Going My Way
I had genuinely never heard of this before, although I must have scrolled past the name in the lists section many times. The funny thing is, I have seen The Bells of St. Mary’s, although a long time ago now, and I had no idea this came first.
It’s interestingly quite slice of life, without much of a defined plot arc beyond the two priests getting used to each other and getting money for the church, with little bits of stories told along the way, which don’t all play out in quite the dramatic way you might expect. It’s quite gentle, with moments of genuinely funny humour and a little dash of war propaganda (it was 1944 after all).
I can’t watch anything with Irish priests without thinking of Father Ted. I can’t help but wonder whether Mrs Quimp in this at least partially inspired Mrs Doyle in Father Ted.
I liked Bing Crosby as the lead character, he’s very personable in the role. My Grandad is a big fan of Bing, so I’d heard quite a few of the songs in this film before. I’ll have to ask him whether he’s seen it, between Bing and golf he’s bound to like it.
Your appreciation for this film will depend on your tolerance for schmaltz and singing (and sometimes both at the same time). I would not, for example, recommend it to Miss Vicky. I found that the bits with the title song and the boys’ choir grated a little, but everything to do with the elderly priest was very affecting, in a Make Way for Tomorrow sort of a way and I had a tear in my eye at the ending. So perhaps schmaltz is selling this season after all.
No idea who nominated this for me, if pressed I would guess Citizen or Cricket, but I enjoyed it and would probably not have got round to it left to my own devices, so thank you.