Pocketful of Miracles
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Movie Reviews of Pocketful of Miracles
Movie Review: A Happy Little Movie
Summary: 3 Stars
I am a Bette Davis fan. Having never seen this movie, I wasn't sure what to expect. It was a cute movie with Bette Davis, as always, giving her best. As Apple Annie, she is a classic. Later, as she portrays a society lady, you want to cheer for her. It's a comedy at times with all her old pals trying to help out to fool her daughter's rich father. It's a feel good movie. You just know everything will turn out right at the end and it does.Movie Review: Capra comes a cropper
Summary: 2 Stars
Pocketful of Miracles, Frank Capra's 1961 remake of his 1933 hit Lady For a Day, would be his last film, and it's not hard to see why. It feels stretched out at 137 minutes, as if intended as a musical a la Guys and Dolls only to have the songs dropped at the last minute, and Bette Davis' Apple Annie is very, very hard to root for. While May Robson in the original had an edge behind the sweet old lady act, Davis chooses to play her as a vicious drunken thug no-one in their right minds would put themselves out for, let alone go to enormous lengths to pass off as a member of New York high society so that the daughter she hasn't seen in years can marry a Spanish aristocrat. It's a performance so horrendously misjudged you have to wonder not only what was she thinking but why Capra didn't have a quiet word with her. He should have just waited until Helen Hayes (his original choice) was available instead - she could have pulled the part off in her sleep. Davis is such a total b**** in the film you keep on hoping someone will drive a stake through her heart.
Co-producer Glenn Ford struggles and loses as Dave the Dude, his usual charisma largely gone AWOL here and replaced by too many broad and unconvincing frustrated mannerisms, though Hope Lange fares better as his girl, Thomas Mitchell has a few nice moments in his last screen role and Peter Falk is an entertainingly exasperated sidekick. While there's certainly room for improvement in the original, the film never manages it. The script isn't as witty (Edward Everett Horton's butler never gets a line as good as Halliwell Hobbs' "If I had choice of weapons with you, I'd choose grammar" in the original), once again Capra shows that colour was not one of his fortes and strangest of all, despite the added running time it has less of the flavor of Damon Runyon's short stories than not only the original but any other Runyon screen adaptation. It's certainly watchable enough and not half as dragged out as Jackie Chan's remake Miracles, but despite the odd moment here and there it's nothing that'll stick in your memory.
The DVD has a decent enough 2.35:1 widescreen transfer with the original trailer introduced by Ed Sullivan.
Movie Review: Pocketful of mediocrity
Summary: 2 Stars
Oh, well... I can already hear all the "not helpful" votes clicking my way, but I have to call it as I see it. Two hours and sixteen minutes is way too long for whimsical gangsters and a sentimental bag lady. And on the latter point, Bette Davis' performance is so understated and generic that one wonders why they didn't save the money and simply hire a capable female character actor to play Apple Annie (uggh, and that name).
The film isn't intensely bad, just mostly dull and forced, peppered only occasionally with genuine chuckles or moving bits of drama. And I think the Amazon reviewer who said a scene was missing might be right: all of a sudden the mayor, governor, and the other bigwigs show up at the end to help Annie after we previously saw them refuse Dave the Dude (uggh, that name) and his pleadings to help Annie.
Positives? The widescreen print is sharp and clear, the colors are bright, and the sound is good. No extras to speak of, though, except for a trailer featuring the inexplicable appearance of variety show host Ed Sullivan, who talks up the movie (he must have had a financial interest in it).
It's a shame that this was the great Frank Capra's last film. It wasn't so bad that it would have prevented him from doing something else after it, so it's unfortunate that this marginal effort was his swan song.
Movie Review: Disappointment
Summary: 2 Stars
I found this film to be forced. Everyone was trying to be funny rather than playing it in a serious mode and allowing the plot to supply the humor. I'm a big Glenn Ford fan but never found him to be accomplished in comedies. He's miscast as Dave the Dude, a part better suited to someone like Dean Martin. Peter Falk is excellent as is Bette Davis as Apple Annie, but the film falls flat. I never really liked the 1933 version "Lady For a Day" any better.Movie Review: Pocketful of Miracles
Summary: 1 Stars
Just viewed tape and I am very upset with its remastering or copying.Tape is choppy and shuts out most of the music in the movie .I also made the mistake of buying it in wide-screen. This is one of my favorite movies and I will now have to reorder it and count my losses with the price of the tape I have.