Review of The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) by Mike M — 29 Oct 2008
Bing Crosby returns in his Oscar winning role as the priest with the common man mentality. he didn't win the Oscar this time, but how could he? (see above) But altogether, the movie is less about finding hope in hopelessness than it is finding a sentimental role for a couple of stars.
They grabbed Ingrid Bergman to join him this time, and admittedly, the nun's outfit is a little hot, but other than that she has no real purpose here. Some kind of balance to Father Chuck, who has a couple of contradictory views to the character that met in the first movie.
A whole sequence about boy's fighting, and another about grades didn't really make sense to me. Didn't fit with the Father Chuck I knew from "Going My Way". But I gotta admit, a scene with first graders practicing a christmas play, led by some bronchial 6 year old, was definitely worth the price of admission.
I don't generally get caught up with kids, but it was kinda priceless. There's also the main plot with the storyof fixing the church's financial woes, which is blown off over a total of 10 of the movie's minutes to end as ridiculously as it began.
It was still okay, just flawed.
This review of The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) was written by Mike M on 29 Oct 2008.
The Bells of St. Mary's has generally received positive reviews.
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