The Miracle (1959 film)

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The Miracle
VHS cassette box
Directed by	Irving Rapper
Produced by	Henry Blanke
Written by	Karl Vollmöller Frank Butler Jean Rouverol
Starring	Carroll Baker Roger Moore
Running time	121 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Miracle is a 1959 remake of a 1912 German film Das Mirakel directed by Cherry Kearton and Max Reinhardt, which in turn was based on a 1911 Karl Vollmöller pantomime play of the same name.

The 1959 film version stars Carroll Baker and Roger Moore and was directed by Irving Rapper for Warner Bros. It was two hours long and shot in Technicolor. While the original play and film had been set in medieval times, this version was set during the Napoleonic era in Spain - in fact, its climax involved the Battle of Waterloo, with Torin Thatcher making a cameo appearance as Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (Napoleon is never seen in the film). Not presented as a pantomime but as a regular epic, the 1959 film was panned by critics, and had the misfortune to be released to theatres the same week as MGM's Technicolor, widescreen version of Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston - one of the most successful epic films of all time. Even worse, Warner Bros. had earlier that same year released The Nun's Story, a film starring Audrey Hepburn in which the main character was also a nun having doubts about her vocation, as in The Miracle, and it had been a commercial and critical smash hit, garnering several Oscar nominations. Both that film and The Miracle were produced by Henry Blanke, and most likely, one drew unfavorable comparisons with the other.

[edit] Plot

Teresa (Baker), a postulant nun, suddenly finds herself filled with doubt about her calling when she falls in love with Captain Michael Stuart (Moore), a touring British soldier. When he returns to duty, he asks her to marry him, and after asking for a heavenly sign to guide her, but receiving none, she leaves the convent. This causes a cherished statue of the Virgin Mary to come to life and secretly take Teresa's place at the convent. A thunderstorm comes up as this miracle occurs, but it will be the last one for several years. A period of drought begins in the surrounding countryside, seriously damaging the local crops. (The townspeople have been convinced that the intervention of the Virgin Mary causes the crops to flourish, and now that the statue has seemingly disappeared, the drought has begun.)

Meanwhile, Teresa, believing Michael dead, joins a band of Gypsies and falls in love with one of them. Her new lover is betrayed to the authorities by his jealous brother, and shot to death. The brother is in turn shot to death by the two men's own mother. The despondent Teresa is banished from the camp, and next takes up with a bullfighter, who is gored in the bullring. Believing herself cursed from love, she travels Europe becoming a celebrated singer. Discovering Michael still alive during a concert tour, Teresa comes to a crossroads when he is called to participate in the Battle of Waterloo - marry her soldier or return to the convent and pursue her faith once more. Believing Michael is doomed to die like her other lovers, she enters a local church and prays, vowing to resume her convent life if he survives to return to his regiment, and asking the church priest for guidance. Traveling back to the convent she decides to remain a nun, which causes the statue of Mary to return to its rightful place. Immediately, a thunderstorm begins, and the three-year-old drought ends, assuring the local populace that their crops will be restored. Michael survives - just barely, and it seems, miraculously, when a bullet grazes his helmet, but misses him. He returns to the boarding house he shares with Teresa, expecting to find her. But the priest, who has been waiting for him, gives him her farewell note. Michael realizes that he and Teresa are not destined to be together, and asks the priest for spiritual guidance.