This film is a charming, uplifting tale that exemplifies the kind of films that were greatly popular during the World War II years. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars and won seven, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Bing Crosby), Best Supporting Actor (Barry Fitzgerald), Best Director (Leo McCarey), Best Music, Original Song (“Swinging on a Star”), Best Writing, Original Story (McCarey) and Best Writing, Screenplay (Frank Butler, Frank Cavett). (An interesting trivia note is that Fitzgerald was also nominated as best actor, which the Academy changed the rules on later about being nominated in both categories).
Fitzgerald (THE QUIET MAN) plays an elderly priest named Fitzgibbon. Crosby plays the young priest Father Chuck O’Malley, who has been assigned to Fitzgibbon’s church to liven things up and help save it from financial ruin. Fitzgibbon is very set in his ways and clashes with O’Malley’s more modern and less pious approach to the ministry.
The other key characters include: Chuck’s childhood best friend Father Timothy O’Dowd (Frank McHugh, MIGHTY JOE YOUNG), teen runaway Carol James (Jean Heather, DOUBLE INDEMNITY), snobby bank owner Ted Haines Sr. (Gene Lockhart, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET), Ted’s playboy son Ted Jr. (James Brown, SANDS OF IWO JIMA), Chuck’s childhood sweetheart and opera singer Genevieve Linden (Rise Stevens, TV’s CARMEN) and kid gang leader Tony Scaponi (Stanley Clements, 1956’s HOT SHOTS). You also get two smaller roles from well-known faces William Frawley from I LOVE LUCY fame as a music publisher and Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer as a skeptical gang member.
The film chronicles how the good-hearted O’Mallery comes in and puts others first, transforming their lives for the better. He helps Fitzgibbon come to terms with his old age and failing church. He motivates Carol to stay out of trouble and rounds up the kids of the neighborhood and forms a boy’s choir. The film is a musical, but it also works as a character study. Crosby and Fitzgerald are given two wonderful characters to play and they nail the performances. I loved Fitzgerald as the matchmaker in THE QUIET MAN, but his performance here is even better. He deserved his Oscar.
With this film, Crosby proved that he wasn’t just a pretty face with a sweet voice and that he could really act. He was America’s biggest star at the time and this film was a huge hit, during the rough years of the war. The film draws you in with its characters and moves along with your desire to see how they save the church as well as learning more about the characters. Why O’Malley became a priest is an interesting question that you really want answered.
For the most part, the songs in the film are woven in with great skill, however, toward the end, you get the sense that they crammed a few too many in. At 130 minutes, the story starts to drag toward the end. But, I was impressed with how the film handled the last minute tragedy with a realistic happy ending. The final scene is an emotional heart render. If you don’t tear up just a little, you’re too cynical for this film anyway. This is a warm, charming and uplifting film. It’s religious, but never preachy. It leaves you with a good feeling – the way religion is supposed to make you feel.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
