Pocketful Of Miracles DVD (1961)

Pocketful Of Miracles

1961

Overall rating: 3 out of 5

from 332 members

Director Frank Capra's last feature film, Pocketful of Miracles is a Technicolor remake of his 1933 film Lady for a Day. A barely recognizable Bette Davis plays Apple Annie, the besotted, unkempt, rag-clad street vendor who controls the activities of all the beggars on Broadway. Apple Annie is the pet of Dave the Dude (Glenn Ford), a tough but basically kind-hearted gangster who believes that Annie's apples bring him luck. One morning, Annie fails to show up at her usual corner. That's because she is sitting disconsolate in her squalid shack, contemplating suicide. The reason: Annie has received a letter from her daughter Louise (Ann-Margret, in her screen debut). Annie has been supporting Louise's high-priced European education, leading the girl to believe that she, Annie, is a high-society dowager. Now Louise is returning home with her wealthy fiance Carlos Romero (Peter Mann) in tow, and it looks as though Annie's cover will be blown to bits. Partly out of sympathy, but mostly because of his superstitious belief in the power of Annie's apples, Dave the Dude arranges with his Broadway cohorts to doll up Annie so that she can pass as a woman of means, then stage-manages a huge, expensive reception for Louise and her beau. The complications that ensued in the original 1933 version of Lady for a Day exercise their prerogative once more, with a few added plot twists to pad out Glenn Ford's screen time. Cutting through the sentimental goo like a machete is Peter Falk, who is hilarious as Dave the Dude's sarcastic bodyguard. Evidently, Falk was one of the few actors on the set of Pocketful of Miracles with which Capra remained sympatico throughout shooting. In his autobiography (a not altogether reliable tome), Capra insisted that Pocketful of Miracles was ruined by Glenn Ford's autocratic and self-serving on-set behavior, and by Ford's demand that his current lady friend Hope Lange be (mis)cast as brash nightclub chirp Queenie Martin. As usual, Capra was not telling the whole story: at 63, he was beginning to lose his grip on his movie-making skills, allowing every scene to run well past its value and concentrating on cute isolated bits rather than the story at hand. Way too long at 136 minutes (Lady for a Day ran but 90), Pocketful of Miracles still has a lot going for it, especially the glowing performance of Bette Davis and the basic, foolproof Damon Runyon story on which it is based. While it disappointed at the box office, Miracles has since its release become a Christmastime TV perennial, seldom failing to draw big ratings numbers.~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pocketful Of Miracles details

Format:	U DVD
Starring:	Peter Falk, Glenn Ford, Thomas Mitchell, Arthur O'Connell, Hope Lange
Director:	Frank Capra
Genre:	Drama - General
Studio:	MGM ENTERTAINMENT

DVD 1 disc

Name	Discs
Pocketful Of Miracles	U Feature

DVD Information

Run time:	2 hours 15 minutes
Rental release:	03 May 2004
Main languages:	English

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Most helpful review Pocketful Of Miracles

Capra's last gasp

By Magnus Stanke from London , 04 Dec 2006

[Highly rated reviewer]

The formerly Great Frank Capra had, by the 1960s (in fact much, much earlier) run out of creative steam and ideas. This is the second occasion when he remade one of his own early films (after 'Riding High' (1950), a remake of his 'Broadway Bill' from 1934) and the difference between the two films (Lady for a Day (1933) was the first version) is Huge!

Despite an impressive cast which includes the late great Glenn Ford, a pre-Baby Jane Bette Davies as well as Jack Elam, Thomas Mitchell and a show stealing performance from Peter Falk, Pocketful of Miracles is almost painfully phony. For one thing 'Lady for a Day' is very much a Prohibition story, ie. a comment on the current situation in the time it was made (1933). 'Miracles' is a 'period drama' that just doesn't convince as such. Another great problem is that Glenn Ford is simply miscast as The Dude (apparently Capra wanted but couldn't get Sinatra or Kirk Doulgas, either of which would have been more suitable).

So, if you want a really good film try 'Lady for a Day' instead.

One more: the second remake of the 'Lady for a Day' story comes from - wait for it - no other than Jackie Chan (!) and is called 'Miracles'...

Go figure
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A Miracle

By a customer from Barry , 04 Feb 2009

Good acting but not my sort of film
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Capra's last gasp

By Magnus Stanke from London , 04 Dec 2006

The formerly Great Frank Capra had, by the 1960s (in fact much, much earlier) run out of creative steam and ideas. This is the second occasion when he remade one of his own early films (after 'Riding High' (1950), a remake of his 'Broadway Bill' from 1934) and the difference between the two films (Lady for a Day (1933) was the first version) is Huge!

Despite an impressive cast which includes the late great Glenn Ford, a pre-Baby Jane Bette Davies as well as Jack Elam, Thomas Mitchell and a show stealing performance from Peter Falk, Pocketful of Miracles is almost painfully phony. For one thing 'Lady for a Day' is very much a Prohibition story, ie. a comment on the current situation in the time it was made (1933). 'Miracles' is a 'period drama' that just doesn't convince as such. Another great problem is that Glenn Ford is simply miscast as The Dude (apparently Capra wanted but couldn't get Sinatra or Kirk Doulgas, either of which would have been more suitable).

So, if you want a really good film try 'Lady for a Day' instead.

One more: the second remake of the 'Lady for a Day' story comes from - wait for it - no other than Jackie Chan (!) and is called 'Miracles'...

Go figure
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Moments of Magic

By a customer from London , 24 Aug 2005

I first saw this film as a kid, many years ago...and loved it. Viewing it again 17 years later, it left me with mixed feelings.

Davis is her usual brilliant self; and the story of 'Apple Annie' is rather sweet, sad and interesting. However, it gets lost with the other story which rans parallel. Gangsters running New York, with a very young looking 'Columbo' (can't remember his name).

Anyway, worth it for Davis.
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Capra sentimental

By Keith Chawgo from London, England , 30 Mar 2005

Capra delivers an all star cast in this Damon Ranyon adaption of an apple seller who has to pass herself off as a grand dame with the help of the mob. The story seems very linked to Guys and Dolls with some of the same characters mentioned. Bette Davis is superb as apple annie, Glen Ford as the mob boss and Ann Margaret as the daughter to marry a count. Peter Falk has one of the best one liners and gives an excellent performance. If you are looking for a good afternoon film, than look no further. Extremely enjoyable.
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