The Miracle Woman **** (1931, Barbara Stanwyck, David Manners, Sam Hardy) – Classic Movie Review 6777

The 24-year-old Barbara Stanwyck works her own miracle, credibly playing Florence Fallon, a Bible bashing minister’s daughter who loses her faith and turns con-woman, a fake evangelist who pretends to heal sick folk to make money, in director Frank Capra’s engaging and still relevant 1931 satire.

She falls for the blinded aviator John Carson (David Manners) who comes to her for a cure. Sam Hardy makes a meal of the part of Bob Hornsby, the extravagant con-man promoter she teams up with.

This rarely shown, unfairly overlooked early talkie is yet another example of just how talented and versatile Stanwyck was. In 1982 the Oscars gave her a special Academy Honorary Award in recognition of her four Oscar nominations (and no wins) ‘for superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting’. Her Best Actress nominations are for Stella Dallas (1937), Ball of Fire (1941), Double Indemnity (1944) and Sorry, Wrong Number (1948).

The screenplay by by Jo Swerling and Dorothy Howell is based on the Broadway play Bless You Sister by Robert Riskin and John Meehan.

Also in the cast are Beryl Mercer, Russell Hopton, Charles Middleton, Eddie Boland, Thelma Hill, Al Stewart and Harry Todd.

The Miracle Woman is directed by Frank Capra, runs 92 minutes, is released by Columbia, is written by Jo Swerling and Dorothy Howell, based on the Broadway play Bless You Sister by Robert Riskin and John Meehan is shot in black and white by Joseph Walker, and is produced by Harry Cohn and Frank Capra.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6777

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