The Bells of St. Mary's (NR, 1945)

In this moving classic, run-down, overcrowded St. Mary's has a new pastor, Father Chuck O'Malley (Bing Crosby), whose views on how to run a parochial school give Sister Benedict (Ingrid Bergman) a thing or two to think about. The two of them put their differing methods to the same task: saving the school. That salvation comes in the improbable shape of Horace P. Bogardus, a building owner who needs but a few suggestive nudges to awaken the joy of giving in his ailing heart.

THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S isn't so much about a pair of Catholic do-gooders trying to save their beloved parochial school as it's about the rapport between Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. That rapport, which alone is enough to overcome the tired plot, got the two stars Oscar nominations for their performances.

This time around Crosby plays Father O'Malley a bit softer, more quietly subversive, than he did in Going My Way. Why, 40 minutes of movie time pass before he sidles up to a piano and starts crooning. The repentant way he glances heavenward after telling a fib is priceless. That Bergman can look angelic even while coaching a boy on how to box is a testament not only to her screen presence, but to the talents of George Barnes, whose black-and-white camera work also did wonders for her in Hitchcock's Spellbound that same year. You believe she's a sister superior just by the way he makes light fall across her.

Studio: RKO
Director: Leo McCarey
Cast: Bing Crosby, Henry Travers, Ingrid Bergman
Genre: Classic
Run time: 126 minutes
Theatrical release: December 6, 1945
DVD release: September 7, 1999
MPAA Rating: NR