The Miracle of the Bells
Encyclopedia
The Miracle of the Bells is a 1948 film produced by RKO. It stars Fred MacMurray
, Alida Valli
, Frank Sinatra
, and Lee J. Cobb
. Directed by Irving Pichel
, with a script by Quentin Reynolds
and Ben Hecht
.
The film is based on a novel by Russell Janney.
(Fred MacMurray
), who works for a fictional movie studio, arrives by train with the body of Polish-born actress Olga Treskovna (Alida Valli
), in her hometown, a city referred to affectionately by its population as "Coaltown" because of its coal mining
industry. In a voiceover narrated by Dunnigan, we learn that he was in love with Olga, although we never find out if she truly reciprocated his love. He has brought her back to "Coaltown" to honor her deathbed request - to be buried there. After encountering some hostility from the local funeral director who resents Olga's father because he was crooked, Dunnigan enlists the services of Father Paul (Frank Sinatra
), the local priest, who pulls some strings to grant Olga's request.
The main flashback story then begins, showing how Olga is plucked from a chorus line in a nightclub to serve as a double for an extremely temperamental film actress who is to star as Joan of Arc
in a motion picture. Dunnigan realizes that Olga has the makings of a talented actress herself, and when the film's star throws a tantrum and walks out, he manages to convince Marcus Harris, the film's producer (Lee J. Cobb
), to audition Olga, despite her having had no film experience. The screen test is a success and Olga is cast as Joan. However, as filming progresses, she shows signs of being seriously ill. After taking her to see a doctor, Dunnigan is secretly informed that Olga has a severe, potentially fatal form of tuberculosis, caused by her inhalation of the coal dust that circulated in "Coaltown". Desperate to do something for her hometown that will restore the pride of its bitter and disillusioned citizens, Olga continues with the filming, and collapses after the shooting ends. Rushed to a hospital, she dies with Dunnigan at her side.
To generate interest in the film, the grief-stricken Dunnigan desperately pulls a publicity stunt, convincing churches all across "Coaltown" to ring their bells for three days as a tribute to the dead actress and promising to pay them with checks that he cannot possibly cover. Huge interest begins to develop in the unknown actress who gave her life to complete a film, and Marcus Harris wires Dunnigan enough money to cover the checks. But Harris calls Dunnigan and tells him that he has decided not to release the film, because the moviegoing public might resent greeting the arrival of a new star who is actually dead. Harris intends to recast the role and begin filming all over again.
On the day of Olga's funeral, an overflow crowd which includes Dunnigan enters the tiny local church, which can only hold a certain amount of people, and has never been full until now. As the crowd prays, a loud creaking noise is heard, and the statues of St. Michael and the Virgin Mary slowly turn on their pedestals until they face Olga's coffin. The parishioners regard this as a miracle, even though the logical explanation is that the ground underneath the church has been weakened because of the large crowd, causing the statues to turn. Dunnigan persuades Father Paul not to tell the people of Coaltown the truth; their religious faith is restored, and Marcus Harris, after much reluctance, decides to release the film, which becomes a huge success.
was filming her own Technicolor
Joan of Arc
, which was also released by RKO in 1948. Ironically, the very expensive Bergman film, although much more highly regarded today, was not a success upon release, unlike the fictional Joan of Arc film depicted in The Miracle of the Bells.
For that matter, The Miracle of the Bells has also been dismissed by critics, and was mentioned in the satirical film book The Golden Turkey Awards
, which poked fun at Frank Sinatra's portrayal of Father Paul. Time Magazine excoriated the film upon release, declaring in their review that "St. Michael ought to sue". In recent decades the film has developed a better reputation due to its realistic portrayal of coal miners in small town America. Many of the extras in the film were actual miners working for the Glen-Alden Coal Company .
Several exterior shots were filmed on location in Glen Lyon
Pa. ,the town in which the film and novel take place.
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
, Alida Valli
Alida Valli
Alida Valli , sometimes simply credited as Valli, was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films, including Mario Soldati's Piccolo mondo antico, Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case, Carol Reed's The Third Man, Michelangelo Antonioni's Il Grido, Luchino Visconti's Senso, Bernardo...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, and Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...
. Directed by Irving Pichel
Irving Pichel
Irving Pichel was an American actor and film director. He married Violette Wilson, daughter of Jackson Stitt Wilson, a Methodist minister and Socialist mayor of Berkeley, California. Her sister was actress Viola Barry...
, with a script by Quentin Reynolds
Quentin Reynolds
Quentin James Reynolds was a journalist and World War II war correspondent.As associate editor at Collier's Weekly from 1933 to 1945, Reynolds averaged twenty articles a year...
and Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...
.
The film is based on a novel by Russell Janney.
Plot
The story begins as Hollywood press agent Bill Dunnigan(Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
), who works for a fictional movie studio, arrives by train with the body of Polish-born actress Olga Treskovna (Alida Valli
Alida Valli
Alida Valli , sometimes simply credited as Valli, was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films, including Mario Soldati's Piccolo mondo antico, Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case, Carol Reed's The Third Man, Michelangelo Antonioni's Il Grido, Luchino Visconti's Senso, Bernardo...
), in her hometown, a city referred to affectionately by its population as "Coaltown" because of its coal mining
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
industry. In a voiceover narrated by Dunnigan, we learn that he was in love with Olga, although we never find out if she truly reciprocated his love. He has brought her back to "Coaltown" to honor her deathbed request - to be buried there. After encountering some hostility from the local funeral director who resents Olga's father because he was crooked, Dunnigan enlists the services of Father Paul (Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
), the local priest, who pulls some strings to grant Olga's request.
The main flashback story then begins, showing how Olga is plucked from a chorus line in a nightclub to serve as a double for an extremely temperamental film actress who is to star as Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
in a motion picture. Dunnigan realizes that Olga has the makings of a talented actress herself, and when the film's star throws a tantrum and walks out, he manages to convince Marcus Harris, the film's producer (Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...
), to audition Olga, despite her having had no film experience. The screen test is a success and Olga is cast as Joan. However, as filming progresses, she shows signs of being seriously ill. After taking her to see a doctor, Dunnigan is secretly informed that Olga has a severe, potentially fatal form of tuberculosis, caused by her inhalation of the coal dust that circulated in "Coaltown". Desperate to do something for her hometown that will restore the pride of its bitter and disillusioned citizens, Olga continues with the filming, and collapses after the shooting ends. Rushed to a hospital, she dies with Dunnigan at her side.
To generate interest in the film, the grief-stricken Dunnigan desperately pulls a publicity stunt, convincing churches all across "Coaltown" to ring their bells for three days as a tribute to the dead actress and promising to pay them with checks that he cannot possibly cover. Huge interest begins to develop in the unknown actress who gave her life to complete a film, and Marcus Harris wires Dunnigan enough money to cover the checks. But Harris calls Dunnigan and tells him that he has decided not to release the film, because the moviegoing public might resent greeting the arrival of a new star who is actually dead. Harris intends to recast the role and begin filming all over again.
On the day of Olga's funeral, an overflow crowd which includes Dunnigan enters the tiny local church, which can only hold a certain amount of people, and has never been full until now. As the crowd prays, a loud creaking noise is heard, and the statues of St. Michael and the Virgin Mary slowly turn on their pedestals until they face Olga's coffin. The parishioners regard this as a miracle, even though the logical explanation is that the ground underneath the church has been weakened because of the large crowd, causing the statues to turn. Dunnigan persuades Father Paul not to tell the people of Coaltown the truth; their religious faith is restored, and Marcus Harris, after much reluctance, decides to release the film, which becomes a huge success.
Production
The film was put into production at the same time that Ingrid BergmanIngrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
was filming her own Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (1948 film)
Joan of Arc is a 1948 Technicolor film directed by Victor Fleming; starring Ingrid Bergman as the French religious icon and war heroine. It was produced by Walter Wanger. It is based on Maxwell Anderson's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the...
, which was also released by RKO in 1948. Ironically, the very expensive Bergman film, although much more highly regarded today, was not a success upon release, unlike the fictional Joan of Arc film depicted in The Miracle of the Bells.
For that matter, The Miracle of the Bells has also been dismissed by critics, and was mentioned in the satirical film book The Golden Turkey Awards
The Golden Turkey Awards
The Golden Turkey Awards is a 1980 book by film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry Medved.The book awards the fictional "Golden Turkey Awards" to films judged by the authors as poor in quality, and to directors and actors judged to have created a chronically inept body of work...
, which poked fun at Frank Sinatra's portrayal of Father Paul. Time Magazine excoriated the film upon release, declaring in their review that "St. Michael ought to sue". In recent decades the film has developed a better reputation due to its realistic portrayal of coal miners in small town America. Many of the extras in the film were actual miners working for the Glen-Alden Coal Company .
Several exterior shots were filmed on location in Glen Lyon
Glen Lyon
Glen Lyon may refer to:*Glen Lyon, Scotland , a glen in the Perth and Kinross area of Scotland*Glen Lyon, Pennsylvania, a U.S. village named after the Scottish glen...
Pa. ,the town in which the film and novel take place.