Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Miracle Woman (1931)
Director: Frank Capra
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Fascinating cautionary tale loosely inspired by the Aimee Semple Macpherson affair, with Stanwyck as a minister's daughter - seeking revenge against the faithful who hounded her father to his death - who teams up with a wily conman (Hardy) to become big business as an evangelist. Stunning camerawork from Joseph Walker makes a joy of the evangelistic razzmatazz (climaxed when Stanwyck does her preaching from a lion's cage), but is equal to the more delicate shading of the comeuppance in which Stanwyck sees the true light after bringing illumination to a blind songwriter. The end sees her a humble soldier in the Salvation Army, but - so beautifully do Stanwyck and Manners play out the love affair, and so perfectly does Capra direct it (with the tenderness, almost, of Borzage) - that you don't feel at all like laughing. (From the play Bless You, Sister by John Meehan and Robert Riskin.Author: TM
Cast & crew
Director: Frank Capra
Producer: Frank Capra
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, David Manners, Sam Hardy, Beryl Mercer, Russell Hopton full cast
Duration: 90 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Ang Lee talks 'Taking Woodstock'
Ang Lee talks to Tom Huddleston about his tale of the men behind history’s greatest music festival
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now