The Song of Bernadette (film)

The Song of Bernadette is a 1943 film about Bernadette Soubirous (later canonized Saint Bernadette) who, from February to July 1858 in Lourdes, France, reported eighteen visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
 * Directed by Henry King. Written by George Seaton, based on the novel by Franz Werfel.

Here is greatness...wonder...and majesty...no human words can describe!

Dominique Peyramale

 * Bernadatte sometimes to express certain things in a letter is difficult, so, wherever may you go, if ever you need me, just send me this. [hands her a holy card] I shall understand and come immediately.
 * [to Bernadette] Wake up! Now! Else life is at an end for you. You are playing with fire, Bernadette.

Dr. Dozous

 * I asked her 'Do you know what a sinner is?' And she answered, 'Certainly, Monsieur. A sinner is one who loves evil'. That's quite a good answer. What pleased me is that she said 'loves', and not 'does'.
 * There was something about her that precluded laughter. Her exaltation was so genuine that the observer almost had the impression that he saw what the child saw.

Other

 * Aunt Bernarde Casterot: She sees this lady. No one else does. Who are you to say that she is wrong and you are right? She may well be a heavenly creature... You will go with her! All the women of the family must stand by her side. I'll come. And when I walk with her... let anyone dare to laugh!

Dialogue

 * Empress Eugenie: You're an atheist, Louis!
 * Emperor Louis Napoleon III: That's the most stupid thing a sovereign could be.


 * Bishop of Tarbes: The Commission can render only one of three decisions. First: "You're an impostor, little Soubirous. Away with you to a home of juvenile delinquents". Second: "You're a madwoman, little Soubirous. Away with you to an asylum". Third...
 * Peyramale: "You are the rarest of mortal beings, little Soubirous".


 * Mother Superior: Well, Doctor?
 * Dr. St. Cyr: Well, in addition to the large tumor on the knee, she has tuberculosis of the bone. She has never complained of pain?
 * Mother Superior: No. Sister?
 * Sister Marie Therese Verzous: [stunned by the news] She never mentioned it.
 * Dr. St. Cyr: I can't understand it. She's had this affliction for a long time, and the constant pain and suffering associated with this disease is almost too horrible to describe.


 * Dutour: If I understand you correctly, Doctor, science then excludes fraud; it excludes mental disease, and it excludes a miraculous occurrence. I venture then to ask science, what is left?
 * Dr. Dozous: Yes, what is left?


 * Bernadette: Your Reverence, I did see her.
 * Peyramale: Yes, my child, you did. And you will see her again.
 * Bernadette: Perhaps I haven't suffered enough.
 * Peyramale: You've suffered enough, my child, for the Heaven of Heavens.

Cast

 * Jennifer Jones — Bernadette Soubirous
 * Charles Bickford — Abbé Dominique Peyramale
 * William Eythe — Antoine Nicoleau
 * Gladys Cooper — Marie Therese Vauzou
 * Vincent Price — Vital Dutour
 * Lee J. Cobb — Dr. Dozous
 * Anne Revere — Louise Casterot Soubirous
 * Roman Bohnen — François Soubirous
 * Mary Anderson — Jeanne Abadie
 * Patricia Morison — Empress Eugenie
 * Jerome Cowan — Emperor Napoleon III
 * Aubrey Mather — Mayor Lacade
 * Charles Dingle — Jacomet
 * Edith Barrett — Croisine Bouhouhorts
 * Sig Ruman — Louis Bouriette
 * Blanche Yurka — Bernarde Casterot