Intcatinfo
A Masterpiece!
TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
TaryBiggBall
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
JohnHowardReid
For a female equivalent of Valentino in popularity and prestige, it would be hard to go past Lillian Gish - at least until Garbo appeared on the scene in Flesh and the Devil (1926). One of her most popular films, The White Sister (1923), is marketed on a DVD set with the 1933 version by the Warner Archive.
There are actually four movie versions of the 1909 novel by Francis Marion Crawford and the 1909 play adapted by Crawford and Broadway author-director, Walter Hackett. Considering that the overly verbose play ran only 48 performances in New York, that's certainly a remarkable achievement. It's also astonishing that three of the four movies are available on DVD. Warner Archive market a set of the 1923 and 1933 versions. Laguna Films have the 1960 Mexican version, La Hermana Blanca. Produced by Hunt Stromberg and directed by Victor Fleming, the 1933 version is a high-budget production if ever there was one. It's also very overtly a Catholic picture, obviously aimed at innoculating M-G-M from the church's criticism of Hollywood studio's "turning audiences into pagans" (to quote a Joe Breen ally). In fact the picture often resembles The Nun's Story (1959) in its overt, highly detailed display of veiled church ceremonies. Unlike the Fred Zinnemann picture, however, there is not even the slightest shadow of doubt that the Church's philosophy is God's philosophy and that the Church's way is - without the faintest degree of dissension - the right way. Nonetheless, as a spectacle, these scenes do make an impact, although one has a feeling that the movie is always running slowly downhill from its vibrant opening scenes at the carnival. The stars (Helen Hayes and Clark Gable) and even the minor players too seem to be, scene by scene, becoming less enthusiastic, less charismatic as the script doggedly unwinds for 105 minutes towards its predictable, yet abrupt and nonetheless disheartening conclusion.
Of course, like many screen adaptations, Fleming's White Sister bears only a passing resemblance to the novel. Gone are two of the book's three principal support characters: the wicked half-sister (so brilliantly played by Gail Kane in the 1923 film) and the hero's brother (not so colorfully interpreted by Gustavo Serena). The deletion of the brother means, of course, that the 1933 film has no climax. Nonetheless, although I'd give the visuals a lesser rating than the Sunrise Silents version, Warner have a far, far, far superior sound-track. The original music score by Garth Neustadter is the best I've ever heard. It brought tears to my eyes.
bkoganbing
This version of The White Sister is the third and final one to date that was brought to the big screen. This old fashioned drama with heavy religious overtones is not a likely candidate for a modern remake.It's that second version that is the most known. Shot in Italy in 1923 it was the breakout picture for Ronald Colman as he starred with Lillian Gish and a cast of Italian players because the film was shot on location in Italy, a very unusual thing for the time. In the Citadel Film Series book the Films of Ronald Colman, it was mentioned that Colman had a swarthy complexion and that was why this erudite man of the English speaking language was cast in the film. The same could be said for the casting of Clark Gable as the male lead opposite Helen Hayes in this sound version.The story was updated from the 19th century and the Italian colonial wars in Libya to World War I. Gable is an air ace in the Italian Air Corps and he meets Helen Hayes who is the daughter of the local nobleman Lewis Stone. He's got an arranged marriage with wealthy Alan Edwards who will help this noble, but impoverished family out of debt. But Helen wants Clark after spending a little time with him.But fates just keep them apart, especially after Lewis Stone is killed in an automobile crash and Gable goes off to World War I. Other than the updating of the time of the story and the elimination of a sister for Hayes, if you've seen the Colman-Gish silent version you know what happens here.Someone like Tyrone Power who was a few years away from breaking into stardom at another studio would have been far better at handling the mushy romantic dialog. Certainly Ronald Colman might have done well with it even though he was British to the core. Gable is too American for the part though he does his best with it. The female lead is very suitable to Helen Hayes, especially with her Catholic background.Fans of Clark Gable will still like The White Sister, but it will never be rated among his better films.
pixelwks
Back in the days before VCR's I set my alarm clock to 3:00 Am to watch this film. If you were a film buff back then you had no choice, the TV told you when to watch something. I was a big Clark Gable fan and this was a pretty obscure film that I was keen on seeing.My grandmother wandered in and sat down with me to watch. She not only knew the film immediately but remembered every moment in the film like she had just seen it. She remembered what she wore and what she had for lunch that day in 1934. This movie was like a time machine for her. She cried at the end like a little girl.I lost my grandmother not long after that and this memory has stayed with me for 30 years.I haven't seen the film since but I remember it being a very old fashioned melodrama. It will never get to DVD I suppose.
crispy_comments
I admire the stars of this film, and they give great performances, as expected. The acting strikes all the right emotional chords, but unfortunately the material is weak - one of those Doomed Romances where the plot contrives to keep the lovers apart through one calamity after another, and some stupid, unnecessary sacrifices made by the Heroine.She believes he's been killed in the war and becomes a nun. He escapes from prison camp *just* too late to stop her from taking her final vows. Oh, fate is Cru-el! Of course you're supposed to enjoy the soapy drama without questioning it, and have a good cry, but I just roll my eyes and berate the characters on the screen.She could've waited a bit before taking such a radical step - after all, he was only missing & presumed dead. I wouldn't be giving up on *my* True Love so soon. And after the poor guy struggles repeatedly to get back to her, how is he rewarded for being so brave, clever and loyal? He finds out she wasn't loyal to *him*, and she isn't brave enough to be with him no matter what. (I choose to interpret the "White" in this film's title as "Cowardly", thankyouverymuch).Oh, she can't renounce her vows (even though technically she *can*). It's Too Late. She's married to Jesus now. Even though she admits she still loves Gable and wouldn't have gone through with it if she'd found out he survived. Which means her vows are a mockery anyway and she pretty much lied during the ceremony. Isn't it compelling to watch someone struggle to suppress their real feelings for the sake of a promise made because it gave her "comfort", even when the reason & need for said comfort has been removed? No, it's just infuriating.The ending really piles on the soapsuds, as the Hero finally accepts her decision, and they have their upteenth Moving Goodbye Scene ...How many times do we have to watch these two say Goodbye Forever?! 1. when her father disapproves of him & she tries to honour her engagement to another man - 2. when she feels too guilty to be with Gable now that her father's gone, because dad died while chasing her (!) to stop her from being with Gable, you see! - 3. when Gable goes off to war - 4. when he first visits her at the convent & she sends him away - 5. when he finally stops pursuing her but promises to love her for the rest of his life ... and get ready for one more! A few seconds later the "rest of his life" is cut short (with just enough time to say Goodbye again though!) as he's killed by a bomb during a raid (which wouldn't have happened if she hadn't insisted on going back to the convent, under his escort).Sheesh. Jesus really hates this guy for moving in on His woman, eh? Gable promises to wait for her in the afterlife, but I have a feeling the Eternal Love Triangle will never be resolved. God, the big bully, will keep tripping Gable up with banana peels in Heaven. Or maybe He'll just remove the competition and send the guy to Hell. Fate is Cru-el that way."The White Sister" started off promisingly, with some cute and amusing courting scenes between the would-be lovers. Too bad the film descended into contrived melodrama that only a masochist (or a repressed nun, but now I'm being redundant) could enjoy.
