
After Florence Fallon's father dies unappreciated in the church where he preached for many years, she becomes embittered and loses faith. She teams up with Horsby, a con man, and performs fake miracles for profit. But the love and trust of a blind man restores her faith in God and her fellow man.... (Full plot summary below)
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After Florence Fallon's father dies unappreciated in the church where he preached for many years, she becomes embittered and loses faith. She teams up with Horsby, a con man, and performs fake miracles for profit. But the love and trust of a blind man restores her faith in God and her fellow man.
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| Ozus' World Movie ReviewsDennis SchwartzA surprisingly darker film than most of those for 'feel good' filmmaker Frank Capra. |
| User ReviewTimothy MBarbara Stanwyck had great talent and range, and Capra tells a story like no one can. This is an early example of these two awesome talents. |
| User ReviewRichard DAn early Capra melodrama with Stanwyck starring as a corrupt evangelist loosely based on Aimee Semple McPherson. She falls in love with blind veteran David Manners and has a change of heart, which doesn't sit well with the con man pulling her strings. Quite a few similarities to "Elmer Gantry", which was published a few years before this. |
| User ReviewJohn SA disturbing early talking picture starting the great Barbara Stanwyck as an Aimee Semple McPherson type evangelist, pulls out all of the stops in her emotional performance. Any fan of hers, classic movies and Frank Capra should check this out. |
| User ReviewAntonius BBarbara Stanwck really lets loose with her frustration and anger in this film's opening scene, as only she could. As she rails at the congregation from a pulpit, a reverend stands in the crowd and implores her to remember she's in the house of God. "What God? Who's God? Yours? This isn't a house of God! It's a meeting-place for hyporcrites!" she screams in reply. Now, it is a little hard to believe when she then turns around and becomes a hypocrite herself, under the guidance of a con-man played well by Sam Hardy. The scenes of her evangelizing to the masses and over the radio are a little slow at first, but the film grew on me. What really makes it is Stanwyck falling for a blind man (David Manners) who was helped by one of her sermons. The scenes between the two are charming and romantic, including him doing some ventriloquism so that he can have his dummy express his feelings, and her playfully singing "The Farmer in the Dell" in a funny voice and breaking up laughing. That bit is so naturally it seems like we're seeing Stanwyck in her home, impromptu. She also sends him letters made with cut-out, raised letters so he can read them, which I thought was touching. David Manners is reasonably good at playing blind, and seems to get better as the film goes on, keeping up with Stanwyck. Frank Capra is a great director, and uses interesting camera angles, slow pans to show a character's gaze, and cuts to minor characters making comments about what they (and we) are seeing. He can really put a finger on what touches us, for example, when Manners elaborately prepares himself so that he can pretend he's got his vision back, but Stanwyck eventually sees through him. Capra also builds to dramatic moments towards the end, though he's unfortunately heavy-handed in the expressions of 'true faith'. I'm not a big fan of that, but for me, the film is a love story, and about the miracle of love, more than anything else. |
| User ReviewGregory Wpre-code early talkie in this saucy melodrama |