Today is the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. For Catholics it is a day to remember the apparition of Mary to three shepherd children in the provincial town of Fatima, Portugal. The great miracle occurred on the 13th of October, 1917 when the sun "zigzagged" down to earth in almost apocalyptic fashion. Major warning from above.Which brings me to the film made in the 50s, with a great score by Max Steiner! Made in the 50s when religious films were at their height, I am sure this little film, The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima, was to counter the growing communist threat of the then Soviet Union. The only big name was Gilbert Roland as as scoundrel, con-artist who is a friend of the children and is hesitant to believe their story of a beautiful lady they saw. Angela Clark portrays the eldest child, Lucia Dos Santos, in a childlike innocence that, IMHO, has not been portrayed since Jennifer Jones as Bernadette Soubirous in The Song of Bernadette. The film is, as I always state, a product of its time. The 50s was a scary time to live in the US, what with Joe McCarthy hunting out communists in our homeland. Again, films such as today's feature, help people forget what was going on and perhaps seek help from above through prayer, good deeds and just plain old faith. The film, on DVD, is a glorious color spectacle. It's a fun, yet reverent romp in the genre of religious films. It is worth watching; for some of us it will be a nostalgic remembrance of watching it on the weekend afternoon movie on TV. Hopefully, for some, a film that will prompt discovery into why Catholics have a devotion to Mary, under the title of "Our Lady of Fatima." Check it out and particularly enjoy the score by Max Steiner.
