Picture 17: Going My Way (1944)

Hollywood is on a roll. The years 1939-1943 now occupy the top 5 spots on the Best Picture Rankings. The Golden Age is in full swing. Creativity, innovation, improved photography and gripping plots are the order of the day. Can they keep it up? Can this wartime form continue?

No. 1944 gives us the musical comedy Going My Way. We watch an elder pastor (Barry Fitzgibbon) get slowly replaced in his role in a New York City Catholic church by the young, dynamic, charming and singing Father Chuck O'Malley (Bing Crosby). Meanwhile Chuck engages in some community projects - most notably creating a choir to help raise funds to maintain the churches' financial solvency.

I'd like to say the plot goes deeper and grips you from start to finish but I'm struggling. Maybe I represent a generation emotionally blunted to subtleties of great cinema. Maybe it just hasn't aged well. Truth is, I was bored and but for Bing's nice singing voice it would have scored lower.

Rating:

6/10

Reflections:

1. When religion truly grabs hold of you - it can feel like the most important concept above all else.

Oscar Best Picture Rankings:

1. Casablanca (1943)

2. Rebecca (1940)

3. How Green Was My Valley (1941)

4. Gone With the Wind (1939)

5. Mrs. Miniver (1942)

6. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

7. Wings (1928)

8. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

9. You can’t take it with you (1938)

10. Cimarron (1931)

11. Grand Hotel (1932)

12. It Happened One Night (1934)

13. Cavalcade (1933)

14. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

15. Going My Way (1944)

16. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

17. The Broadway Melody (1929)