Going My Way was kind of like the forerunner of both Mary Poppins and Sister Act. It was a pleasant, humorous and uplifting story, about as different from Casablanca as it's possible to be.
Father O'Malley (portrayed by famous crooner Bing Crosby, one of the few people primarily known for their singing I've ever seen who can also act) is a young priest sent to the ailing parish of St. Dominic's in New York City. Its indomitable leader is Father Fitzgibbon, who at first resents this "progressive" new intruder who sweeps in and in his unassuming way seems to make friends with everybody. Crosby's character is of course very musically inclined, which gives myriad excuses for him and various other characters to sing periodically--unlike Broadway-style musicals, however, the musical numbers are incorporated into the plot rather than being interludes where everybody then has to pretend they hadn't randomly burst into song ten seconds earlier. So for example Crosby meets a young aspiring singer and to determine her skill the two sit down to the piano. He also starts a church choir made up of the local gang of hoodlums by explaining everything to them in baseball terms, and them singing songs he composes eventually raises the money to save the parish. (The dude is supernaturally good at everything. And I mean everything, including, for some reason, golf. I guess that's what angels do when they're bored in heaven. The movie only obliquely implies that's what he is, but that was my take on him.) Eventually he is called away to help another parish, leaving everyone happier in his wake.
As I understand it there is a sequel titled The Bells of St. Mary's (nominated for Best Picture in 1945), which is slightly better known today because it's mentioned in the perennial holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life (nominated in 1946). Apparently in the mid-40s there was a cinematic universe of feel-good Christmas movies. It is interestingly coincidental that we are hitting it in December in our journey through the Oscars.
Watched: December 9, 2017
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