Pocketful of Miracles *** (1961, Glenn Ford, Bette Davis, Hope Lange, Arthur O’Connell, Peter Falk, Thomas Mitchell, Ann-Margret) – Classic Movie Review 2744

For his final movie Pocketful of Miracles in 1961, director Frank Capra remakes his 1933 hit Lady for a Day, this time casting Glenn Ford as superstitious bootlegger mobster Dave the Dude and Bette Davis as the fruit peddling street beggar Apple Annie, whom he and his girlfriend Queenie Martin (Hope Lange) try to transform into a socialite for a day. Ford won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Musical or Comedy.

However, this time the famous old Damon Runyon story seems rickety on screen because of Hal Kanter and Harry Tugend’s fuzzy, unfocused woolly script and the sluggish pacing of Capra’s direction, having lost his famed ‘touch’. The screenplay is based on the Lady for a Day script by Robert Riskin, which he adapted from Runyon’s short story Madame La Gimp.

Nevertheless, there were three Oscar nominations – for Peter Falk (1927–2011) as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Edith Head and Walter Plunkett for Best Costume Design, Colour and Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song ‘Pocketful of Miracles’. Capra said that Falk’s performance was a bright spot in this ‘miserable film’ and felt that Ford was wrong for the part.

All these are notable pieces of work and there are other compensations in the enduring appeal of the story, the two lively star performances, the character acting of a number of the era’s notables, and the alluring appearance of Ann-Margret in her movie début as Annie’s daughter Louise.

Louise, who has lived all her life in a Spanish convent, is coming to America with Count Alfonso Romero (Arthur O’Connell) and his son Carlos (Peter Mann). The count’s son wants to marry Louise, who thinks her mother is a New York socialite. So Dave and Queenie have to turn Annie into a lady.

Pocketful of Miracles also stars Peter Falk as Joy Boy, Thomas Mitchell in his final film as Judge Henry G Blake and Edward Everett Horton as Hudgins.

It also features Mickey Shaugnessy, Sheldon Leonard, Barton MacLane, Jerome Cowan, Fritz Feld, Snub Pollard, David Brian, John Litel, Jay Novello, Willis Bouchey, George E Stone, Mike Mazurki, Jack Elam, Frank Ferguson, Ellen Corby – every one of them a name to reckon with.

The stars appeared together in A Stolen Life in 1946, which Davis produced. She was a big star and he was just starting out. It was Ford’s performance in that film that convinced his Columbia studio to cast him in Gilda (1946), which shot him his stardom. In 1961, Ford was a big star and work was thin for Davis, and he got her cast as Apple Annie in Pocketful of Miracles. This possibly was a good turn, but he angered her by telling the press that he cast her as a favour.

In fact Ford suggested in an interview that he was so grateful to Davis for the support she had given him during the filming of A Stolen Life that he had insisted she be cast as Apple Annie to revive her sagging career, a remark Davis never forgot or forgave.

Helen Hayes, Katharine Hepburn and Jean Arthur all turned the role of Apple Annie down before Davis was cast. She was in financial difficulties and needed the $100,000 salary and to make a Hollywood comeback, as her last American film had been Storm Center five years earlier. But, from the very start, she clashed with Glenn Ford who helped finance the film through his production company.

Ford awarded himself £350,000 plus a percentage of profits, though it turned out that there weren’t any.

The 1989 film Miracles starring Jackie Chan and Anita Mui is based on Pocketful of Miracles.

Pocketful of Miracles is directed by Frank Capra, runs 136 minutes, is made by Franton Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by Hal Kanter and Harry Tugend, based on a story by Damon Runyon and a screenplay by Robert Riskin, is shot in Eastmancolor by Robert J Bronner, is produced by Frank Capra, Glenn Ford (associate producer) and Joseph Sistrom (associate producer), and is scored by Walter Scharf, with Art Direction by Roland Anderson and Hal Pereira, and Costume Design by Edith Head and Walter Plunkett (costumes: men).

It was shot at Paramount Studios, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2744

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