“At The Movies Nun But The Best” Vol. III, No.3 (April 2022) By Stephanie Mardesich Cinematic Expert
“At The Movies Nun But The Best” Vol. III, No.3 (April 2022)
By Stephanie Mardesich Cinematic Expert
Recently I watched the amusing and evocative film (via Moviestvnetwork on Cox cable)
The Trouble With Angels (1966) starring ever elegant Rosalind Russell and ever delightful Hayley Mills. Having just presented The Sound Of Music, with main character Maria the novitiate, at the 19th annual LA Harbor International Film Festival and Easter on the horizon April 17th the juxtaposition of the two movies brought to mind so many films that feature wonderful “ladies of the Habit” that are not necessarily so religious as interesting, oft amusing, and inspiring stories. So many are award winners or nominees “ for your consideration” to view, no “tithing” required.
Come To The Stable (USA, 20th Century Fox, 1949, 97 min., dir. Henry Koster)
Two nuns Sister Margaret (Loretta Young) and Sister Scholastica (Celeste Holm) from a French convent arrive in a small Connecticut town with a plan to build a children's hospital. They enlist the help of several colorful characters in achieving their dream including eccentric Amelia Potts (Elsa Lancaster), struggling artist Robert “Bob” Mason (Hugh Marlow), a popular songwriter Anthony James (Dooley Wilson), and a renowned racketeer Sam (Mike Mazurki).Supporting cast also includes Regis Toomey and Thomas Gomez. Golden win for “Best Picture.” Nominated for seven Academy Awards®.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041257/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_14
Heaven Knows Mr. Alison (USA, 20th Century Fox, 1957, 107 min., dir. John Huston)
WWII, 1944, and castaway U.S. A. Marine Corporal Allison (Robert Mitchum), adrift on a raft in the South Pacific since his ship was attacked, lands on tiny Tuasiva Island. He encounters Irish nun Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr) who reveals she is the only person on the island, having been left behind while trying to evacuate a priest. The nun and the marine are stranded, but the island offers a bountiful supply of food. Their paradisiacal life ends, however, when the Japanese arrive to build an outpost, forcing "Mr. Allison” and the nun to take refuge in a cave. The soldier’s expertise in such challenging conditions proves to be vital to their survival, and the two grow ever closer. Oscar® nods for Kerr for “Best Actress” and “Best Writing Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” for Huston and John Lee Mahin’ and BAFTA nods.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050490/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_27
The Nun’s Story (USA, Warner Bros., 1959, 149 min., dir. Fred Zinneman)
Based on 1956 novel by American author Kathryn Hulme who created fictionalized account of her friend who was Belgian nurse and former nun of the Sisters of Charity. Takes place in 1930 Belgium where Gabrielle van der Mal (Audrey Hepburn) determined daughter of a respected surgeon Dr. Hubert van der Mal (Dean Jagger) decides to leave her upper-class life and enter a convent of nursing sisters, expecting to work as nun in the Congo coping with tropical diseases. She bids good-bye to her siblings and beloved father. After taking her first vows as Sister Luke she is sent to the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp and subjects herself to the stringent rules of the archaic institution, including silence, excessive humility and humiliation.
After a long assignment working in a mental institution, where she was attacked by a deranged patient who considers herself Archangel Gabriel (Colleen Dewhurst) she takes her solemn vows and is finally sent go to the Congo. She works along side strident, yet dedicated Dr. Fortunati.(Peter Finch), an atheist, proving to be an excellent nurse and assistant, though continually challenged by her vows versus her independent mind. She contracts tuberculosis and Dr. Fortunati miraculously heals her and arranges for her to remain in the Congo to convalesce, rather than return to Europe where WW II is looming.
Years later she is ordered to return to her home country Belgium, and when the Germans invade she learns her beloved father was murdered by the enemy while he was helping wounded members of the resistance. After grappling with her conscience and spiritual commitment she finally decides to leave the religious life since she is unable to feel neutral against the invaders of her country.
Stellar supporting cast includes: Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Dame Edith Evans, Mildred Dunnock, Beatrice Straight and Lionel Jeffries among other talented cast. Hugely successful critically and at box office with eight Oscar® nods.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053131/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Lilies Of The Field (USA, Rainbow Productions, 1963, 94 min., dir. Ralph Nelson)
Unemployed construction worker and ex G-I Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) traveling west in the USA stops for help at a remote farm in the desert when his car overheats. The farm inhabited by five Catholic nuns of Eastern European descent who escaped the Berlin wall (and speak very little English), lead by the strict Mother Maria (Lilia Skala). They are working the property, however find Homer’s help a great relief. Mother Maria believes that Homer has been sent by God to build a much-needed church in the desert, at no pay. He resists and wants, and needs, attempting to persuade Mother Superior to pay him by quoting Luke 10:7, "The laborer is worthy of his hire” to which the “ruling” Nun responds by asking him to read another Bible verse from the Sermon on the Mount: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Upbeat, delightful, hopeful. Adapted from novel of same name by William Edmund Barret. Five Oscar®nods including “Best Actor” win for Poitier.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057251/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
The Singing Nun (USA, MGM, 1966, 97 min., dir. Henry Koster)
Young inexperienced Sister Ann (Debbie Reynolds) arrives at her posting at Samaritan House, a Dominican order located in a notorious neighborhood in Ghent, Belgium, and a training ground for the nuns to become missionaries in Africa.
She is enthusiastic, progressive yet naive, all which annoys one of the senior nuns Sister Cluny (Agnes Moorehead), especially that she lovingly flaunts her prized guitar she’s dubbed Adele. Contrary to Sister Cluny, the Mother Prioress (Greer Garson) believes Sister Ann will be a welcome addition to their order. Sister Ann's path takes a detour when Father Clementi (Ricardo Montalban) hears Sister Ann sing. He believes she should record her music and as a favor asks record producer Robert Gerarde (Chad Everett) for recording time.
Unknown to him when he makes the request Robert and Sister Ann are old friends who attended the Paris Conservatory of Music together five years earlier before she became a nun. Robert believes the nun could be a recording sensation, keeping true to her style of music of religious based folk songs. As Sister Ann becomes more famous, which includes an appearance on the popular television variety show Toast of the Town (1948) that became The Ed Sullivan Show, she increasingly wonders if she truly is doing the work of God, as she admits she enjoys the adulation of being a celebrity and the financial gain to the church, appropriately questioning and in dealing with a precocious local boy named Dominic Arlien (Ricky Cordell), after who she named probably her most famous song) and his troubled family becoming more significant after incident threatens Dominic's life. One Oscar® nod for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment.
Debbie Reynolds is charming and in her element singing and emoting, stellar cast support also includes Tom Drake (remember him from Meet Me In St. Louis).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060983/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
The Sound Of Music (USA, Robert Wise Productions, 1965,171 min., dir. Robert Wise)
Film adaptation of the famed 1959 Broadway musical by Rodgers & Hammerstein, based on the 1949 memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp is set in Austria in 1938 on the verge of WW II. The compelling story begins with Maria (Julie Andrews), a young novitiate who is questioning her “calling” and takes leave from the convent for work as governess in the home of widower Captain Georg Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer),caring for his seven children, as she contemplates her life choices has become an American classic.
The Captain, a strict disciplinarian though loving father, runs his home in military fashion. The children are unhappy and resentful of the previous governesses and successfully had them dismissed from service.
When Maria arrives at the palatial Von Trapp home, she is initially met with hostility, but her kindness, understanding, and sense of fun soon draws the children to her as she brings joy into all their lives, including their father. Eventually he and Maria find themselves falling in love, even though the Captain is already engaged to Baroness Elsa von Schraeder (Eleanor Parker), and Maria is still a postulant. The romance makes them both start questioning the decisions they have made and will make. Their personal conflicts soon become overshadowed by world events. Austria is about to come under the control of Germany, and the Captain, who is opposed to the Nazi regime, may soon find himself drafted into the German Navy. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children.
Many of the songs have become “standards” enjoyed and recorded internationally, including "My Favorite Things", "Climb Every Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", “16 Going On 17”, "Edelweiss", and the title song "The Sound of Music.”
The American Film Institute (AFI) listed The Sound of Music as the 55th greatest American movie of all time, and the fourth greatest movie musical. In 2001, the U.S.A. Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry designation it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Along with Directors Guild, and Writers Guild, and Golden Globe Awards, the beloved movie garnered ten Academy Award® nominations; five wins including “Best” director and picture.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
The Trouble With Angeles (USA, Columbia Pictures, 1966, 112 min., dir. Ida Lupino)
Mary Clancy (Hayley Mills) and Rachel Devery (June Harding) meet on the train destined as new students of St. Francis Academy and instantly connect. The coming-of-age story of the two ingénues at Catholic boarding school for girls spans three years. Their many foibles and pranks from smoking cigarettes in the loo, cigars in the basement, putting bubble bath crystals in the Nuns' sugar bowls, setting off fire alarms, conducting tours of the private quarters of the Sisters, all to the chagrin of Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell) add to the humor.
As the girls mature they gain insight and respect for their teachers and the commitment and devotion required to be a nun; and for one a life-changing decision for one of them. Russell ever poised and elegant; Mills ever delightful and charming. The supporting cast of Nuns includes “vintage” character actresses Mary Wickes and Binnie Barnes, lovely Camilla Sparv, and Marge Redmond who later appeared in TV series “The Flying Nun.” Terrific score by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith punctuates the action. Superb direction by Lupino, seasoned thespian herself and “pioneer” of women directors in the U.S.A.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061122/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Two Mules For Sister Sarah
(USA/Mexico, Universal Pictures/Malpaso Productions, 1970 114 min., dir. Don Siegel)
Just after the Civil war mercenary drifter Hogan (Clint Eastwood) traversing across Mexico doing reconnaissance for a future mission to capture a French fort comes to the rescue of Sister Sara (Shirley MacLaine) a Nun who was about to be raped by local bandits. He prevents the assault and in return she helps him by providing information about the fort defenses since she’s been raising money to aid national revolutionaries fight the French forces. The two become allies in the cause of the locals, but Sara has a secret. See the film to find out what that is and where the story ends, or has a new beginning. Outstanding cinematography by Director of Photography Gabriel Figueroa, outstanding score by acclaimed Italian composer - eight Oscar® nods, two wins - Ennio Morricone; beware of some gratuitous violence.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065134/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
The Devils (UK/USA, Russo Productions, 111 min., 1971, X, dir. Ken Russell)
Adapted from the 1952 stage play the disturbing story is dramatization of historical time that takes place in 17th-century France when Cardinal Richeliu attempts to rule and eliminate an obstacle in his way, Roman Catholic priest Father Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), who seeks to protect the city of Loudun from the corrupt establishment of Richelieu. Hysteria occurs within the city when is accused of witchcraft by a sexually-repressed nun Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave) who covets him Fr. Grandier and rebuffed so seeks to destroy the priest. Violent and sexual content. Director Ken Russell at his “wildest.”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066993/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Sister Act (USA, Touchstone Pictures, 1992, 100 min., G, dir. Emile Ardolino)
When a nightclub singer Deloris Wilson aka Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg) witnesses a murder committed by her married lover Vince LaRocca (Harvey Keitel) she flees the Reno casino and takes refuge from the mob after her at St. Katherine’s Convent. Mother Superior (Dame Maggie Smith) reluctantly is reluctant yet takes her in, keeping her true identity from the other Nuns. Deloris is renamed Sister Mary Clarence and with her natural instincts and talent for music she turns the benign convent chorus into Motown magic, until the sudden celebrity of the choir jeopardizes her safety and the entire Convent.
While Deloris constantly clashes with Mother Superior her vivacious personality and sincere style have special influence over two of the sisters, perpetually perky Mary Patrick (Kathy Najimy) and Mary Robert (Wendy Makkena), who feels inferior and left behind in whatever is happening in life. Reliable veteran actress Mary Wickes (Sister Mary Lazarus) again plays a Nun (she was in The Trouble With Angels) with her inimitable flair. Hilarious moments and truly entertaining funny “feel good” movie.
Stephanie Mardesich, a native of San Pedro from a family who arrived in the harbor area over 100 years ago. An alumna of U.S.C. School of Cinematic Arts; founder-director of the LA Harbor International Film Festival; credited journalist and public relations consultant, she launched "Cinema Stephanie" film critique blogette in 2017. More recently, she created "Eclectic Culture" lifestyle stories and reviews blog. She is also co-producer with Jack Baric (S.P. native and R.P.V. resident) of the oral history project Stories of Los Angeles Harbor Area: For Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (SOLAHA) - Volume II debuted in March 2020.
For more see:
(to look up films) www.imdb.com
www.laharborfilmfest.com( Cinema Stephanie blogette)
www.storieslaharborarea.com (histories/stories)
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