Steve D
Still powerful, and Barbara Stanwyck will blow you away.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
05/03/23
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Audience Member
Barbara Stanwyck plays a phony evangelist named Faith Fallon. She's sick of preaching the Gospel and curing ill people but her unscrupulous boss convinces her to keep doing it. Then she meets a kind, blind man and falls in love. He loves her too but the manager gets in the way.
Still a strong drama it was a bomb in its day. It's now considered one of the best films of the 1930s. Stanwyck is excellent, you feel her pain over lying to people for money and her love for Manners. Even Manners is good.
Sadly, this film is still very current. There are a ton of fake evangelists still at work taking money from good, religious people.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/08/23
Full Review
kevin w
When a preacher dies after being fired, his daughter (Babs Stanwyck) decides revenge by becoming a fraudulent faith healer. That is until she meets a blind guy who really believes in her. It's a pre-Code soap opera romance that finds its legs best when it tells the truth rather than say what it expects we want to hear. For instance the judgmental condemnation of the congregation could be said in any church today, much less 1931. Surprising work from Babs too, playing the right side of the aisle for a change.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The biggest strength of this immensely entertaining film is the powerful and captivating performance of its lead actor Barbara Stanwyck. Her character, Florence, upon seeing the cynicism and hypocrisy of her church congregation, becomes herself cynical of religion, and accepts a conman's offer to be the key player in a commercial faith-healing stage show in which she fraudulently heals (pre-planted) cripples.
Nevertheless, during a radio show in which she is featured, she unwittingly "saves" a suicidal blind man, John (David Manners), when, at the point of jumping to his death, he hears her speech broadcasting from a neighbouring window, and is inspired to go on living and to seek her out. The two meet, and in response to John's gratitude and devotion we watch Florence's cynicism be replaced by shame, repentance and, ultimately, rebirth.
Throughout it is Stanwyck's sincerity and complete absence of ham that make her performance so captivating. Her character is strong and self-willed: when presented with the offer to join the conman in the lucrative faith-healing business, she is not merely his tool but is knowingly complicit, albeit in a moment of weakness. For this, her reawakening, and the story arc, are all the more powerful. Highly recommended.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/25/23
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Audience Member
Barbara Stanwck really lets loose with her frustration and anger in this film's opening scene, as only she could. As she rails at the congregation from a pulpit, a reverend stands in the crowd and implores her to remember she's in the house of God. "What God? Who's God? Yours? This isn't a house of God! It's a meeting-place for hyporcrites!" she screams in reply.
Now, it is a little hard to believe when she then turns around and becomes a hypocrite herself, under the guidance of a con-man played well by Sam Hardy. The scenes of her evangelizing to the masses and over the radio are a little slow at first, but the film grew on me. What really makes it is Stanwyck falling for a blind man (David Manners) who was helped by one of her sermons. The scenes between the two are charming and romantic, including him doing some ventriloquism so that he can have his dummy express his feelings, and her playfully singing "The Farmer in the Dell" in a funny voice and breaking up laughing. That bit is so naturally it seems like we're seeing Stanwyck in her home, impromptu. She also sends him letters made with cut-out, raised letters so he can read them, which I thought was touching. David Manners is reasonably good at playing blind, and seems to get better as the film goes on, keeping up with Stanwyck.
Frank Capra is a great director, and uses interesting camera angles, slow pans to show a character's gaze, and cuts to minor characters making comments about what they (and we) are seeing. He can really put a finger on what touches us, for example, when Manners elaborately prepares himself so that he can pretend he's got his vision back, but Stanwyck eventually sees through him. Capra also builds to dramatic moments towards the end, though he's unfortunately heavy-handed in the expressions of 'true faith'. I'm not a big fan of that, but for me, the film is a love story, and about the miracle of love, more than anything else.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/13/23
Full Review
Audience Member
One of the best performances by Barbara Stanwyck. Highly recommended for classic movie fans and Barbara Stanwyck's fans.
Director: Frank Capra (as Frank R. Capra)
Writers: Jo Swerling (screenplay and dialogue), John Meehan (based upon the play "Bless You Sister" by)
Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, David Manners, Sam Hardy
After Florence Fallon's father dies unappreciated in the church where he preached for many years, she becomes embittered and loses faith. She teams up with Horsby, a con man, and performs fake miracles for profit. But the love and trust of a blind man restores her faith in God and her fellow man.
This timeless and endearing piece of pre code gold will melt even the most cynical of hearts. Barbara Stanwyck's performance is excellent. This is a must for not only Barbara Stanwyck fans, but for just about anyone who's in the mood for a good movie. If you're not a fan of black and white films, you will be after watching The Miracle Woman. Superb. An early outing for Capra does the usual twist and turn on morality with the clear cut villain and the hero's, but always with the bigger crowd hanging in the balance. Superb and incisive early Capra film.
Trivia
In a pure "pre-code" moment, we see Sister Fallon's chauffeur, Lou, give Horsby "the finger" (out of Horsby's sight) immediately after Horsby warns him about what he must do to keep his job. This scene surely would have been nixed by the Hays Office had the movie been made after 1934. :) 10/10
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/14/23
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