HotToastyRag I'm beginning to think that having voice-over narration about a romance gone wrong is in Fred MacMurray's contract. In The Miracle of the Bells, he travels to a small town to plan a woman's funeral. Who is the woman and why would she want to be buried there? Cue the voice over and concurrent flashback. A couple of years back, Fred, a successful press agent, saw a chorus girl in a dancing show and helped her get ahead in her career. They fell in love, but he never told her how he felt, and now that she's dead, he wants to honor her last wishes and see her buried in her hometown.Fred does a good job, but this is a role we've seen him in before and will see him in again. However, compared to Valli, the female lead, he deserves an Oscar. The weakest part of the movie is Valli, whose Italian accent hardly comes across as Polish, as the script calls for. She's not pretty enough to turn Fred's head, and when he meets her, she's shown to be the worst dancer in the lineup. If not entranced by her beauty or talent, what is the press agent fighting for? The script, and subsequent casting, doesn't give the audience any believable reason why Fred is so enamored with her that he goes through all the trouble of the film's plot.The performance that does deserve recognition is Frank Sinatra's. He plays a priest who aides Fred in arrangements for Valli's funeral. Given all we know about Frank Sinatra's personal life, it would hardly be surprising if he didn't seem very priestly. I've never seen such a convincing, realistic portrayal of a priest. Yes, no one can compare to Richard Chamberlain in The Thorn Birds, but he played a conflicted priest. Frank Sinatra's character isn't written to be conflicted or distracted by a problem. He's a priest, as we all imagine them to be. It's an indescribable quality, but he truly comes across as a man of the cloth, completely devoted to God, truth, and love.

edwagreen It has all the ingredients of a "Going My Way," or "It's A Wonderful Life."Wonderful Fred MacMurray stars as a Hollywood press agent who is smitten by Olga, played by Valli. Notice that when Valli spoke, she sounded just like Ingrid Bergman.In a total change of pace, Frank Sinatra plays a soft-spoken priest in the film from a poor parish. Also subdued, is the fine actor Lee J. Cobb, always rather loud in the film. He plays a movie producer caught up by what has happened.Olga dies at the completion of her first and only film and when MacMurray fulfills her wishes and brings her back to her home town, the film breaks out with the usual themes of poverty and reverence to the Lord.The Olga character also reminds me of the film, "The Song of Bernadette."A film of human values, reverence, simplicity, kindness and what we're all supposed to be made up of as we practice humanity and devotion to the Lord and to others.

Catharina_Sweden I think this movie was a little of a disappointment, because I had expected much more. I love movies about the Catholic faith, Catholic priests, mysteries and miracles - and the posters and PR for this movie promised just this.Instead the movie turned out - not bad, but not great either. A bit lame. Frank Sinatra as the Priest was not in it that much - he was only a supporting actor. And he is not at all to compare with Bing Crosby as the charming, likable and charismatic Father O'Malley - which I believe Hollywood wanted us to believe in its advertisements... I think it was also probably a mistake to show Frank Sinatra directly beside the tall and stately Fred MacMurray, because it made Sinatra at 170 cm:s look so insignificant. As singing is Sinatra's main ability, it was also a pity that he sung only one short song (and it was not one of his best singing performances either).Furthermore, I think something in the pacing and planning of the movie was wrong. It sprawls into too many directions - one does not know what is the main subject of it. It ought to have been shorter, and more straightened up and to the point....but despite of its faults, this movie is still watchable, and quite fine and moving at times!

Lynne Bronstein I discovered this movie about ten years ago, on TV. The next day, a co-worker asked if I had watched it; I said yes, and we both agreed we had been moved by it. For my co-worker, this was not surprising; she was a Catholic. But for me, a Jewish semi-secular humanist, it was odd to admit I had felt something close to faith because of a late-40s studio picture. The message of "The Miracle of the Bells" is that regardless of one's faith, there is the possibility of hope. The goodness that exists in human beings is not brought out by rigid observance to rules, but by acts of kindness and understanding. I don't want to say how this comes about or whether there really is a miracle in the Biblical sense. That is for viewers to find out. But the film brings tears to my eyes. Alida Valli is amazing-watch her face, her eyes, especially in the sequences where she plays Joan of Arc-she seems lit from within by faith. I love the scene in the Chinese restaurant, a scene of friendship and love. I wish this movie, like its heroine, was more well-known. I try to help it along by mentioning it whenever I can as one of those little gems, a quiet picture that may make you think, a nice example of Hollywood fantasy films of the 1940s, and a movie that will help you feel better if you feel down.I know I just rented it for that reason.