The first sequel to an Academy Award winning Best Picture to also get nominated for the top prize, The Bells of St. Mary’s is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s got a good story to it, complete with some moralizing, but there are elements to it that feel shoe-horned into the plot like they were a last minute studio note that didn’t have enough time to be inserted organically. It does have a couple of top notch performances by the two leads, both of whom were rightfully nominated for their work by the Academy, but the overall impression of the film is one that just barely misses the overall target. Perhaps it’s a bit unfair to compare it to the first movie, Going My Way, which premiered the previous year and did win the Best Picture Oscar, but, by releasing these two films back-to-back they way RKO did, it invites such close scrutiny. There is nothing inherently wrong with The Bells of St. Mary’s, it’s just not as good as Going My Way.
Unconventional priest Father Charles O’Malley (Bing Crosby) has been assigned to St. Mary’s parish, a school ran by nuns that has struggled with finances and a building in constant need of repairs. Most recently the play yard had to be sold to fund repairs needed to bring the school back up to code. The buyer has paved over the lot and erected a brand new business building but the nuns have been praying for a miracle that the owner, Horace P. Bogardus (Henry Travers), will be inspired by God to donate his new building to the school so that the kids will have a new proper school to learn in. Horace is seen as a bitter older man who doesn’t appear to like kids at all so the likelihood of his heart being softened seems remote at best. Still, that doesn’t stop the sisters from praying for this miracle.
A secondary story involves a young girl, Patricia “Patsy” Gallagher, whose mother has been left by her musician husband to raise the young girl alone. Father O’Malley takes the girl into the school and watches over her, giving her pointers when she struggles with her assignments. Often O’Malley butts heads with the head of the school, Sister Mary Benedict (Ingrid Bergman), about how best to lead and handle the children. Their disagreements come to a head when Patsy fails in all of her finals and is slated to not graduate. O’Malley feels that failing Patsy will be damaging to her self esteem and Sister Mary feels she cannot bend to rules and pass someone who has not received a passing grade. Neither fully understands what is really going on with Patsy.
The Bells of St. Mary’s was the highest grossing movie of 1945 in the USA. It was also the most profitable film of all time for RKO. Not too shabby for a quick turnover sequel. While it is a solid picture in its own right it doesn’t compare to Going My Way. The former picture has a more solid premise and places Father O’Malley squarely in the forefront. By adding in a second lead character it splits up the focus giving less time to the character of O’Malley resulting in some shortcuts being taken to resolve certain plot points, specifically that of Patsy’s absent father. The resolution of this storyline is abrupt and unsatisfying. A dropped line is all we get about how O’Malley is able to track down the father and, when he and his wife are reunited, they make up immediately with no apparent issues with his long abandonment.
There are some genuinely funny moments to have here. Perhaps the best are the scenes involving Eddie, a student being bullied and beaten by other students. Sister Mary has instructed him to turn the other cheek but this method hasn’t been getting him anywhere and he continued to be attacked. She buys a book on the art of boxing and schools the young boy on self defense, teaching him all about deflecting punches, foot work, and the four basic attacks. During the practice he accidentally gets an uppercut in on her, stunning her. The next time he gets attacked in the school yard she stands aside, coaching him silently as he defends himself, then, having beaten the bully, he offers a hand of friendship, effectively resolving the conflict.
Both Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman are great in their respective roles. Bing became the first actor to be nominated twice for portrayals of the same character having won the Oscar the previous year for Going My Way. This year he would lose out to the amazing performance by Ray Milland as the alcoholic in The Lost Weekend. Ingrid’s acting here is more subdued at first. It really doesn’t stand out as anything special until the final half hour when it suddenly ramps up and shows just what she is capable of. She also won the Oscar the previous year, for Gaslight, and it is perhaps this reason that she didn’t get it for The Bells of St. Mary’s. Joan Crawford’s winning performance in Mildred Pierce, while just as good, feels more like a career award rather than specifically for the film she won it for. Even she felt that Ingrid had it in the bag and didn’t attend the awards show because of that.
If there is a weak link in the film it is Henry Travers as Bogardus. Henry is just too lovable of a guy to pull off playing a curmudgeon. He was still a year away from playing the angel in It’s a Wonderful Life but it is that role, and many more characters just like that, that defined his on screen persona and seeing him here trying to play a tough businessman just doesn’t work. This is on par with trying to cast S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall in a villainous role. It just doesn’t work. Henry gives it his all but cannot overcome his own personality. His change of heart is also a little too far fetched as Father O’Malley manipulates him into being philanthropic when he is diagnosed with a heart disorder. This change of character is too unbelievable and too abrupt.
The Bells of St. Mary’s cannot quite overcome being a sequel to the best picture of the previous year. That pedigree brings with it expectations that it comes close to but doesn’t quite meet. Like the first film it has some great Bing Crosby musical numbers but they are fewer and mostly in the second half of the film. There is no boys choir adding extra singing so what we get is from Bing alone. This feels like a misstep after music played such a large part of Going My Way. Still, it didn’t keep the film from being a huge hit and a critical darling. The Lost Weekend is the better film, though, with a story that was more topical and helped it to ultimately beat out The Bells of St. Mary’s for the Best Picture of 1945. St. Mary’s is a charming film, though, with plenty of heart and is very much worth watching still but it works better as a companion piece to Going My Way rather than standing on its own.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Leo McCarey
Best Director: Leo McCarey
Best Actor: Bing Crosby
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture: Robert Emmett Dolan
Best Original Song: Aren’t You Glad You’re You - James Van Heusen and Johnny Burke
Best Sound Recording: Stephen Dunn (won)
Best Film Editing: Harry Marker
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Release Date: December 6, 1945
Running Time: 126 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Travers, William Gargan, Ruth Donnelly, Joan Carroll, Martha Sleeper, Rhys Williams, Dick Taylor, and Una O’Connor
Directed By: Leo McCarey
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