I can't quite put my finger on what I thought of "The Miracle of the Bells". I'm not sure what I liked and didn't like. It was neither terrible nor extraordinary. However you look at it, it's not a glowing endorsement.
The movie tells the story of Olga (Valli), an aspiring movie star who gets her first and only starring role as Joan of Arc before succumbing to tuberculosis before the movie is released. With the help of press agent Bill (MacMurray) and Father Paul (Sinatra), the pair conjure up a plan to ring the church bells in Olga's hometown for three days and three nights, as the studio hesitates to release the movie.
The movie is amazingly miscast with the three stars unconvincing in their roles. I found Sinatra's portrayal of the noble, do-good small-town priest hysterical and quite bizarre - possibly a reputation restoration exercise by the studio? Like his role in "High Society", Sinatra would have been best suited to the role of the cunning press agent with the plain and modest MacMurray as Father Paul. I also felt Valli was out her depth. If you're going to have an actress playing an actress playing Joan of Arc, you need someone with real star power who can command the screen. Hedy Lamarr, Olivia de Havilland, or Deborah Kerr would have been better cast.
I found the parallels of the showbiz and religious worlds quite confusing, too. Does the Heavenly Father really want to grant a miracle to draw national attention to a fallen actress and help a Hollywood studio promote its production of the year? Come on! Shockingly, the story is not a souped-up Hollywood original, it's actually based on the 1946 novel of the same name by Russell Janney. The movie is a Hollywood vanity project of the highest order - not one I'd watch again.
The movie tells the story of Olga (Valli), an aspiring movie star who gets her first and only starring role as Joan of Arc before succumbing to tuberculosis before the movie is released. With the help of press agent Bill (MacMurray) and Father Paul (Sinatra), the pair conjure up a plan to ring the church bells in Olga's hometown for three days and three nights, as the studio hesitates to release the movie.
The movie is amazingly miscast with the three stars unconvincing in their roles. I found Sinatra's portrayal of the noble, do-good small-town priest hysterical and quite bizarre - possibly a reputation restoration exercise by the studio? Like his role in "High Society", Sinatra would have been best suited to the role of the cunning press agent with the plain and modest MacMurray as Father Paul. I also felt Valli was out her depth. If you're going to have an actress playing an actress playing Joan of Arc, you need someone with real star power who can command the screen. Hedy Lamarr, Olivia de Havilland, or Deborah Kerr would have been better cast.
I found the parallels of the showbiz and religious worlds quite confusing, too. Does the Heavenly Father really want to grant a miracle to draw national attention to a fallen actress and help a Hollywood studio promote its production of the year? Come on! Shockingly, the story is not a souped-up Hollywood original, it's actually based on the 1946 novel of the same name by Russell Janney. The movie is a Hollywood vanity project of the highest order - not one I'd watch again.