My 2020 quest to see every Oscar-winning Best Picture continues. This time it’s with 1944’s winner, Going My Way starring Bing Crosby. Bing plays Father Chuck O’Malley, a character I was already familiar with from the movie, “The Bells of St. Mary’s”. This was his first outing with the character, and it garnered him a Best Actor Oscar as well. In all the film achieved six Oscars. Oddly, Barry Fitzgerald (Father Fitzgibbon) was nominated both for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same role. The Academy would later amend its rules regarding dual nominations for the same role.
The story revolves around a younger, “modern” priest being sent to assist an older, stuck-in-his-ways, curmudgeon priest who is having financial troubles with his parish. The new priest convinces some neighborhood ne’er-do-wells to form a choir and convinces a former childhood friend (who now happens to be a famous opera singer) to perform with his new choir. The majority of the neighborhood kids are really members of the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir with a few “actors” thrown in. One of those actors is a mature Carl Dean Switzer (Alfalfa from the Our Gang series). The opera singer is portrayed by the Metropolitan Opera’s star Rise Stevens. Through the musical efforts of all these players, the church is brought out of debt and the two priests develop a true friendship.
It’s a sentimental tale that for me completely lacked any luster and at times was rather slow-moving. I’ve never been a Bing Crosby fan, and this didn’t turn me into one. If I want to watch a nice movie about modern vs. older religious characters, with some good music and delightful acting, I’ll watch Sister Act. I believe that being a nation at war at the time this was released, the movie’s purity, innocence, and goodwill were part of its immense appeal of the day. That would explain how this film could win Best Picture over Gaslight and Double Indemnity, both of which I would consider much better flicks.
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