The Song of Bernadette

12/21/19432h 36m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Here is greatness... wonder... and majesty... no human words can describe! ~

Overview:

In 1858 Lourdes, France, Bernadette, an adolescent peasant girl, has a vision of "a beautiful lady" in the city dump. She never claims it to be anything other than this, but the townspeople all assume it to be the Virgin Mary. The pompous government officials think she is nuts, and do their best to suppress the girl and her followers, and the church wants nothing to do with the whole matter. But as Bernadette attracts wider and wider attention, the phenomenon overtakes everyone in the the town, and transforms their lives.

Director:

Henry King

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$2,000,000.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

france
countryside
based on novel or book
nun
southern france
miracle
biography
vision
religion
church
catholic
lourdes france
convent (nunnery)
virgin mary
19th century
covenant
spring (water)

Cast

Jennifer Jones

~ as ~

Bernadette

William Eythe

~ as ~

Antoine Nicolau

Charles Bickford

~ as ~

Father Peyramale

Vincent Price

~ as ~

Prosecutor Vital Dutour

Lee J. Cobb

~ as ~

Dr. Dozous

Gladys Cooper

~ as ~

Sister Marie Therese Vauzous

Anne Revere

~ as ~

Louise Soubirous

Roman Bohnen

~ as ~

François Soubirous

Mary Anderson

~ as ~

Jeanne Abadie

Patricia Morison

~ as ~

Empress Eugenie

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 3 year(s) ago
7
Jennifer Jones turns in an engaging performance as the eponymous girl, living in mid-19th Century France, who claims to have received divine communications in a grotto near her local village of Lourdes. Unsurprisingly, she faces a fairly sceptical clergy and state but her fellow villagers lap it all up. That enthusiasm soon spreads and soon - like it or not - she is a phenomenon that has drawn the attention of the Empress Eugenie herself. Her problems only worsen when she is finally accepted, and validated by her church and she takes up residence in a nunnery where she is respected and resented in pretty much equal measure. Cynics may cast aspersions on the reasons behind the casting of Jones in this film, but nobody could argue that her performance is anything other than perfect. She has an innocence that lends well to the plausibility of her charming, unassuming persona and of her pretty turbulent - and short - life too. Charles Bickford also delivers well as her initially suspicious parish priest as do local magistrate "Dutour" (Vincent Price) and doctor "Dozous" (Lee J. Cobb). The writing is maybe not the most significant element of the story, indeed it is a bit vapid at times, but the story quite successfully captivates even now, 80 years later.