The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952) 
    Based on actual events, this compelling drama set in 1917 Fatima, Portugal, tells the story of three children (Susan Whitney, Sherry Jackson and Sammy Ogg) who have visions of the Virgin Mary. Fearing... read more read more... reprisals from the anti-Catholic government, adults caution the children not to reveal what they've seen. But word gets out, and soon, 70,000 pilgrims gather to witness a miracle. The film was nominated for a Best Music Score Oscar.
     
ABOUT THE "LADY OF FATIMA": 
       Our Lady of Fátima (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora de Fátima) (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈfatimɐ]) is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary with respect to reported apparitions of her to three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on May 13. The three children were Lúcia Santos and her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco Marto. The title of Our Lady of the Rosary is also sometimes used in reference to the same apparition (although it was first used in 1208 for the reported apparition in the church of Prouille), because the children related that the apparition specifically identified herself as the "Lady of the Rosary". It is also common to see a combination of these titles, i.e. Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima). The events at Fatima gained particular fame due to their elements of prophecy and eschatology, particularly with regard to possible world war and the conversion of Russia.[1] The reported apparitions at Fatima were officially declared "worthy of belief" by the Catholic Church.
  In 1917, three shepherd children living just outside Fatima, Portugal have visions of a lovely lady in a cloud. The anticlerical government wishes to squelch the Church; reports of religious experiences are cause for serious concern. Yet the children stand by their story, and the message of peace and hope the Lady brings. In the last vision, attended by thousands of people, the Lady proves her reality with a spectacular miracle that is seen by everyone present. Based on actual events at Fatima in the summer of 1917.

THE STORY IN THE MOVIE:

     It is 1917, and Portugal is feeling the aftereffects of a storm of Masonic, anti-religious sentiment and the violent overthrow of the government by socialist forces in its October 5, 1910 revolution. Churches in Lisbon are boarded up. Many priests, monks and friars are shown being fingerprinted, photographed and registered as (possible) criminals before being jailed. The rural town of Fatima is small enough to have escaped much of this persecution; their church remains open, and most of the people are reasonably devout.

Watching their flocks and playing in a field outside town on May 16 (the actual date of the first apparition was May 13), Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto decide to pray their version of the Rosary by yelling out, "Hail Mary!" but not finishing the prayer. In the midst of this activity they hear a clap of thunder and see a flash of lightning. Thinking it is about to rainm, the children gather their sheep and head for home. Another flash of lightning causes them to run straight into an unusual "cloud of light" surrounding a little tree on which a lady stands. Speaking slowly and gently, the lady asks them to return on the 13th of each month and to offer their sufferings to God for the salvation of sinners. She entreats them to say the Rosary for world peace. Later, they encounter their agnostic friend Hugo who tells them it is best not to reveal the vision to anyone else, but of course on returning home, Jacinta immediately divulges her sightings.

Jacinta and Francisco's parents believe the story, but Lucia's mother reacts with disgust and subjects her daughter to emotional and physical abuse. She forbids Lucia to return to the Cova, but Lucia does so anyway on the next month's appearance (June 13), and is told then that her cousins will die and go to heaven "soon", while she will live a long life in holy service. The parish priest suggests the visions might be from Satan. The local authorities close the Fatima church until the priest can convince the parishioners that no visions have or will happen. The next month, on July 13, the lady appears again, predicting "another and worse war" (WWII) will happen if the world doesn't stop sinning. She also predicts evil will come from Russia if that country is unconverted. Kidnapped by provincial administrator Arturo Santos, the children are threatened with death if they don't change their story. Trying to frighten them, he has first Jacinta, then Francisco dragged into another room. Jacinta's terrified screams convince Lucia that her cousins are dead, but she refuses to deny what she's seen. Warning her that she's about to experience "the full treatment", Santos re unites her with her cousins, who are very much alive, then throws them all in jail. There they find Hugo, who stands by them as they convince all the prisoners to join in the Rosary.

Unable to find any prosecutable evidence, Arturo frees the children, who find that the entire population of Fatima has been standing outside waiting for them.

On October 13, when the lady promised "a sign that will make them believe," about seventy thousand people arrive, waiting through a torrential downpour. At precisely noon the clouds part and the sun shines brightly upon all the people—then the sun shifts through a rainbow of colours and appears to drop toward the ground, in what many have described as the Miracle of the Sun. Many people panic, some pray or watch calmly, and a few disabled people are healed. As the sun returns to normal we see Hugo standing in the middle of the kneeling crowd, his hat still on. Removing it, he says "Only the fool sayeth there is no God." A short epilogue shows the huge basilica where the tree once stood. Inside, Lucia is a nun praying before the tomb where her cousins are buried, with the converted Hugo at her side.


Synopsis

On 13 May 1917, in the Cova Da Iria, near the mountain village of Fatima, Portugal, a vision of a beautiful Lady appears to three shepherd children, Lucia Dos Santos and her younger cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto. Appearing above a tree, the Lady asks the children to return to the cova on the thirteenth day of each month for the next six months. Upon returning to the village, the children describe their encounter to Hugo DaSilva, an educated, agnostic peddler and friend, who counsels them to keep silent about it for their own protection. However, Jacinta tells her parents, Manuel and Olimpia Marto, who believe the story and tell Lucia's parents, Antonio and Maria Rosa Dos Santos. Fearing repercussions from the police, Maria Rosa accuses Lucia of playing tricks on her little cousins, and later tells the story to the village priest, Father Ferreira, who suggests it is a manifestation of girlish hysteria that should be ignored. By the middle of the following month, word has spread about the vision of the Lady, and pilgrims trek to the cova, but Maria Rosa forbids Lucia to go. Instead, she is taken to a village celebration, where the crowd taunts her until the village administrator, Arturo, arrives with the police. Having heard reports of religious sightings, which are punishable by law in the current police state, he questions the villagers and demands to be shown Lucia, but Hugo sneaks her away. After Lucia convinces Hugo to take her to the cova, a cloud appears and moves to the same place above the tree, but when the Lady appears, only the three children see her. She tells them that Jesus wants her to be known, and predicts that although Lucia will remain on earth to carry out her mission, Jacinta and Francisco will soon return to heaven. Then the crowd witnesses the cloud move from the tree and disappear. Later, Hugo is arrested for obstructing a police investigation and the village church is closed. Ferreira, who now no longer doubts that the children saw something, is still not certain that the vision is good, as only evil has come from it so far, but he tells Arturo that closing the church only sanctions the visions. Arturo counters that if no crowd appears at the cova the following month, the church will be reopened. On the day of the next expected appearance, the crowd is even larger than before. The police arrest Ferreira as he pleads to the pilgrims to return home, but the crowd prevents them from taking the children. The Lady appears, again only to the children, and says that they will suffer for the conversion of sinners. She predicts that the world will be punished by a second big war and tells of an evil scheme in Russia. Before departing, she promises to give a sign for the unbelievers in October. Afterward, when the newspapers denounce the actions of the police, Ferreira is released, but on the thirteenth of the following month, the police abduct the children. At the province's police station, the children are bribed, harassed and threatened to deny their vision, but they do not relent. The magistrate tries to trick them into implicating Ferreira or admitting that the visions are a money-making scheme fabricated by Antonio, who owns the land of the cova. When the children remain true, they are jailed with adult criminals, where Hugo is being held. While believers hold a vigil outside the jail, the children recite the Rosary until the magistrate releases them along with Hugo. Then the bishop arrives and tries to shame Lucia into discrediting her story, but Maria Rosa and Antonio comfort her by saying that they believe. On a rainy 13th of October, the families escort the children to the cova, where thousands of pilgrims wait for the vision, who calls herself the Lady of the Rosary. She appears and predicts that the current war will soon end and God will triumph. For the restless crowd, she presents the promised miracle: the sun appears to fall to the earth and when it returns to the heavens, the earth is dry, in spite of the heavy rain, and many of the sick and injured are healed. On that day, many skeptics, including Hugo, become believers. Thirty-four years later, thousands of people again pay homage to the lady at a basilica which has been built on the site of the cova. Inside the basilica, visiting the graves of Francisco and Jacinta, is Hugo with the nun Lucia. She tells him that if the people will pray, God will send peace.

Cast & Crew:

John Brahm Director
Gilbert Roland as Hugo DaSilva
Angela Clark as Maria Rosa Dos Santos
Frank Silvera as Arturo, administrator of the province
Jay Novello as Antonio Dos Santos
Richard Hale as Father Ferreira
Norman Rice as Manuel Marto
Frances Morris as Olimpia Marto
Susan Whitney as Lucia Dos Santos
Sherry Jackson as Jacinta Marto
Sammy Ogg as Francisco Marto
Paul Fierro as Captain/Mi nister

Release Date 11 Oct 1952
Color/BW Color (Warnercolor)
Sound Mono (RCA Sound System)
Production Dates 17 Jan--late Apr 1952

Alternate Title(s) The Miracle of Fatima
	
Duration (in mins) 101-102 or 104
Premiere Information - New York opening: 20 Aug 1952 - Los Angeles opening: 3 Oct 1952

Distribution Company Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Production Company Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country United States


NEW YORK TIMES Historical Movie Review Published August 21, 1952
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952)

THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; ' Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima,' 
Film Based on 1917 Events, at Two Theatres Here
A. W.
Published: August 21, 1952

Last year, vast numbers of the devout journeyed to the Roman Catholic shrine at Fatima in Portugal in the Holy Year observance of the thirty-fourth anniversary of the miracle reported there. The Warner Brothers, obviously alert to the drama and potential box office in such supernatural manifestations, now have re-created, with proper reverence and dignity, the solemn and mysterious events of 1917 in "The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima," which arrived at the Astor last night and will start dual engagements tomorrow at both the Astor and Bijou Theatres.

Since the producers are not setting any precedent in essaying a subject of this nature, they cannot be credited with a crusading spirit. However, they have treated a sectarian theme respectfully, and, technically, the production is well-turned and enhanced by the hues of WarnerColor. It is essentially a shining tribute to the strong faith of three youngsters whose unswerving belief moved men.

But in dramatizing this religious case history, Crane Wilbur and James O'Hanlon, the scenarists, were faced by what appears to this observer to be an insurmountable hurdle. Once the three children have witnessed their visions it is difficult to prolong visual and story suspense. It then becomes fairly obvious what the train of events will be and the lessening of dramatic impact is felt throughout the middle portions of the film.

Bryan Foy, a producer not noted for this genre, and John Brahm, the director, have carefully developed the farmer's young daughter, Lucia, and her younger cousins, Jacinta and Francisco, who, in 1917, see a "lady" in the sky above the Cova of Iria near the village of Fatima. They are equally careful to stress that the parish priest and his bishop are anxious to quell these disquieting tales. Stories of miracles, they realize, need proof, could easily be "manifestations of hysteria." And, the police, who had closed the churches following the 1910 revolution and only recently had allowed them to be reopened, could once again ban churchgoing.

But the faith of the children is abiding, as is that of the peasants of the countryside who flock with their sick and disabled to the hill-side site. The children, instructed by the "lady" of their vision to come to the Cova on the thirteenth day of each of the next six months, return to learn, among other things, that World War I would soon end, that "in Russia there is an evil scheme to destroy the earth," that the children should consecrate themselves to peace and that Jacinta and Francisco would die young.

The police, of course, are pictured as being powerless to stem both the spreading rumors of the children's continuing visions and the influx of the faithful. Despite attempts to close the church, incarcerate the children and brow-beat them into confessions, the multitude gathers for that October day when the "lady" will pass a miracle to prove the children's tales. On that rainy noon the sun suddenly appears in the heavens, dips toward the earth and slowly recedes. A lame boy now throws away his crutches, a blind man sees and the throngs find that they and the ground are miraculously dry.

Since she is required merely to characterize simple innocence, Susan Whitney, as the vessel chosen to transmit divine prophecies, portrays a laudably dedicated child but one whose performance seems strangely without passion or fire. Sherry Jackson and Sammy Ogg, who play her cousins, are, however, animated kids, whose wide-eyed and serious delineations are natural and convincing. Gilbert Roland does a smoothly professional job as the easygoing confidant of the children, who has strayed from the church. Angela Clark and Jay Novello are competent as the parents of Susan Whitney and Frank Silvera, as the tough, inquisitorial administrator of the province, and Richard Hale, as the village priest, also are interesting types. They help to make "The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima" a spiritual document for the faithful and a serious but unspectacular drama for others.


THE MIRACLE OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA, written for the screen by Crane Wilbur and James O'Hanlon; directed by John Brahm; produced by Bryan Foy for Warner Brothers. At the Astor and Bijou.
Lucia Dos Santos . . . . . Susan Whitney
Jacinta Marto . . . . . Sherry Jackson
Francisco Marto . . . . . Sammy Ogg
Hugo Da Silva . . . . . Gilbert Roland
Maria Rosa Dos Santos . . . . . Angela Clark
Antonio Dos Santos . . . . . Jay Novello
Arturo Dos Santos . . . . . Frank Silvera
Father Ferreira . . . . . Richard Hale
Manuel Marto . . . . . Norman Rice
Olimpia Marto . . . . . Frances Morris
The Magistrate . . . . . Carl Millitaire


 
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