Come to the Stable

[mrsl]

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This is usually shown during the holidays although it's not really a holiday story. Two nuns from France (Loretta Young and Celeste Holm), arrive in a New England state during the winter with plans to start up a childrens hospital, the problem is -- they have no money, no property, and no help of any kind. They do find a lovely hill which would make a great spot for the hospital, and before anyone knows it, the property is donated by the most miserly man in town. Soon they wrangle the money from others and by the end, ground is soon to be broken. That's the story in a nutshell, but the characters are the entertaining things here. Loretta manages to get things by putting words into peoples mouths and warily they go along with her. Celeste goes along with everything and in the process, usually uses the wrong American words or phrases which Loretta is constantly gently correcting. Hugh Marlowe is the harried bachelor they invade and you expect to see him blubbering to himself in a corner sooner or later (poor man doesn't know what hit him). The best is Elsa Lancaster as the soft hearted artist who opens her tiny home to the sisters, and eventually has 7 more nuns and a priest living with her. It truly is a drama, but so many funny things happen that it should actually be called a dramatic comedy. It won an Oscar for B & W cinematography, and a Writers Guild Award for best drama, as well as nominations for Loretta as best actress, and best supporting for Elsa and Celeste. I'm not sure what channel it was on, but I did catch it from the beginning and DVR'd it, then watched it last weekend. If you see it coming on one of your channels, you might want to catch it for a comfortable little afternoon next cold day we have.
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