Reviews (38)

Wonderful, But Still Missing...Something
This is a wonderful, even classic, adaptation of Franz Werfel's haunting, heartbreaking story of the Lourdes apparitions. The cinematography is excellent, the characters are handled with respect and realistic flair, and Jennifer Jones seems to be channeling Bernadette Soubirous in convincing fashion. The film's flaws? Sentimentalism in some cases bogs it down, especially when the angelic choirs start to sing lauds as the 'vision' makes its appearance. Corny to the extreme, if you ask me. The initial moment of the apparition was a stark and frightening one for Bernadette, according to the gathered records of the incident(s), not an experience accompanied by cheery seraphic warblings. This scene should have been filmed in a stark manner, to capture the surprise, abruptness, initial terror, and realism of the experience. Secondly, the actual Virgin Mary figure (played by a somewhat plumpish Linda Darnell) is also a bit garish: she resembles any of the cheesy, cheap, grotesque plaster "Mary" lawn ornaments that are the hallmark of Catholic kitsch.This stereotypical Mary is an unfortunate cop-out. The film makes no attempt to capture the haunting dignity and true historical nature of Bernadette's visitor, whom the seeress herself described in early testimony as "ou petito damizelo"--a "little pixie-girl," no more than 13 or 14 years of age and certainly not maternal in any way whatsoever. What the film DOES successfully capture is the impact of the many miraculous, mysterious events that descended upon a real town, among real people. It also captures a glimpse of the special, undeniable love shared between Bernadette and the enigmatic being who revealed herself only (and perhaps with a wistful sense of irony) as 'the Immaculate Conception.' A fine, fine film and worth owning for anyone of pure heart.

INSPIRING FILM - DISMAL TRANSFER
"The Song of Bernadette" is a film that by all accounts should distill into a religious pot boiler. And yet there is something haunting, awe inspiring and yes, even stirring about this tale of a child, Bernadette Soubirous (Jennifer Jones) who, after witnessing visions of the Virgin Mary, begins to have miracles performed in the small French town of Lourdes. Jones is angelic, tenderly conveying the warmth, innocence and poignancy of someone truly touched by the hand of God. Anne Revere is cast as Bernadette's non-believer mother. Vincent Price turns in a wicked performance as the town magistrate who, weary that Bernadette's claims will insight religious fervor, threatens the child with imprisonment unless she ceases with her visions. Charles Bickford and Gladys Cooper give outstanding performances as the skeptical priest and nun who come to believe that Bernadette is divinely inspired. Truly, this is a film that requires a whole box of Kleenex to get through. It is haunting, stirring and overall life affirming.

However, the transfer from Fox is poor, even though it improves upon previous VHS and Laserdisc versions. Though the B&W picture exhibits sharpness and better balancing of the gray scale the image is digitally harsh and suffers from an excessive amount of film grain. Aliasing and shimmering of fine details is evident throughout. Pixelization is another down fall. The audio has been cleaned up and is well presented.
Extras include a Jennifer Jones Biography, an audio commentary, a Movietones trailer, some Fox promotional stuff for other movies in their classic series, a restoration film to video comparison that proves that at least some work was done on the transfer before sending it out to DVD and this film's original theatrical trailer.

The Song of Bernadette
This movie had a deep and profound impact on me when I first watched it on television as a young teen. It is beautifully done a real tribute to film making. The acting is outstanding and I fully believed and empathized with young Bernadette as portrayed by Jennifer Jones. I was a protestant at the time I first watched the movie. The effect it had on me sent me on a journey that eventually lead me to Medjugorje and then to becomimg Catholic. I strongly would recommend this film to everyone. It is beautiful, moving, very touching, a profound experience for all who have an open heart.

Excellent
Written by a Jewish man, The Song of Bernadette, is wonderfully brought to the big screen. Typical of old black and white "Hollywood". Very well acted, full bodied characters. A great family movie.

Universal Thematic Appeal
The Song of Bernadette begins with the classic quote, "For those who believe in God, no explanation is necesary. For those who don't, no explanation is possible."

That having been said, one need not be religious to enjoy this film. What makes the movie so enjoyable is that it contains man's universal struggle with religion and his sense of meaning. Vincent Price does an excellent job of portraying the fatalistic expert, while Church officials are accurately protrayed as questioners - but not outright denyers - of the possibility of miraculous events.

Jennifer Jones is fantastic, and accurately portrays the reported humble nature of St. Bernadette.

Definitely one to see at least once. ... Read more

Amazon.com

During World War II, Jean Renoir fled Nazi-occupied France forAmerica and tried his hand at making Hollywood films. This period is generally (and unfairly) dismissed as fallow ground in Renoir's career, but even most of his critics agree that The Southerner is not just the best of his five American films, but a fine example of Renoir's humanistic vision. Transplanting the poetic realism of his French masterpieces of the 1930s to the rural American South, Renoir presents a year in the life of a family of migrant workers who decide to follow their dream of farming their own land. Hawk-eyed Zachary Scott gives the performance of his career as the easygoing but determined father who risks everything to give his family something to call their own, with J. Carroll Naish as his bitter, hostile neighbor. The seasonal structure and episodic nature of the film focuses on the hardships the family faces, finding the rhythm of life between setbacks and victories and the soul of his lovingly created characters through their bent but unbowed spirit. Renoir adapted George Perry Sessions's novel Hold Autumn in Your Hand with uncredited help from William Faulkner. This was Renoir's personal favorite of his American films and the only one to enjoy commercial success. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Oi Vey!!!!
The previous 2 reviewers have outlined the plot very well so not much more can be said about that. I'd just to tell the guys who are considering purchasing the Alpha DVD that the quality here isn't too good. Source material was obviously VHS tape (you can see the occasional video drop-outs) and it looks very much like an LP version at that. Very poor definition. Could have been a lot sharper. Also the print is very contrasty. The blacks are REALLY black and the whites are blinding. There is also a considerable amount of lag. When a white face moves against a black background it leaves a kind of "comet's tail" to put it loosely. Also various other things appear.... like a cluster of white "arrowheads" pointing to the right (as if someone just pressed the fast-forward button on the VCR) or just the occasional flash of pure white jumps out at you. The movie itself is one of the better comedy thrillers with some funny lines... many of them from Bela... but a poor transfer. (sigh!)

Classic B Movie Fun
One Body Too Many a 1944 black and white movie is not an especially good movie. BUT, it is a fun movie. It is a silly horror/comedy type B movie that became the meat and potatoes of so many early studios. I love it. Jack Haley is Albert Tuttle a nose to the grindstone insurance man who has an appointment with an old rich recluse. He arrives at his mansion and is seen in by the butler (Bela Lugosi). He is shown into his clients office and immediately starts his spiel to the back of a chair and smoke coming from a lit cigar. However, unbeknownst to Tuttle the client is dead and in his coffin in the office. Tuttle lays his brief case on the closed coffin before he realizes just what is in the room. When he does try to get out, he can't open the door, etc. This movie is filled with every conceivable cliche imaginable. But that's the fun of it. A huge dark creepy house, a will to be read, a suspicious looking butler and cook, a beautiful damsel in distress, a dim witted detective, a houseful of greedy family members of the deceased, murders, trick doors, screams and noises at night, etc. Of course, a very nervous and reluctant hero. This kind of movie would be nothing without Lyle Talbot and he is here as the family member who thinks timid Jack Haley has something to hide.I have had this movie for years and every once in a while I dust it off to watch it again because sometimes you need a little harmless fun. (~.~)

Several Thrills Too Few...
This is yet another of the gathered-for-the-reading-of-the-will-in-the-spooky-house with-secret-passages-and-a-murderer subgenre. And while I find it hard to believe that there is anyone who legitimately can hate these kind of movies, there are admittedly some that work far better than others. One Body Too Many finds middle ground.

It begins with some cleverness in setting up the scenario. The will's gimmick is farfetched but assured an offbeat night of criminal mayhem: The deceased, an astrologer, wishes to be buried above ground so that the stars shine down on him. If anything happens so that he is not, then the heir who was supposed to get the most will instead get the least, and vice versa. The body disappears, then reappears, then someone else is murdered... it's all expectedly, even appropriately, convoluted.

Our hero is a life insurance salesman who is mistaken for the detective assigned to guard the body from shenanigans. And there is real inventiveness in placing a life insurance salesman in this situation, where people are sure to be bumped off. Unfortunately, this knowing wink to the audience is barely explored at all. The hero himself is an average-looking guy, more likable and less wimpy than many 40's B heroes. And he is surrounded by a capable, if unspectacular, cast.

Lugosi is wasted, although his stock Ominous Butler character is interestingly played for laughs this go-round, ready and willing to bump off anybody who anyone else thinks needs bumping off. Watch out for the coffee.

This is of course, a comedy/mystery, as every picture in this genre has been since The Cat and the Canary in the 20's. And the comedy is generally the determining factor in how watchable these kind of films are. Here it is not too bad, consisting less of the typical scared mugging and awkward pratfalls than many similar efforts. Only in its dull, protracted middle section does the film lose its way, as the hero gets lost in the ubiquitous secret passageways, caught in a wicker basket with a litter of kittens and wearing only a towel. Don't ask.

There are a number of good scenes, including one where the hero, hiding in a coffin, is carried off and dumped in a pool. The movie ends with a suspenseful chase and confrontation atop the observatory. But there is not enough made of the good ideas in the script, and too much damage is done to the whole by the weak or old ideas in the script. You've seen much of it before, so it's not quite worth a purchase. Close but no cigar.

See also: The Cat and the Canary; Black Cat (1941); Night Monster; Old Dark House; The Monster Walks; The Gorilla; Seven Keys To Baldpate; The Bat Whispers; and many, many more, if you are so inclined. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Five people die when a rope bridge collapses in Peru.A local priest, perplexed why God chose these five to die, goes to town to investigate who the five were.Because the film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Thornton Wilder, it's easy to assume that some very existential questions, and maybe some answers, will be forthcoming.Nope. What the good priest does find is the hothouse Micaela (Lynn Bari), a stage actress and partial bad girl, who is wooed by a sailor, a theater gadfly, and the local viceroy. This leads to court intrigue, some incongruous song and dance numbers, and a trip to that fateful bridge.When the old bridge does snap and we know who is lying at the bottom of that Peruvian ravine, it's fair to wonder if the local priest didn't waste his time asking about the wrong people or whether it's just been a waste of time altogether. --Keith Simanton ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A bland movie that loosely follows the book
In 1774 Peru, five people are crossing the hundred-year-old bridge of San Luis Rey when it suddenly collapses, plunging the five to their deaths. Witness to this startling event is Brother Juniper who decides to find out why God has chosen those particular five people to bring into His realm. He travels to Lima to meet with Uncle Pio, a local character who knows everyone and everything surrounding Lima. From Pio, Brother Juniper learns how the lives of the five were connected to one another.

Sort of. The movie focuses on only four of the characters, and three of them in a very secondary sort of way. The fifth character, an old man who was transporting grain, is mentioned only in passing. To me that was disappointing, after having read the book, because each of the characters has his or her own unique story which connects with the others. The acting is very wooden, with too many varying accents and some with no accents at all, so it's difficult to believe the film takes place in Peru. (The Spanish viceroy looks and talks decidedly British, whereas Micaela has an American accent, and Uncle Pio sounds Russian when he speaks.)

The one good aspect from this film is the score by Dimitri Tiomkin, which was nominated for an Academy Award. However, even that gets marred by the poor sound quality of this DVD transfer. It fades in and out too much, and at times, I could not hear what was being said.

See this movie if you must, but the book is better.

Competent film version of the Pulitzer Prize winning novella
This is the second of three film versions of the Pulitzer Prize winning novella (134 pages do not a novel make!). The third version is in post-production as we write. Neither of the first two were anything beyond potboiler status, and took liberties with the narrative. I am writing here to correct the negative review on this page from a person in Medford, Oregon. He or she is entitled to his or her opinion, but is not entitled to erroneous information. The 1929 film was nominated for only one Oscar (Art Direction) and won. There was no second nomination involved, let alone a second win.

meaningful film
When I was growing up, this was the first movie other than superficial entertainment that I ever saw. I was so impressed with all the moral implications and human emotions, that I never forgot it ! Seeing it again, after all these years, I found itevery bit as gripping, and the D V D made it even more enjoyable. Of special note is the acting of a great actor, Francis Lederer.

Possibly the worst adaptation ever made of a great novel!
This truly awful movie uses Thornton Wilder's name over the title so you will believe the story that unfolds is Wilder's. Not so! The film bears virtually no resemblance to the novel. Characters are changed beyond recognition, and the story line of the movie might as well have come from some potboiler written by a hack writer (and I'm certain some hack screenwriter wrote the film!). All the great ideas Wilder brilliantly dramatized in the novel have been jettisoned for lurid melodrama badly acted by an almost totally forgettable cast. That this travesty of a film should be released in any format when far more deserving films are left begging shows that someone isn't using their noodle. The first film of this great book was done in 1929 and won two of the first technical Oscars. That film (from MGM) is now unfortunately obsolete. This DVD version not only deserves no awards whatsoever, but should be made instantly obsolete. Don't even bother to rent this movie. Read the book instead.

Excellent Allegory
What was a boring book to read in school several (several) years ago is now available on DVD/VHS.

This version is very true to the stories of the book, keeping track of all the participants from their intoduction until they perish at the infamous bridge.

It is not a terror-laden nail biter of today's standard, but an interesting character study of people, places and events that can (and will) change our lives...You even forget that it's in black and white. ... Read more