As I've been told, when the big boys at 20th Century Fox first saw The Sound of Music in their studio projection room, they said, "This is going to bomb all over the place, so let's get it out in the theaters, make as much money as we can off this fiasco and pull it back in. So, remember that in those days, you didn't know what the preview would be until the film started rolling in the movie theater, and if my memory serves me correct, it was given a sneak preview in Minneapolis, and after the first half played, everyone screamed, clapped and whistled, and after the second half it sounded like the roof of theater was caving in because of the positive response, so Fox said, "Now wait a minute! Maybe we've got something here that we're not aware of, so they released The Sound of Music nationwide on a Reserve Seat basis, and when the critics saw it, they all reported that it would put everyone in a diabetic comma and would last a year, but they were wrong, and the rest is history! O.K., so "The Singing Nun" is not The Sound of Music! Big deal! So, The Sound of Music was just about playing out its 3 year run in most theaters, and as usual, someone in Hollywood says, "Let's cash in on the popularity of the movie and do our own musical about a bunch of Nuns, and Metro Goldwyn Mayers effort was "The Singing Nun" with Jewish convert Debbie Reynolds playing a Nun; that sings as well as Debbie Reynolds, and in all fairness, the movie might not be what the big boys at M.G.M. wanted, but it gave Debbie Reynolds the chance to do her finest singing ever! Her vocals in the movie, as far as I'm concerned, are superb! So, what about the cast and the film itself. Here's Greer Garson at the end of her career, Marshall Thompson, at the end of his, Ricardo Montalban famous for swimming with Esther Williams in her swimming musicals, Agnes Moorehead still looking like she'd like to cast a nasty on Darrin in Bewitched, and Chad Everett still looking like Doctor Gannon who claimed more animism's in his hospital T.V. show than would ever see on T.V. Soap General Hospital or Greay's Anatomy! The Singing Nun is not a good movie, but it's not a bad one either, and in ways it's very entertaining, but once again, it does afford Debbie Reynolds to do her finest singing ever in any of her films! Her singing in The Singing Nun is superb and spiritually uplifting, and fulfilling!
Review of The Singing Nun
