OUTSTANDING MOVIE!!

The Song of Bernadette is an outstanding production. Jennifer Jones certainly deserved an Academy Award for her fine performance. It is amazing that Hollywood took such a complex story and historical event and was able to produce a fairly accurate depiction of the Virgin Mary's visit to Bernadette Soubirous (St. Bernadette) in Lourdes, France.

Great movie

This is a classic, shown in black and white, a great family movie. It captures a faith so strong, unquestionable, unwavering, demonstrated by Saint Bernadette. Despite being the target of unbelieving town folk, she continued to be faithful and did exactly what was asked of her by our Lady, The Virgin Mary. This resulted in many healings and conversions through the Holy Waters of Lourdes France, that continue still today.

Truly inspirational and better than the novel...

Here's a film that deserves high praise for every aspect of its production--writing, direction, acting, music, etc. Jennifer Jones gives the best performance of her career as the simple peasant girl who sees the Beautiful Lady in the grotto and sets in motion the story, based on Franz Werfel's best-selling novel.

I recently took a look at the novel and must say I found it laboriously detailed with regard to all the political events going on at that time in that region of France. The simple story was buried under so much clutter that it's wonderful to see how the film overcame all of this with a script that is concise and to the point--and yet, does contain some of the historical background that was so detailed in the book.

All of the performances are superb, the most outstanding being Charles Bickford as the Dean of Lourdes and Gladys Cooper, as a stern and unbelieving nun.

Alfred Newman's score is magnificent and now available in its entirety on CD (dual CD in fact), since it's an extensive score. Whether you are Catholic or not, your enjoyment of this movie is guaranteed if you enjoy a well-acted, well scripted film version of the legendary story. I have to report that this is one case where the film is much better than the novel in every way