The Bells of St. Mary's - A question!

[dws1982]

Other than the fact that people tend to watch both around Christmas time, I don't see much comparison between the two.

It's been forever since I've seen The Bells of St. Mary's, but It's A Wonderful Life is far more than just some piece of Christmas uplift.

[anonymous1980]

I just saw It's a Wonderful Life! recently.

Am I wrong when I think that The Bells of St. Mary's is better?

[cam]

Slightly off topic, but on the subject of warm-hearted "celebration of human kindness", as Damien put it, I was amazed Christmas Day to discover that "It's a Wonderful Life" was on four different channels at the same time on Christmas Eve.
This film, I think crosses the line of the above-mentioned warm-heartedness to treacly and trite. This is not a Bah Humbug, but I have never liked the film, thinking it too soppy for its own good. Does anyone else feel this? Or is this some kind of Christmas tradition that must be upheld?

[jack]

Well, The Bells of St. Mary's was not intended to be a documentary of the parochial school sytem -- it's Leo McCarey's world view of the basic genuine decency of people and the importance of kindness in the world. And for that reason it's not fake -- it's a beautifully expressed, personal vision.

(My 8 years of parochial school were much closer to St. Mary's than The Magdalene Sisters.)

Assuming that your post, Damien, was, in some way, willed on by my own (below). Please note that in no way am I saying that a Catholic or Parochial school are all encumbered by bad memories.

'The Bells of St. Mary's' is a wonderful film of its time, as many of our beloved movie-going experieces are.

[Damien]

Well, The Bells of St. Mary's was not intended to be a documentary of the parochial school sytem -- it's Leo McCarey's world view of the basic genuine decency of people and the importance of kindness in the world. And for that reason it's not fake -- it's a beautifully expressed, personal vision.

(My 8 years of parochial school were much closer to St. Mary's than The Magdalene Sisters.)

[jack]

Quote (anonymous @ Sep. 23 2007,09:39)
Another question: What do you guys think of it's depiction of Catholicism and parochial education in this film? Is it overly-idealized and sugar-coated?

Fake. Fake from beginning to end.

I have to agree with Italiano on this point.

My Dad went to a Catholic school, and the Nuns would throw dusters at the children. Mind you, it was the 60s and in Scotland - Glasgow to be exect (the Catholic capitol of insanity, outside of Ireland).

I remember hearing stories of his school-days my Dad would tell, and my, and some on this board, jaw would drop.

I remember 'The Bells of St. Mary' from years ago - I watched it with my Dad. From that point on I had to laugh at the noation of happy Catholic school-days... Until the 1980s when capitol punishment in schools was banned.

[Damien]

My heart bleeds for anyone who can't appreciate the joyfully magnificent humanism of this understated masterpiece.

LMAO

I said something funny?

[Big Magilla]

My heart bleeds for anyone who can't appreciate the joyfully magnificent humanism of this understated masterpiece.

LMAO

[Okri]

My mom did the same thing yesterday. Except the film in question was A Few Good Men. And she had only really memorized the climactic court scene, so she was reciting the wrong dialogue with the actors earlier.

[Damien]

I watched Bells Of St. Mary's again last night with my Mom -- and was driving her crazy because, having seen the picture so many times, I was reciting the dialogue a few seconds before the actors did.

Once again I was struck by how this movie is the most wonderful celebration of human kindness ever put on celluloid -- good-hearted but flawed, beautifully-detailed individuals doing their best to making other people happier and feeling better about themselves.

My heart bleeds for anyone who can't appreciate the joyfully magnificent humanism of this understated masterpiece.

[ITALIANO]

Another question: What do you guys think of it's depiction of Catholicism and parochial education in this film? Is it overly-idealized and sugar-coated?

Fake. Fake from beginning to end.

[Damien]

I went to a parochial school much like St. Mary's from grades 1 through 8. My experience was much the way McCarey portrayed it in the film -- the nuns were a lively group who took a real interest in the kids. (On winter days when we got our clothes wet playing in the snow at recess, the Sisters would take the boys' pants and hang them upstairs in the convent to dry off.)

The only thing missing from the film is the ancient nun who was still teaching even though she was completely out of it. The kids loved the situation -- you could get away with anything!

[Big Magilla]

Another question: What do you guys think of it's depiction of Catholicism and parochial education in this film? Is it overly-idealized and sugar-coated?

It may be a bit overly idealized, but it reflects the way most Catholics thought of the Church in those days. Ingrid Bergman's Sister Benedict reminds me very much of a nun I had in religious instructions, which as a public school student I attended twice a week. I think I was 12 or 13 so it must have been 1955-56 or 1956-57. She was a very down to Earth nun. One day I was having a conversation with a friend instead of paying attention to what she was saying. She stopped the class cold to say to me "I may not look like Marilyn Monroe but pelase give me your attention anyway." She was a bit obsessed with the cultural role of Marilyn. She also said at one point "If Wolrd War III were declared the same day Marilyn Monroe dies, the New York Daily News headline will be Marilyn Monroe Dies." Everyone loved her and the year after I had her for a teacher she became a Mother Superior and stopped teaching.

I don't think it's sugar coated either, as a representation of mid-20th Century religious tolerance it has few peers. Three films about ministers, One Foot in Heaven (Fredric March), Stars in My Crown (Joel McCrea) and A Man Called Peter (Richard Todd) and one about a priest, The Keys of the Kingdom (Gregory Peck) are films that I would place alongside of it as examples of films about religious life that represent the best examples of the genre. Of Human Hearts comes close, but that was about the sacrifices of the wife of the minister (Beulah Bondi) than it was about the hellfire and brimstone preacher (Walter Huston) whose ungrateful son (James Stewart) tears his mother's heart out.

Of them all, The Keys of the Kingdom in which Thomas Mitchell's atheist doctor is shown to be more Christ like than Vincent Price's haughty bishop most represents the religious thinking of the time.

[anonymous1980]

Thanks for answering my question.

Another question: What do you guys think of it's depiction of Catholicism and parochial education in this film? Is it overly-idealized and sugar-coated?

[Big Magilla]

Damien's assessment of Patsy's mother sounds about right.