Australia - where Janney's book was virtually unknown, but Sinatra's name was super high - that the picture really prospered, placing no less than 22nd overall in that nation's top attractions for 1948! COMMENT: A picture that certainly has some really effective moments (the coffin rattling in the back of the truck during the long opening dialogue, the grimy, depressing setting of the mining town, and above all the two film-within-a-film extracts from Joan of Arc). Irving Pichel's conscientious direction often makes the script's sententious dialogue quite acceptable - skillful playing by the principals and lead support actors helps too - and sometimes gives the picture a bleak yet wistful mood and atmosphere that is both unusual and appealing. The only player who is not quite up to the mark is Frank Sinatra, making an early attempt at a dramatic role but obviously finding it difficult to shed his pop image. Production credits are impressive. But despite the picture's expansive budget and the talents here displayed by the photographer, the art directors and the film editor, most audiences found it difficult to retain their interest in the proceedings for two hours. To counter this problem, a 75-minute version was prepared (this is often the print aired by TV). Although skillfully condensed so that few viewers will be aware of the cuts, several key scenes - and some of the most forceful at that - have been deleted. Most of the opening dialogue in the hearse is missing, most of the Coal Town atmosphere, and - incredibly - the middle of the scene in which Leo Jacoby decides to shelve the Valli picture. MacMurray no longer argues with him, but accepts the executive's decision meekly, an attitude that makes his subsequent behavior somewhat incredible!

I'm beginning to think that having voice-over narration about a romance gone wrong is in Fred MacMurray's contract. In The Miracle of the Bells, he travels to a small town to plan a woman's funeral. Who is the woman and why would she want to be buried there? Cue the voice over and concurrent flashback. A couple of years back, Fred, a successful press agent, saw a chorus girl in a dancing show and helped her get ahead in her career. They fell in love, but he never told her how he felt, and now that she's dead, he wants to honor her last wishes and see her buried in her hometown.Fred does a good job, but this is a role we've seen him in before and will see him in again. However, compared to Valli, the female lead, he deserves an Oscar. The weakest part of the movie is Valli, whose Italian accent hardly comes across as Polish, as the script calls for. She's not pretty enough to turn Fred's head, and when he meets her, she's shown to be the worst dancer in the lineup. If not entranced by her beauty or talent, what is the press agent fighting for? The script, and subsequent casting, doesn't give the audience any believable reason why Fred is so enamored with her that he goes through all the trouble of the film's plot.The performance that does deserve recognition is Frank Sinatra's. He plays a priest who aides Fred in arrangements for Valli's funeral. Given all we know about Frank Sinatra's personal life, it would hardly be surprising if he didn't seem very priestly. I've never seen such a convincing, realistic portrayal of a priest. Yes, no one can compare to Richard Chamberlain in The Thorn Birds, but he played a conflicted priest. Frank Sinatra's character isn't written to be conflicted or distracted by a problem. He's a priest, as we all imagine them to be. It's an indescribable quality, but he truly comes across as a man of the cloth, completely devoted to God, truth, and love.

I grew up thinking this was a clinker and couldn't even eclipse Thr Kissing Bandit or Double Dynamite in terms of Sinatra bow-wows; boy, did I get a wrong number. As a Sinatra fan and completist I would have bought a DVD anyway and will do so as and when -let's face it, I own On The Town, The Pride And The Passion, Marriage On The Rocks, and I will buy though not necessarily watch Four For Texas, Sergeants Three when they turn up. But now having seen it on TV I am actively seeking Miracle Of The Bells and not just as a Sinatra fan. I find myself in agreement with the majority of those who have written here and found this to be a warm 'little' film about goodness and faith. Valli is an ideal actress for the lead and Lee J Cobb is fine as a Studio head though a tad on the humane side to be modelled on anyone we know. Very well worth watching.

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but the fact that this film may be based on a true story makes the whole thing insaner than it really is. The dialogue alone may have you roaring in the aisles. Frank Sinatra as a priest with a priestly voice even sings a song and Fred McMurray towering over Sinatra as he stands next to him tries to act convinced and at times he almost succeeds. The one remarkable feature here is Alida Valli or as she was billed "Valli" trying to sell her as the new Garbo. She is stunningly beautiful. You wouldn't guess it for her performance here but she went on to star for Luchino Visconti in "Senso" and years later for Bernardo Bertolucci in "The Spider's Stratagem" What she's asked to do here is virtually impossible. To makes us care, let alone believe in what she's suppose to be telling us and yet, there is something, don't ask me what but something, that makes "The Miracle Of The Bells" a guilty pleasure of major proportions.