Glenn Ford

Bette Davis

Hope Lange

Arthur O'Connell

Peter Falk

Thomas Mitchell

Edward Everett Horton

Mickey Shaughnessy

David Brian

Sheldon Leonard

Peter Mann

Ann-Margret

Barton MacLane

John Litel

Jerome Cowan

Jay Novello

Frank Ferguson

Willis Bouchey

Fritz Feld

Ellen Corby

Gavin Gordon

Benny Rubin

Jack Elam

Mike Mazurki

Hayden Rorke

Doodles Weaver

Abdullah Abbas

Don Ames

Sam Bagley

Benjie Bancroft

Herman Belmonte

Phil Bloom

Willie Bloom

Nina Borget

Betty Bronson

Ralph Brooks

Paul E. Burns

Mushy Callahan

George Calliga

James J. Casino

Marc Cavell

Albert Cavens

Noble 'Kid' Chissell

Charles Cirillo

Michael Cirillo

Bing Conley

Paul Cristo

Jacqueline deWit

Alphonso DuBois

Josip Elic

Joe Evans

Tom Fadden

Bess Flowers

Peter Ford

Eddie Foster

Byron Foulger

Joseph Glick

Jack Gordon

Joe Gray

James Griffith

Chuck Hamilton

Peter Hansen

Sam Harris

Stuart Holmes

Chester Jones

Richard Karlan

Kenner G. Kemp

John Lawrence

Robert Locke Lorraine

Bert Madrid

Mike Mahoney

Kermit Maynard

Joe McTurk

William Meader

Paul Micale

Jim Michael

Steve Mitchell

Ralph Montgomery

Kate Murtagh

George Nardelli

Billy Nelson

Paul Newlan

Daniel Nunez

Norman Papson

Charles Perry

Harry 'Snub' Pollard

Amanda Randolph

Fred Rapport

Paul Ravel

Leoda Richards

Clark Ross

Michael Ross

Angelo Rossitto

Phil Schumacher

Vito Scotti

Scott Seaton

Jack Shea

Stephen Soldi

Edgar Stehli

Bert Stevens

Frank Capra

Walter Scharf

Jimmy Van Heusen

Frank P. Keller

Edith Head

Wally Westmore

Nellie Manley

Damon Runyon

Robert Riskin

Hal Kanter

Harry Tugend

Joseph Sistrom

Robert J. Bronner

Roland Anderson

Hal Pereira

Arthur S. Black Jr.

Ralph Axness

Walter Plunkett

Comedy

Drama

Pocketful of Miracles

Franton Production

United States of America

CinemaSerf

The start of this film reminded me of the lady who sold bird seed in "Mary Poppins" - the down-at-heel but kind hearted "Annie" (Bette Davis) who scrapes a living together thanks largely to the generosity of local gangster "Dude" (Glenn Ford). What nobody else knows, however, is that she secretly has a daughter living in Spain who thinks her mother is wealthy, living in a suite at a fancy hotel. When "Louise" (Ann-Margret) writes to say that she will soon visit with her fiancée - A Spanish aristocrat; this throws quite a spanner in the works for "Annie". Luckily, "Dude" is determined to rope in his contacts to try to help her impersonate the grand role she has represented herself as having - despite trying to get a the biggest deal of his own over the line. This causes no end of chagrin for the undoubted star of the picture - Peter Falk. He is the right hand man who gradually watches the planning and organising of this charade subsume everything else, and it's slowly driving him nuts. To be honest, the central portion of this comedy also drove me a bit nuts too. It borders too closely on the farcical, with Ford trying far too hard and seeing only fleeting appearances from the increasingly sidelined Davis. It steadies itself better for the last twenty minutes or so, but is really just too long with the joke too thinly spread and the slapstick humour all a bit too in-your-face for me. The writing is generally good, though, with some fine quips - especially from Falk, and the film looks great whilst taking a gentle swing at the political class as they all flock to the side of this minor Count from Spain. I did quite enjoy it, but sadly it isn't one of Frank Capra's more focussed efforts, nor is it one of his more poignant or amusing stories.

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Pocketful of Miracles (1961) clip - on BFI Blu-ray from 21 September 2020 | BFI

Pocketful of Miracles (1961) ORIGINAL TRAILER