The Miracle (1959)

Set in a Spanish convent, a young postulant (Carroll Baker) forsakes the convent to rejoin the British soldier (Roger Moore) she loves. She falls in with a group of gypsies but when she thinks her soldier lover is dead, she rejects her Christianity. Based on the 1911 play by Karl Vollmoller and directed by Irving Rapper (NOW VOYAGER). The kind of schmaltzy faith based hokum that shouldn't work but damned if it doesn't! It's the kind of movie where you're either rolling your eyes or resisting getting choked up without much success. Carroll Baker's performance is so sincere that despite being miscast, she brings some genuine pathos in her work. Reputedly, director Rapper (he blamed the movie's failure on her) and actress Baker (she called him a humorless jerk) disliked each other. Watching the film, you know it's not very good but you can't help getting involved in the plot's machinations. Handsomely shot in Technirama by Ernest Haller (LILIES OF THE FIELD) and there's a nice underscore by Elmer Bernstein. With Katina Paxinou, Vittorio Gassman, Walter Slezak, Isobel Elsom, Torin Thatcher, Gustavo Rojo, Carlos Rivas, Madlyn Rhue and Eduard Franz.