The bells of St. Mary
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The bells of St. Mary |
| Original title | The Bells of St. Mary's |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1945 |
| length | 126/88 (abridged version) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Leo McCarey |
| script | Leo McCarey, Dudley Nichols |
| production | Leo McCarey |
| music | Robert Emmett Dolan |
| camera | George Barnes |
| cut | Harry Marker |
| occupation | |
| |
The Bells of St. Mary’s (Original title: The Bells of St. Mary’s ) is an American film drama starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman from 1945. It is the sequel to the film The Road to Happiness (1944), for the Bing Crosby Oscar winner. Both films were produced and directed by Leo McCarey .
action
When Rev. Chuck O'Malley is called to head the dilapidated St. Mary's Catholic School in New York , Sister Mary Benedict's chagrin gives students a day off as their first official act. During a tour of the school grounds, he soon met businessman Horace P. Bogardus, who is having a new office building built right next to the school. Because he still needs a parking space for his employees and wants to buy St. Mary's for this purpose and have it demolished, he urges Pastor O'Malley to move the students to another school with modern equipment. O'Malley, who initially thinks this is best, then meets Mary Gallagher, a single mother who wants to place her daughter Patricia in St. Mary's. Her husband Joe, a musician, had left her many years ago and she has had more of a bad life since then. However, O'Malley has no concerns about Patricia's origins and welcomes the girl to school.
When two boys fight in the schoolyard, O'Malley and Sister Benedict confront each other with their different ideas about parenting methods. While O'Malley congratulates the winner, Sister Benedict tells Eddie, who was defeated by his opponent, that it was right not to fight back and not to fight back. However, she later gets a textbook on boxing and teaches Eddie how to fist. When Eddie gets into a fight with the other boy again, he eventually emerges victorious. But instead of humiliating him further, he extends his hand and invites him to an ice cream. Meanwhile, O'Malley takes care of Patricia, and her grades, which were very bad at the beginning, are noticeably improving.
O'Malley does not want to sell the school after all and the nuns hope to persuade Mr. Bogardus with prayers to give them his office building for the establishment of new classrooms and a gym. As the school year draws to a close and Patricia wants to show her mother her prom dress, she sees her mother with a man she does not know. However, it is about her father, whom O'Malley reunited with the mother. Sadly about her mother's supposed lottery life, Patricia deliberately fails the final test in order to be able to stay an extra year in St. Marien.
Mr. Bogardus finally agrees to let St. Mary's office building. Sister Benedict is very happy about this. When a doctor diagnoses her with early tuberculosis , he advises O'Malley's sister Benedict to move to a quieter place where she can get better without telling her that she is sick. Sadly about her transfer, Sister Benedict meets Patricia on the day of the testimony, who did not tell her mother that she had failed. When Mrs. Gallagher and Patricia's father join them and clarify the relationship, Sister Benedict tells Patricia that she did graduate, because the girl had only deliberately failed the test. When Sister Benedict goes to her new home and O'Malley finally informs her that she has contracted tuberculosis and that she will be transferred for this reason, she leaves school relieved and promises to be healthy again soon.
background
The film was produced by the independent film company Rainbow Productions, which had recently founded Leo McCarey, Bing Crosby, Buddy DeSylva , David Butler and Hal Roach Jr. While McCarey appeared as director, screenwriter and producer and Crosby took on the male lead role, Ingrid Bergman could be loaned for 175,000 dollars from producer David O. Selznick , with whom she was under contract at the time. To prepare for her role as a nun, Bergman attended a convention and met with Leo McCarey's aunt, who had served him as a model for the role of Sister Mary Benedict. The shooting took place in Tucson , Arizona , among others . William Flannery and Albert S. D'Agostino were responsible for the film construction. Edith Head designed the costumes .
Bing Crosby sings the songs The Bells of St. Mary’s , Aren't You Glad You're You? In the Land of Beginning Again , Adeste fideles and O du cheerful in the Latin version O Sanctissima . Ingrid Bergman sings the Swedish song Vårvindar friska in the film .
The Bells of St. Mary premiered on December 6, 1945 at New York's Radio City Music Hall on rental from RKO Pictures and became the top box office hit of the year in the United States . The film grossed more money than its predecessor The Way to Happiness at the box office and was the third most financially successful film of its time after Gone With the Wind (1939) and This Is the Army (1943). In Germany, The Bells of St. Marien was first shown in cinemas on September 1, 1947.
Reviews
The lexicon of international film described the film as "[f] friendly soulful entertainment with hearty faith optimism". However, it is "without deeper religious substance, atmospherically not real, with some rather embarrassing effects". Cinema recommended the film to nostalgics as a “Hollywood dessert”.
Variety found the film "warmly sentimental". The "simple act" was spiced up with "lots of laughs" and Leo McCarey's recipe for success from The Path to Happiness worked again. Bing Crosby is as good as in its predecessor and Ingrid Bergman is once again proving "her versatility". For the film critic Leonard Maltin it was a "lovable, if rambling, sequel to The Path to Happiness ".
Awards
The film was nominated eight times at the Academy Awards in 1946 , but was only awarded the Oscar in the category Best Sound ( Stephen Dunn ). In the categories of Best Film , Best Director (Leo McCarey), Best Actor (Bing Crosby), Best Actress (Ingrid Bergman), Best Editing (Harry Marker), Best Score (Robert Emmett Dolan) and Best Song ( Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke for Aren't You Glad You're You ) the film was subject to competition.
However, Ingrid Bergman received a Golden Globe for Best Actress - Drama and a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress . At the presentation of the Photoplay Awards, the film was awarded the Golden Medal.
German version
The German dubbed version was created by the Motion Picture Export Association. Franz Baldewein was responsible for the dialogue script and the dubbing .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Pastor Chuck O'Malley | Bing Crosby | Walter Holten |
| Sister Mary Benedict | Ingrid Bergman | Eva Vaitl |
| Horace P. Bogardus | Henry Travers | Bum Kruger |
| Mrs. Breen | Una O'Connor | Margarete Haagen |
Web links
- The Bells of St. Mary's in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Bells of St. Mary's on Turner Classic Movies (English)
- The bells of St. Marien in the All Movie Guide (English)
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Notes on tcm.com
- ↑ a b cf. Margarita Landazuri on tcm.com
- ↑ The bells of St. Mary. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 8, 2019 .
- ↑ cf. cinema.de
- ↑ “The Bells of St. Mary's is warmly sentimental, has a simple story leavened with many laughs. [...] Ingrid Bergman again demonstrates her versatility as the sister in charge. " See The Bells of St. Mary’s . In: Variety . 1945.
- ↑ "Amiable if meandering sequel to Going My Way ." Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide: The Modern Era, Previously Published as Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide . Penguin, New York 2017, p. 112.
- ↑ cf. synchrondatenbank.de