The Song of Bernadette **** (1943, Jennifer Jones, William Eythe, Charles Bickford, Vincent Price, Lee J Cobb, Gladys Cooper, Anne Revere) – Classic Movie Review 4508

Director Henry King’s 1943 hit stars Jennifer Jones, who took Hollywood by storm as Bernadette Soubirous, the French peasant girl who has a religious vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes in 1858, and discovers the healing waters there.

King’s film is a long haul at 157 minutes, but a rewarding experience thanks to the affecting Jones, the tasteful air of sincerity, and the hard work all round.

The public of the day went wild for it and it won four Oscars, including Best Actress for Jones, Best b/w cinematography, Best art direction/ set decoration and Best score.

It also stars William Eythe as Antoine Nicolau, Charles Bickford as Father Peyramale, Vincent Price as Prosecutor Vital Dutour, Lee J Cobb as Dr Dozous, Gladys Cooper as Sister Marie Therese Vauzous, and Anne Revere as Louise Soubirous.

The film’s minuses include Linda Darnell’s surprise casting as the Virgin Mary (she didn’t even get billed, Darnell, I mean, not the Virgin Mary), the film’s blithe disregard for French sensibilities and the occasional fall into over-reverential religiosity.

The film’s pluses include the fine production and the good thespians who play the local dignitaries who will not accept Jones’s vision of the Virgin spring.

George Seaton’s screenplay adapts Franz Werfel’s novel.

Also in the cast are Roman Bohnen, Mary Anderson, Patricia Morison, Aubrey Mather, Charles Dingle, Edith Barrett, Sig Ruman, Blanche Yurka, Marcel Dalio, Pedro de Cordoba, Jerome Cowan, Charles Waldron, Ermadean Walters, Fortunio Bonanova, Nana Bryant, Mae Marsh, Dickie Moore, Alan Napier and Moroni Olsen.

The film credits ‘introducing Jennifer Jones (1919–2009) as Bernadette’ but she had already made three films in 1939 under her real name, Phyllis Isley. She made 90 when she died on 17 December 2009. She had four more Best Actress Oscar nominations – Since You Went Away (1944), Love Letters (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946) and Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955).

Child actor Dickie Moore, who plays Adolard Bouhouhorts at the age of 15, died in Connecticut on 7 September 2015 – five days before his 90th birthday.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4508

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