The Bell's of St. Mary's

When thinking of the auteur's of the old Hollywood system, the name Leo McCarey probably isn't one of the first to come to mind, yet, I would argue, that he ranks in the pantheon of the finest. Bing Crosby plays the good natured, liberal-humanitarian Father O'Malley -- the new pastor of St. Mary's Catholic School -- a school that is soon to be condemned unless a miracle happens. Ingrid Bergman plays the head sister at the school, becoming yet another of Hollywood's fixation on the attractive nun (Deborah Kerr and Audrey Hepburn are only two of many). It has the kind of innocuous sentimentality that repeatedly brings us back to these films that makes us all nostalgic for the good ole' days that probably never existed. McCarey's sense of comedy and timing is impecable, which is probably why he is responsible for the Marx Brothers finest film, Duck Soup. Two scenes in particular stand out, the first being nun, Ingrid Bergman teaching a ten-year-old boy how to box and the second being the improvised Nativity play by a group of first graders (it's the kind of scene that's the essence of why we say "awwwww").