Going My way was the highest grossing movie of 1944. It made Bing Crosby a box office star for the rest of the 1940's and resulted in an immediate sequel released in 1945. Crosby won the Academy Award for Best Actor and Barry Fitzgerald received two nominations. One for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor. He won the supporting Oscar award. Afterwards the Academy changed the rules so an actor could only be nominated for one award per picture.
The film tells the story of a young Irish Catholic priest (Crosby) who is assigned to rescue a parish in trouble. He must do this without hurting the feelings of the elderly monsignor played by Barry Fitzgerald. The film featured renowned international opera star Rise Stevens along with Gene Lockhart, Frank McHugh and William Frawley. The film was directed by Leo McCarey who also won the Oscar for Best Director.
The films overt sentimentality and positive view of religious life might not be acceptable to today's cynical audiences, but the film has charm and appeal far beyond Bing Crosby's singing voice. To Americans facing years of bitter conflict in WWII this film reminded them of all that was good in life. Going My Way never fails to cause a chuckle, warm the heart or bring a tear.
At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars.
note - while Going My Way is a very enjoyable films, other films from 1944 have surpassed it in reputation and were probably more deserving of the Oscar for Best Picture. This includes films such as Double Indemnity, Laura, Lifeboat and To Have and Have Not
The Bells of St. Mary's was an immediate follow up to Going My Way and was a huge box office hit. Adjusted for inflation it would be the 50th highest grossing film of all time. The film features Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O'Malley. This time he is assigned as pastor to a troubled inner city parochial school overseen by an order of nuns. Ingrid Bergman plays Sister Mary Benedict, the Mother Superior in charge of the school. Sister Mary Benedict and Father O'Malley have different ideas how a school should be run, but both want what's best for the children.
The pairing of these two powerhouse stars makes Bells of St. Mary's a slightly better film than Going My Way. They have excellent chemistry together and carry the film together. The film is more comedic than the first but carries the same heart warming sentiment. Released in December 1945 the film has become an annual Christmas favorite. It is also the film playing in Bedford Falls in It's A wonderful Life
At The Movie House Rating **** stars
*note - both films were highly successful but it's obvious that the studio's were not confident about selling religion to American audiences in 1944 & 1945. None of the artwork for either film makes it obvious that the actors are playing priests or nuns. And none of the copy on the posters mentions or indicates anything about God, religion or the Catholic Church. here are some more American posters for Bells of St. Mary's, you will note that none of them depict Ingrid Bergman wearing a nun's habit, even though she always wears it in the movie.
The studios did not have the same fears overseas. The posters for films playing in Spanish and Latin-American countries are overtly religious and symbolic of God and the church.
Some things never change.
1 comment:
very interesting analysis on the way the movies were advertised...considering the obvious trepidation they had in showing religion, it is surprising the Academy chose Going as best picture.
As a side note, small town America post war in the 1940's seems to have been such a unique time...i always find it fascinating how the years meld together while change is imposed.
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