Movie Stats:
Released 1944 (USA)
American, in English
Director – Leo McCarey
Stars – Bing Crosby & Barry Fitzgerald
Plot Summary:
Young, vibrant priest Father Chuck O’Malley (Crosby) is
assigned to help the aged Father Fitzgibbon (Fitzgerald) save his parish, St.
Dominic, from failure.
Bad Stuff:
The only avowed atheist in the movie is portrayed as a
complete and utter a-hole. It had me giving this film a serious side-eye and
kind of soured the beginning of it for me, since he appears in the first five
minutes. Luckily it was his only appearance.
For a long time, the film kind of seems like it’s meandering
without much of a point. This turns out to not be the case, but it took some
patience to wait for it to get where it was going.
Good Stuff:
It’s always nice to hear Bing Crosby singing.
I loved the relationship between Fathers O’Malley &
Fitzgibbon and thought that the progression was extremely well done. Both men
played their parts well; I’m unsurprised that Fitzgerald won Best Supporting
Actor for it.
I enjoyed the subtle humor. I’m not entirely certain that
all of it was intentional. It was amusing that the annoying, sour busybody was
named Mrs. Quimp, a name so close to the naughty British word “quim” (which her
character certainly was) that I have to wonder if they did that on purpose. Also
amusing was the fact that Father Fitzgibbon hid his bottle of liquor behind the
book The Life of General Grant (Grant
was a raging alcoholic).
The Verdict:
This movie really surprised me. I spent a whole week
avoiding it because I wasn’t really in the mood for a musical (I can be hit
& miss on musicals). The further I got into the movie, however, the more I
enjoyed it. By the end, in my estimation, it went up a whole star.
It’s not so much a musical as it is a movie with some
singing in it, i.e. the songs aren’t really the point. It has a great heart
& it’s very sweet. I definitely understand why, in the depths of World War
II, this movie spoke to people. It’s simply a pleasant bit of fluff.
2 comments:
It's interesting the number of pre-1970s movies that have songs in them, even if they aren't musicals. Like in the Quiet Man, which has nothing to do with singing there are one and maybe two songs. And there is singing in An Affair to Remember. I've wondered if that is reflective of the times, namely more people just sang a lot, or if it was a fashion in the movies that faded.
I wonder if it has something to do with most soundtracks back then being entirely instrumental?
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