Come To The Stable (1949)

Come To The Stable (1949)

„Come To The Stable“ is a 1949 Black & White comedy drama film directed by Henry Koster. The screenplay by Oscar Millard and Sally Benson is based on a story by Clare Boothe Luce.

Two French nuns, Sisters Margaret and Scolastica, come to the small New England town of Bethlehem to build a hospital.

Amelia Potts, a painter of religious pictures, is puzzled as to why they chose Bethlehem. Sister Margaret replies that they had received a postcard with a reproduction of a nativity scene painted by Miss Potts, entitled „Come to the Stable.“ Miss Potts’ neighbor is Composer Robert „Bob“ Mason.

The Bishop is unable to help the Sisters financially with their project however, but does give them a small amount of money to tide them over.

They return to Bethlehem, Bob’s assistant, Anthony James offers them a ride from the railroad station in Bob’s jeep. Instead, the Sisters borrow the jeep to go to New York City to find Mr. Luigi Rossi, a „bookie“, and ask him to donate his land. But, Rossi intends to build his retirement home on the site. However, Rossi’s son was killed in action near their hospital in Rouen, and changes his mind. The land is theirs.

In Bethlehem, Bob and his girl friend, Kitty Blaine, listen to a recording of a new song he has composed when the Sisters come to thank him for the use of the jeep. Bob then announces that he will be going to Hollywood for a few weeks to work on a picture.

Later, the Sisters acquire a three-month option on a former witch hazel bottling plant opposite the Rossi property, for use as a temporary shelter. Eleven more nuns and a chaplain arrive from France,. They all must raise the additional money needed, or they all must leave.

When Bob returns from Hollywood with Kitty and three house guests, he discovers that the nuns are having a produce-and-arts sale in Miss Potts’s yard and Bob insists that she evict all the nuns.

On the day before the option is to lapse, the nuns find themselves $500 short of the necessary amount. That evening, after Kitty performs Bob’s new song for his guests, they hear the nuns singing a hymn which they recognize as being similar to Bob’s song. Concerned about being accused of plagiarism, Bob swears that he first thought of the melody after his Army outfit landed in France four years earlier. Guest Al Newman, a music critic, identifies it as an ancient Gregorian chant.

The next morning, Bob visits the real estate agent and arranges to buy the plant in order to keep it out of the nuns’s hands.

Later, Bob discovers that their Mother House is in Normandy, near where he was stationed. When the Sisters ask him to pray for them, Bob is moved to change his mind about their project, and soon he, Kitty, Miss Potts, Mr. Rossi and the Bishop attend the dedication of the temporary home of the hospital of St. Jude.

Cast:

• Loretta Young – Sister Margaret
• Celeste Holm – Sister Scholastica
• Hugh Marlowe – Robert „Bob“ Mason
• Elsa Lanchester – Amelia Potts
• Thomas Gomez – Luigi Rossi
• Dorothy Patrick – Kitty Blaine
• Basil Ruysdael – The Bishop
• Dooley Wilson – Anthony James
• Regis Toomey – Monsignor Talbot
• Mike Mazurki – Sam
• Louis Jean Heydt – Al Newman
• Nolan Leary – Bethlehem Station Master
• Tim Huntley – Buzz Townsend-Cooper
• Teddy Driver – Cherub
• Roddy McCaskill – Cherub
• Walter Baldwin – Claude Jarman, Realtor
• Henri Letondal – Father Barraud
• Danny Jackson – George, Jarman’s Assistant
• Wally Brown – Howard Sheldon, Bob’s Agent
• Gary Pagett – Johnnie Matthews
• Frank Richards – Lefty, Rossi’s Goon
• Ian MacDonald – Mr. Matthews
• Jean Prescott – Mrs. Matthews
• Eula Guy – Mrs. O’Connor
• Virginia Keiley – Mrs. Townsend-Cooper
• Robert Foulk – New York City Policeman
• Pati Behrs – Nun
• Nan Boardman – Nun
• Louise Colombet – Nun
• Georgette Duane – Nun
• Yvette Reynard – Nun
• Loulette Sablon – Nun
• Russ Clark – Policeman
• John Bleifer – Rosey, Rossi’s Goon
• Marion Martin – Rossi’s Manicurist
• Edwin Max – Whitey, Rossi’s Associate
• Gordon Gebert – Willie Matthews
• Geraldine Jordan – Woman

„… und der Himmel lacht dazu“ (Come To The Stable) ist eine Filmkomödie von 1949 unter der Regie von Henry Koster. Das Drehbuch von Oscar Millard und Sally Benson basiert auf einer Geschichte von Clare Boothe Luce.

Zwei französische Nonnen, die Schwestern Margaret und Scolastica, kommen in die kleine Stadt Bethlehem in Neuengland, um ein Krankenhaus zu errichten.

Amelia Potts, eine Malerin religiöser Bilder, wundert sich, warum sie Bethlehem ausgewählt haben. Schwester Margaret antwortet, dass sie eine Postkarte mit einer Reproduktion einer von Miss Potts gemalten Krippenszene mit dem Titel „Come to the Stable“ erhalten hätten. Miss Potts’ Nachbar ist der Komponist Robert „Bob“ Mason.

Der Bischof ist jedoch nicht in der Lage, die Schwestern bei ihrem Projekt finanziell zu unterstützen, gibt ihnen aber einen kleinen Betrag, um ihnen über die Runden zu helfen.

Als sie nach Bethlehem zurückkehren, bietet ihnen Bobs Assistent Anthony James an, sie in Bobs Jeep vom Bahnhof mitzunehmen. Stattdessen leihen sich die Schwestern den Jeep, um nach New York City zu fahren, wo sie Mr. Luigi Rossi, einen „Buchmacher“, aufsuchen und ihn bitten, ihnen sein Land zu schenken. Doch Rossi will auf dem Grundstück sein Altersheim bauen. Doch Rossis Sohn, der in der Nähe seines Krankenhauses in Rouen gefallen ist, ändert seine Meinung. Das Land gehört ihnen.