It's Thanksgiving weekend, and I'm somewhat ill, so I'm wide awake in the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning, and I'm in need of something to remind me of the things I should be thankful for, and whom I should be thankful to, so I'm flipping channels, and my local Christian network TV station is showing something that I readily recognize as a pre-ratings (and therefore, likely safe) flick that I've never seen before, with a grandmotherly lady of indigenous African descent with a wonderful voice raising praise in the form of a sweet Southern Spiritual.That captured me.
The Billy Graham Team (as they are described in the credits) ran a slick operation in the 1950s that could (and probably did) teach Sterling Cooper a thing or two. This glossy colour feature from their filmmaking arm World Wide Pictures boasts the considerable marquee value of blues legend Ethel Waters, who is also seen drawing the punters to Madison Square Garden as a warm up act for the Reverend Graham himself.
As a strictly non-religious moviegoer, when I saw this movie starting on late-night cable TV I merely intended to view it for whatever entertainment value (and potential kitsch quality) it might provide. I was very surprised at the solid competency that is apparent throughout, especially in both scriptwriting and acting (in spite of sometimes obvious budget constraints.
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