BELLS OF ST. MARYS,THE

Details

• Release Year: 1945
• Genre: Drama, Family
• Plot: In this follow-up to director Leo McCarey's Going My Way (1944), Bing Crosby repeats his Oscar-winning characterization of happy-go-lucky priest Father O'Malley. The good father is sent to help out financially strapped St. Mary's Academy, a parochial school presided over by lovely nun Sister Benedict (Ingrid Bergman). The film is constructed in anecdotal fashion: Nun and priest gently quarrel over teaching methods; they help patch up the tottering marriage of William Gargan and Martha Sleeper; Sister Benedict plays baseball and teaches a student how to box; Father O'Malley softens the heart of the man who holds the mortgage (Henry Travers) by convincing the poor fellow that he's only got a few months to live; and the kids of St. Mary's put on a much-revised stage version of the Nativity, complete with a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' on the occasion of the Virgin Birth. A huge hit at the box office, Bells of St. Mary's was nominated for nine Academy Awards.;
• Cast: Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Travers, William Gargan, Ruth Donnelly, Joan Carroll, Martha Sleeper, Rhys Williams, Richard Tyler, Una O'Connor, Aina Constant, Jimmy Crane, Gwen Crawford, Bobby Dolan Jr., Jimmie Dundee, Bobby Frasco, Matt McHugh, Peggy McKim, Georgie Nokes, Eva Novak, Joe Palma, Dewey Robinson, Cora Shannon, John Smith, Pietro Sosso, Minerva Urecal, Edna May Wonacott, Leo McCarey
• Director: Leo McCarey
• Runtime: 2:06
• Company: Republic Pictures
• Media Format: Movie