Die Glocken von Coaltown

MIRACLE OF THE BELLS is often thought of as a Christmas movie because of a memorable Christmas Eve scene that occurs early in the film and because of the religious and spiritual themes present throughout. Not your standard Yuletide chestnut by any means, MIRACLE is a film of seriousness and substance that just occasionally feels weighted down by its earnest intentions. Alida Valli plays a young actress who rises from humble beginnings in a Pennsylvania coal mining town to become a sort of messiah-like figure for "her people" (her health is also doomed from having inhaled coal dust as a child). Fred MacMurray is the Hollywood Press agent who gives her a boost on the ladder of success in and falls in love with her in the process.

MacMurray is his genial and likable best, and the Italian-born Valli (THE THIRD MAN) is luminous. The film is worth seeing alone to see Frank Sinatra play a priest. He is surprisingly effective in the role. We often forget that in the early part of his career Sinatra had an angelic innocence about him, totally different from the Ratpack/swinger persona he would later cultivate. I make it a point to watch any movie with Lee J. Cobb in it, as he always had such a tremendous presence in films. He gives a fine performance as the movie mogul.

An occasional bit of levity would have been welcome in this very earnest film; but it nonetheless maintains an impressive, almost bleak post-war atmosphere - especially early on with Fred MacMurray's elegiac voice-overs recalling his dead sweetheart Alida Valli, and his dealings with a cynical funeral parlor director. The movie is refreshingly free from stereotypical '40's "schmaltz."

Despite being a little overlong, MIRACLE OF THE BELLS is a handsome film and one well worth seeing this Christmas season – or any other season, for that matter. I particularly recommend this movie if you happen to be Catholic.