The Miracle of the Bells *** (1948, Fred MacMurray, Alida Valli, Frank Sinatra, Lee J Cobb) – Classic Movie Review 13,188

The 1948 RKO drama film The Miracle of the Bells is based on the 1946 best-selling novel by Russell Janney, and stars Fred MacMurray, Alida Valli, Frank Sinatra, and Lee J Cobb.

Director Irving Pichel’s 1948 Jesse L Lasky Productions/ RKO Radio Pictures black and white drama film The Miracle of the Bells is based on the 1946 best-selling novel by Russell Janney, and stars Fred MacMurray, Alida Valli, Frank Sinatra, and Lee J Cobb.

The death of a movie star (Alida Valli) is marked by a statue-moving miracle – or is it a publicity stunt?

A heavenly cast is signed up for an unlikely tale, which has its fascinations. It is heftily damaged by a miscast Frank Sinatra, who is all at sea playing a confused priest, Father Paul (with one song to perform), but propelled by an on-form Fred MacMurray as a shrewd and sneaky press agent, ‘Bill’ Dunnigan, and by Alida Valli, resplendent in the flashback sequences as the deceased foreign starlet, Olga Treskovna.

With a writer like Ben Hecht and these sophisticated performers, there is a biting satirical edge round the hugely sentimental core of the script, producing an intriguing and unusual movie.

It is shot in black and white but also released in a computer-colourised version.

The cast are Fred MacMurray as ‘Bill’ Dunnigan, Alida Valli as Olga Treskovna, Frank Sinatra as Father Paul, Lee J Cobb as Marcus Harris, Harold Vermilyea as Nick Orloff, Charles Meredith as Father J Spinsky, James Nolan [Jim Nolan] as Tod Jones, Veronica Pataky as Anna Klovna, Philip Ahn as Ming Gow, Frank Ferguson as Mike Dolan, Frank Wilcox as Dr Jennings, Dorothy Sebastian as Miss Katie Orwin, Michael Raffetto as Harold Tanby, Ray Teal, Billy Wayne, Syd Saylor, and Thayer Roberts.

Location shooting took place in Glen Lyon, Pennsylvania, standing in for the mining town of Coaltown in the film was based. Extras were miners working for the Glen-Alden Coal Company.

The premiere took place on March 26, 1948 at the Park Theater on Brownsville Road in the coal mining town of Library, Pennsylvania.

Producer Jesse L Lasky sought and gained approval from the Catholic Church before casting Frank Sinatra as Father Paul.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,188

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