The Miracle Woman (1931) :
Brief Review -
The early Barbara Stanwyck you'd like to remember. No miracle, but a fine attempt at religious circus and human conscience. Many would recognise Barbara for Stella Dallas (1937), Ball Of Fire (1941), The Lady Eve (1941), Meet John Doe (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), Christmas In Connecticut (1945), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), No Man Of Her Own (1950), and other films that she did after The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933). But here's one more film you should look at to see her early days. Not because she looks extra gorgeous, but because she has performed much better than one would have expected. The film could have been much better, though, since it attempted a challenging subject like a religious circus with an overdose of a simple love story. Richard Brooks did the same after almost 3 decades with Elmer Gantry (1960), but again with the same love story issue. I somehow saw the Bollywood classic "Teesri Kasam" (1966) here in The Miracle Woman. A bad woman falls in love with a naive man, and then she has to quit him to keep her fake image intact. Here, the man tries to quit things, and then the woman does the same. Somehow, that's overdoing it. You could have simply ended things with one powerful conflict on religious faith that would relate to human conscience more than the miracle, and I guess Capra would have cracked a film of a lifetime. Stanwyck's stunning looks and amazing performance made me forgive a few things, and how calm and composed was David Manners here? Frank Capra's early days were experimental, but I always looked at him as the best man to tell rom-coms rather than serious films. He did some really good serious films later, but the early 30s weren't enough. With a better and more intelligent second half, The Miracle Woman would have been a great film. Nevertheless, a fine attempt in the early talkies era.
RATING - 6/10*
By - #samthebestest.
The early Barbara Stanwyck you'd like to remember. No miracle, but a fine attempt at religious circus and human conscience. Many would recognise Barbara for Stella Dallas (1937), Ball Of Fire (1941), The Lady Eve (1941), Meet John Doe (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), Christmas In Connecticut (1945), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), No Man Of Her Own (1950), and other films that she did after The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933). But here's one more film you should look at to see her early days. Not because she looks extra gorgeous, but because she has performed much better than one would have expected. The film could have been much better, though, since it attempted a challenging subject like a religious circus with an overdose of a simple love story. Richard Brooks did the same after almost 3 decades with Elmer Gantry (1960), but again with the same love story issue. I somehow saw the Bollywood classic "Teesri Kasam" (1966) here in The Miracle Woman. A bad woman falls in love with a naive man, and then she has to quit him to keep her fake image intact. Here, the man tries to quit things, and then the woman does the same. Somehow, that's overdoing it. You could have simply ended things with one powerful conflict on religious faith that would relate to human conscience more than the miracle, and I guess Capra would have cracked a film of a lifetime. Stanwyck's stunning looks and amazing performance made me forgive a few things, and how calm and composed was David Manners here? Frank Capra's early days were experimental, but I always looked at him as the best man to tell rom-coms rather than serious films. He did some really good serious films later, but the early 30s weren't enough. With a better and more intelligent second half, The Miracle Woman would have been a great film. Nevertheless, a fine attempt in the early talkies era.
RATING - 6/10*
By - #samthebestest.