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| Celeste Holm & Loretta Younger are nuns on a mission in 1949’s “Come to the Steady.” |
2oth Century Fox’s feel-good comedy-drama Come to the Steady makes an ideal
companion piece to star Loretta Younger’s 1947 Oscar-winning automobile, The Farmer’s Daughter. Younger as an indomitable
nun pairs nicely with Loretta’s plucky Swedish maid. Each movies are pure
fairy tales, however well and sweetly performed. Each films combine humor,
sentiment, and lightweight drama expertly. And Younger’s characters obtain nice targets,
in opposition to all odds.
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| Celeste Holm & Loretta Younger each have loads of heat and attraction to painting the nuns who ingratiate others to their trigger, in 1949’s “Come to the Steady.” |
In 1949’s Come to the
Steady, Loretta Younger and Celeste Holm play nuns, Sisters Margaret and Scholastica,
respectively. They’ve arrived from post-war France, the place they labored in a hospital.
Younger’s sister is initially from Chicago and Holm’s nun is French. Their dream
is to construct a hospital in a small New England city of Bethlehem. They consider
divine windfall has introduced them, as a consequence of seeing the work of a neighborhood spiritual
painter, Miss Potts (Elsa Lanchester). Upon arrival, they share their plan and
ask for shelter. She agrees and so begins the sisters’ journey in looking for land
and cash to construct a neighborhood hospital. Alongside their fundraising journey, they
meet and win over many colourful characters.
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| Elsa Lanchester performs Miss Potts, the native artist who joins the visiting nuns on their arduous journey to construct a hospital, in 1949’s “Come to the Steady.” |
What places Come to the
Steady over is a well-told story, tailored from Claire Luce Boothe’s story.
Famed for her acerbic play The Ladies,
Boothe was a current convert to Catholicism when she wrote Come to the Steady, impressed by the true story of two nuns who
constructed an abbey in Bethlehem, Connecticut. The sleek screenplay was written by Oscar
Millard and Sally Benson. Henry Koster, considered one of Fox’s long-time studio
administrators, guides what may have been a cutesy or overly sentimental story,
with a certain contact. The sisters’ story is crammed with their leaps of religion and
clearing the hurdles each time. Even with occasional setbacks, God has acquired
their backs! Whereas the coincidences and characters’ change of hearts is pure Hollywood
fairy story, it’s performed with real intelligence and coronary heart. You both droop disbelief
or keep away from such films. If this kind of movie is completed with smarts and coronary heart, I
haven’t any downside in going alongside for the film journey!
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| Dooley Wilson as Anthony finds that the nuns portrayed by Celeste Holm & Loretta Younger have many abilities, in 1949’s “Come to the Steady.” |
Together with the imaginative storytelling, the stellar solid is
the opposite main element that causes Come
to the Steady to resonate with viewers. Loretta Younger and Celeste Holm had been
each Oscar-nominated for his or her whole-hearted performances. Whilst you would possibly eye
roll at two nuns in make-up, it is fairly delicate for a ’40s film. Younger’s unyielding
power because the lead nun comes via—Loretta wasn’t nicknamed “The Iron
Butterfly” for nothing. As considered one of Hollywood’s most religious Catholics, this
function was tailored for Younger. Loretta performs with sincerity and delicate humor.
Sister Margaret makes probably the most of every doable alternative in her purpose towards
getting a hospital constructed, and Younger conveys that effortlessly. She handles the
critical moments naturally, to nice impact. And Loretta must be one of many
most lovely ladies ever to be depicted as a nun. Carrying a behavior all through,
with solely gentle make-up, and fantastically photographed, Younger’s face, along with her
large expressive eyes, massive smile, and bone construction, is a miracle in itself.
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| Loretta Younger as Sister Margaret in 1949’s “Come to the Steady.” Except for Younger’s heat and pure attraction, I may stare at Loretta’s pure magnificence all day! |
Celeste Holm because the French nun has droll humor in her line
supply because the ever-chipper Scholastica. Considered one of her finest bits is when she
offers St. Jude cash to the bookies that she and Margaret go to of their
mission in securing the right parcel of land. Later, when Scholastica
shows a hidden expertise for tennis, it’s one of many light-hearted highlights
of the movie. When she loses, regardless of her prowess, in making an attempt to win funds, Holm’s
easy declaration of “I misplaced” to Younger is so touching.
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| Celeste Holm’s line studying as Sister Scholastica, declaring that she misplaced the tennis sport is so candy. I observed that Holm & Younger went gentle on the make-up, besides of their massive closeups! “Come to the Steady,” 1949. |
Hugh Marlowe performs a songwriter who lives throughout from the
nuns’ dream location for his or her hospital. Marlowe, whose voice was good for
radio, by no means turned a prime film main man. I first watched Hugh as ‘70s teen,
taking part in patriarch Jim Matthews on the NBC cleaning soap, One other World. In his tenure at Fox, Marlowe did seem in some
nice films, akin to playwright Lloyd Richards in 1950’s All About Eve, the place Holm performed his supportive spouse, Karen. Right here,
as Bob Masen, Marlowe’s songwriter is mainly man. However he is examined
when Masen finds out the hospital is to be constructed throughout the best way from his dream
pad. And till he sees the sunshine, Bob is put out and peevish, with an entitled
“not in my again yard” perspective. That is dealt with in a surprisingly
practical means. Dooley Wilson, of Casablanca
fame, has a scene-stealing function as Bob’s Man Friday, Anthony. Wilson additionally has
the perfect line within the film. When his boss comes again from Hollywood, he asks
a couple of new nun milling about. Anthony replies, “Don’t know, boss. All of the nuns
look alike to me!”
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| Hugh Marlowe because the songwriter who’s at odds with nuns Celeste Holm & Loretta Younger in 1949’s “Come to the Steady.” Hugh & Celeste later performed husband & spouse in 1950’s basic, “All About Eve.” |
Thomas Gomez because the bookie Luigi Rossi, a comic book powerful man who
carries a heavy heartache, is marvelous to look at. Regis Toomey because the affected person
Monsignor is well-written and performed, and never condescending to the nun
characters. Elsa Lanchester will get an opportunity to shine in a extra totally
dimensional model of her quirky display screen persona, because the painter who turns into a
champion within the nuns’ campaign. As usually the case with a solid of basic
Hollywood contract gamers, everybody stands out proper right down to the bit gamers.
Louis Heydt is Jim’s amused musician pal ‘Al Newman,’ an in-joke to this movie’s
music composer!
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| Thomas Gomez as bookie massive canine Luigi Rossi is a standout in a fantastic solid, in 1949’s “Come to the Steady.” |
The units and images of this wintery New England city
are gorgeous, and the music by Alfred Newman and Mack Gordon are actually beautiful—all
receiving Oscar nominations of their classes. The religious music that
permeates a lot of the film is gorgeous offered, as nicely.
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| Hugh Marlowe as songwriter Bob Masen sees the sunshine that the nuns’ mission for a hospital is extra vital than his “not in my yard” entitlement, in 1949’s “Come to the Steady.” |
Come to the Steady is a top-notch religious story or
fairy story, take it as you want! The premise that religion—no matter form you
consider in—might help you obtain your goals is a worthy premise for a film.
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| The nuns discover shelter in Elsa Lanchester’s secure turned artist’s studio dwelling. I like quaint abodes in outdated films like 1949’s “Come to the Steady.” |
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| Loretta Younger is “The Farmer’s Daughter.” |
Right here’s my have a look at The Farmer’s Daughter, a
Swedish Cinderella story. A surprisingly forward-thinking story as Younger goes
from farm lady to maid to political candidate. My tackle this pleasant
“Daughter”:
https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2023/01/loretta-young-just-fine-as-farmers.html
