{"id":19588,"date":"2019-11-26T14:12:12","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T22:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19588"},"modified":"2019-11-26T14:12:12","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T22:12:12","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-bells-of-st-marys-1945","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19588","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE BELLS OF ST. MARY\u2019S (1945)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cOlive Signature\u201d Blu-ray release from Olive Films\n(www.olivefilms.com \u2013 www.facebook.com\/olivefilms) will be available for\npurchase on November 26th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Remember the song, \u201cSwinging on a Star\u201d by Bing Crosby?\nWell, it was written for the 1944 film Going My Way<\/em> starring the famous performer.\nWhile this reviewer had never heard of the feature, it has an interesting and\nnotable history. Apparently, producer\/director Leo McCarey was, at the time, not\nonly an established comedy filmmaker (he discovered Laurel and Hardy), but was\na Catholic who wanted to make a film featuring the religion. Crosby came from a\nsimilar background and the two fought against a concerned Paramount Pictures (who\ndidn\u2019t think there would be much public interest in the project) and ultimately\nmade the movie. Rumor has it that when the studio saw the rushes, they so\ndisliked the footage that they tried to buy the two men out and stop the\nproduction. Unwavering, the pair continued and the movie not only became the\nhighest grossing picture of 1944, but won seven Academy Awards including Best\nPicture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bolstered by their surprise success, the two men set out to\nmake a sequel on their own means. The result was The Bells of St. Mary\u2019s<\/em>,\na follow-up featuring the lead character assigned to a new parish and dealing\nwith a group of nuns. Despite similar concerns from new studio partner RKO\nPictures, the movie was another huge success and received 8 Academy Awards\nnominations, although it only ended up winning one for Best Sound. Olive Films are\nreleasing the hit film as part of its Signature Edition line, presenting it\nwith a newly cleaned up picture and several interesting extras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story itself is quite simple. Unconventional and low-key\nFather Chuck O\u2019Malley (Bing Crosby) is assigned to work at a financially\nstruggling parish populated entirely by nuns. He immediately butts heads with the\nmore conservative Sister Mary Benedict (Ingrid Bergman), particularly when\ndetermining how to handle various affairs. These issues include a school on the\nproperty which is close to being condemned and overtaken by businessman Horace\nP. Bogardus (Henry Travers), a student who is being bullied by a classmate, and\nanother young woman who is dropped off at the school by her mother and seems to\nbe struggling in class. While there are some serious undercurrents to some of\nthese subplots, it\u2019s all handled very lightly and much of the conflict between\nthe two leads feels more like a sort of friendly competition than a true battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And while the material is slight, the leads are very\ncharming and quite a few of the gags are funny. In particular, the subplot of\nthe young boy being bullied leads to some funny moments after Sister Mary gets\ninvolved. She begins training the boy to defend himself, leading to some\namusing moments during training sessions between the boy and a nun. There are other\ncute sequences, including one in which the leads are asked to watch a Christmas-themed\nplay written and staged by very young students. And many jokes are derived from\nO\u2019Malley\u2019s rather devious methods of tricking businessman Bogardus into doing\ngood deeds, helping the parish and perhaps even making a significant donation\nto help them out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To someone from a different era and background, the results\naren\u2019t exemplary, but certainly amusing as these characters attempt to one up\neach other in a series of different scenarios. The movie makes of point of\nnever pushing its religious message very hard, instead focusing on more relatable\nplot elements, like the characters and their struggles with each other, as well\nas their attempts to stay afloat and continue their charity work for the neighborhood\ncommunity. The reason it is as successful as it is may be the fact that the\ncast are so charming. Bergman illuminates the screen and actually is the lead character\nin this sequel. Her interactions with Crosby are consistently playful and their\nbickering never comes across as anything but good-natured. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie arrives in high definition looking very sharp and\nclean overall with a 4K restoration that is striking. And as great as the feature\nappears, the extras are equally enjoyable, providing some interesting tidbits\nabout how the film came to be and the frustrations McCarey and Crosby went\nthrough in getting their project to the big screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s an excellent audio commentary by Bing Crosby\nbiographer Gary Giddens who goes into all of the details behind-the-scenes. He\nbrings ups the history of director McCarey and his work with Laurel and Hardy,\ngoing into detail on the filmmaker\u2019s unique working style. The expert reads off\nsections of the original screenplay and shows just how different the final\nproduct was. Apparently, McCarey enjoyed improvising and many of the scenes changed\nas the actors rehearsed on set. The naturalism of the performances certainly\nhelps the movie and lends a bit of humanity to the proceedings. In fact, the\nchildren in the Christmas play scene were actually asked to create it for real,\nand the chaotic but very cute end results were authentic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This information shows both the improvisational working\nstyle of the filmmaker and lends some understanding at how nervous the studio\nmight have been, especially given the fact that many of the script lines were\nstiffly written placeholders for what would ultimately transpire (as well as a\ncouple of strange plot elements towards the end that remain quite difficult to\nbelieve). The track also explains how Bergman became involved in the film and what\nappealed to her about playing the role. While there may have been trouble with studio\nexecutives, it seems as though the cast and crew got on extremely well. It\u2019s an\nincredibly detailed and interesting audio track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Historian Steve Massa also adds some details about Leo McCarey\u2019s\ncareer and the movie itself, as well as more details about his struggles to get\nboth this picture and its predecessor produced. It\u2019s another interesting\ndiscussion with plenty of intriguing details that most viewers (myself\nincluded) would not have known otherwise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The release also includes an enlightening discussion with\nSr. Rose Pacatte on the movie and some classic movies about faith, telling us how\nThe Bells of St. Mary\u2019s<\/em> comes across from her perspective. She makes\nsome points about what is accurate and what would never happen in a real parish\n(for instance, O\u2019Malley and a doctor hiding personal health information from a\nnun). She still seems amused by the movie in general and provides an\ninteresting viewpoint on the picture.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s also a discussion with Prof. Emily Carman on sequels\nand how Hollywood viewed the practice back in the 40s. Believe it or not, there\nwas a time when even the movie studios thought that making a follow-up might be\nbeneath them and how much many would try to avoid it. She goes into early\nexamples of sequels that were produced (like the Universal Monster series) and\ndetails the attitudes of the era towards these types of films.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the disc includes two half-hour radio\nadaptations of the movie from 1946 and 1947 that feature Crosby, Bergman and\nother cast members reprising their roles in the radio adaptation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new Olive Signature disc of The Bell\u2019s of St. Mary\u2019s<\/em>\nis by the far the best presentation of the film ever, and includes some great\nbonuses that will help those familiar and unfamiliar with the movie come to a\nbetter understanding of what was being attempted, along with all of the unusual\nelements that were combined to make the picture a financial and critical success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cOlive Signature\u201d Blu-ray release from Olive Films (www.olivefilms.com \u2013 www.facebook.com\/olivefilms) will be available for purchase on November 26th. Remember the song, \u201cSwinging on a Star\u201d by Bing Crosby? Well, it was written for the 1944 film Going My Way starring the famous performer. While this reviewer had never heard of the feature, it has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[78,2779,3073,4013,9813,15323,15324,20024,20025],"class_list":["post-19588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-78","tag-bing-crosby","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-catholicism","tag-ingrid-bergman","tag-olive-films","tag-olive-signature","tag-the-bells-of-st-marys-blu-ray-review","tag-the-bells-of-st-marys"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}