My memory is that, when I was a kid, THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S was one of those movies that used to shown on TV around the holidays? But then I think that stopped, while the telecasts of other annual holiday and religious-themed movies continued. There was a time when I thought of this movie as nearly as famous as MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, et al., but now I feel that is hasn't really lasted as a classic. It seems this movie and GOING MY WAY, the other movie in which Crosby plays the same character, Father Flanagan, have not aged well.
I think it's neat that what's sort of the central plot element of THE DIVINE SISTER -- the fact that the parish school is threatened with shutting down -- was borrowed from THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S, and I'd love to see the movie again to catch the gay subtext you mentioned, which I guess I wasn't sensitive to when I saw the movie as a child :-) |
