TinsHeadline Touches You

GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

SnoopyStyle Florence Fallon (Barbara Stanwyck) loses her preacher father and takes to the pulpit to denounce his uncaring flock for not appreciating his goodness. She takes her bitter rants to the radio and becomes a highly successful evangelist with greedy promoter Bob Hornsby. John Carson is a blind struggling songwriter taken with Florence's sermons. His faith in her restores her faith in humanity.Frank Capra and Stanwyck bring a nice tale of redemption and salvation. This is Capra a little bit before his biggest hits. It certainly has his movie belief in humanity and goodness. Stanwyck has her usual acting power. John Carson should be less well off and leave that dummy out of this please. He needs to work with orphans or heal the sick which could inspire her. Stanwyck and the Capraism mostly work which is very good. This is like an early flawed prototype for Capra's later icons.

Robert J. Maxwell This isn't bad, a kind of re-telling of the story of Amee Semple McPherson and her Four Square Gospel, a popular religious movement during the 20s. She'd be a television celebrity today. McPherson, I think, disappeared mysteriously and some time later showed up without any adequate explanation for her absence. It was widely thought that she'd been shacked up with a married boyfriend someplace, maybe on the Monterey Peninsula. Charges were brought. The scandal that followed was scandalous.Barbara Stanwyck plays a similar character in this early 30s production. Her religious beliefs are genuine and intense, and she empties a church while defending her father's integrity, shouting that the congregation is hypocritical. A perfectly pragmatic bad guy, Hardy, latches onto Stanwyck's emotional impact and talks her into organizing a kind of religious traveling circus, complete with shills in the audience and phony faith cures. His argument is simplicity itself, a spun-out version of Kant's hypothetical imperative. Sure, we're all hypocrites. So why not be a hypocrite that makes money out of that hypocrisy? Still bitter, she agrees, and the show is a great success. Enter David Manners, a blind ex aviator from World War I. (Kids: that was 1917-1918.) Distraught and hopeless, he's about to jump out of a window when he hears one of her radio broadcasts and undergoes some kind of Road-to-Damascus number.They meet. They fall in love. Everything looks rosy except that Stanwyck is now beginning to feel some guilt over her phoniness. She wants out of it but Hardy has arranged things in such a way that she's trapped in her role as fake preacher. There's humiliation, disgrace. But the director, honing his skills for such later successes as "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Mister Smith Goes to Washington", let's everybody off easy.I've never found Barbara Stanwyck as compelling an actress as some others have but she puts a lot into this role. She looks vulnerable. She would hit a neat peak in her career with "Double Indemnity", partly because of that tight sweater, that golden anklet, and that outlandish blond wig. She should have probably retired earlier than she did because the image she left with too many people is that of the hard-faced dominatrix of some revoltingly rich family of ranchers.But the script isn't bad. The blind pilot is something of a bore, but Sam Hardy as the corrupt manager has an admirably complex role and does well by it. Too bad the movie has lost so much of its historical resonance. Who remembers Aimee Semple McPherson today? Everyone did in 1931.

sol ***SPOILERS*** With her father Pastor Fallon collapsing and dying in her arm as he was dictating his final sermon before he was to be unceremoniously fired from his job as church pastor for a younger man Florence in giving the sermon her pop was to give gives the almost standing room congregation holy hell in what a bunch low down selfish hypocrites they are. Left out in the cold with no one to turn to and not having enough money to give her father a decent burial Florence is approached by Bob Hornsby, Sam Hardy, who just happened to drop into church and was greatly impressed by her fire and brimstone speech.With Hornsby managing her Florence becomes the talk of the town in her weekly radio sermons at the packed downtown Temple of Happiness Tabernacle that leaves her audience spellbound. It's the blind WWI aviator and failed song writer John Carson (David Manners), who was about to jump out of his apartment 5th floor window, after hearing Florence on the radio giving a speech about not quitting when the chips are down decided not to kill himself. With the help of his kindly old landlady Mrs. Higgins,Beryl Mercer, John went to go "see" Florence at the Temple of Happiness and thank her for saving his life.From that point on in the movie both Florence & John not only found themselves but the faith that had eluded them for years. Florence in feeling that the religious or evangelist racket was for suckers who don't have the backbone to do things for themselves and need someone strong and in touch with God to guide their lives. With the bitter and despondent John who feels that he left his life and sight behind on the battlefields of France and is now only going through the motions of living.At first cynical at what she's doing, in conning the public with biblical double-talk, Florence soon realizes that she in fact does have the power of the Lord in her not being obsessed with money, like her manager Bob Hornsby is, but in doing God's work which her saving John from killing himself proved! Feeling that he's losing his grip on Florence Hornsby decides to come up with a good reason to check out of town, to Palestine in the holy land no less, before his racket is exposed by one of his disgruntled employees whom he's been stiffing out of their earnings or paychecks.***SPOILERS*** Florene now not at all caring what Hornsby can do to her in framing her for fraud embezzlement and even murder, crimes that Hornsby in fact committed, decides to go on stage at the Temple of Happiness and spill the beans on him as well as herself in what a fraud she's been to the people assembled there ! This has Hornsby in trying to keep Florence quite accidentally sets the entire place on fire, by messing with the electrical equipment, thus jeopardizing all those, some 5,000 persons, present!Despite the biblical like fiery configuration at the end of the movie both Florence and John survived and prospered in their new found faith with John finally getting his songs published and Florence getting a job as the band leader for the Salvation Army. As for Hornsby he ended up like like he always was a two bit hustler trying to con his way through life without any faith in himself or in those,like Florence Fellon & John Carson, who can show him the right and shinning path in life!

Michael_Elliott Miracle Woman, The (1931) *** (out of 4) Frank Capra's controversial film was a box office dud back in the day and was slightly telling the story of the controversial evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. In the film, Barbara Stanwyck plays a woman who's faith in God turns after her father, a preacher, is thrown out of his church by a bunch of hypocrites. Not knowing where to turn after her fathers death, the woman takes on a manager and the two begin to cheat churchgoers with fake heelings. Everything, including the money, is going strong until the young woman meets a blind man (David Manners) and the two fall in love. This is a rather strange film and it's easy to see why it would bomb back in the day but today is speaks quite strongly about faith and religion. The opening sequence with Stanwyck screaming at those who threw her father out are very strong and features Stanwyck at the best I've seen her. I'm not a fan of the actress but she really blew my mind here with her very strong and heartfelt performance. Manner is equally wonderful in his role as the blind man and he does a very good job at playing blind. Capra's direction is very strong throughout, especially the ending.