"Come to the Stable" and Tennis Nuns

by Nick Taylor

Today is the 75th anniversary of Come to the Stable, which has to rank among the most inoffensive, featherweight films to earn seven nominations from Thee Academy Awards. The story of two nuns, Sister Margaret (Loretta Young) and Sister Scholastica (Celeste Holm), who travel all the way from France to a wintry New England township so they can build a hospital. “Why do they go all the way to New England” you might ask, but who cares!

Specific details about why things happen are not the draw of Come to the Stable. A musician/landlord named Bob does not want the nuns to build their new hospital on a hill he owns for some reason, which doesn’t stop them from securing a plot of land and importing two dozen of their Sisters from France. At one point the nuns sneak into a gangster’s suite and successfully convince him to sell the aforementioned plot of land after they trade stories about serving in World War II. In short, every obstacle to Sister Margaret and Sister Scholastica getting what they want proves powerless in the face of their somewhat savvy, utterly guileless embodiments of faith. However, there is one enemy the women cannot pray away, one barrier they must overcome with strength, vigor, and attention. That barrier’s name, you might ask? She’s called tennis . . . .

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Oscar Trivia: Which films received the most nominations yet missed Best Picture?

by Nathaniel R

We love to throw random Oscar trivia at you. We love you for not even trying to dodge it! So here's a top ten for you. Here's something we were pondering the other day quite randomly: pictures that Oscar voters obviously loved but somehow skipped in the Best Picture race. This trivia is now a different game entirely given that there are so many Best Picture nominees each year. Unless Oscar returns to the days of 5 nominees, we aren't likely to see this list change ever again. But do you think any film this year might see a lot of nominations without a Best Picture bit. Anyway here is the all-timers list of such things...

The "Most-Nominated" Films That Missed Best Picture

01. Nine nominations
THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY (1969)
Director Sydney Pollack would make multiple classics in his career, among which The Way We Were (1973) and Tootsie (1982) are arguably the best loved today, and win two Oscars for Out of Africa (1985). His fifth, which preceeded those "greatest hits" catapulted him into greatness. This bleak masterpiece about a Depression-era dance marathon is still an intense watch a full half century after its debut. The performances by Jane Fonda, Susannah York, and Gig Young are sensational and the film is never less than riveting. It was nominated for 9 Oscars, more than any of the Best Picture nominees that year save Anne of a Thousand Days, but won only supporting actor for Gig Young. Perhaps it was too bleak... or those Academy members with a taste for grit and edge were all already in Midnight Cowboy's pocket that year?

02. [TIE] Eight nominations plus a non-competitive special achievement Oscar

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Retro Randomness: Come to the Stable (1949)

by Nathaniel R

Have you ever queued up an old movie no one talks about anymore hoping to discover a gem?

You imagine that it's only been forgotten or is underdiscussed due to the vagaries of when and where movies are available in the ever changing landcape of viewing technologies, Such was my fantasy when I sat down to watch Come to the Stable (1949). This French nuns in New England comedy was my biggest viewing gap in 1949 Oscar history. In fact, I didn't even know it was a comedy.

Alas the fantasy of stumbling upon a forgotten gem didn't last long. Still, Come to the Stable's tagline must have been true in 1949. It read...

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15 Days Until Oscar: The habit, get into it.

15 is today's magic number. As far as I can tell -- though I am not Pope-infallible-- 15 women have been Oscar nominated over the years for playing nuns or nun apprentices... what are they called, novitiates? novices? problems-like-Maria?

Let's pray for them together after the jump. Which of these nominations do you most approve of and why is it so hard to win for playing a Sister or Mother Superior? 

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Loretta Young, Ruffled

Happy Centennial to Loretta Young!  (January 6th, 1913 - August 12th, 2000) She was my mom's favorite actress as a little girl which is how I know her name. 

So many ruffles! How can Loretta breathe in there?

Well that and my encyclopedic attention to the Best Actress category in theory long before I'd seen almost any of the movies as a kid. The Farmer's Daughter was literally the first of the 1940s Best Actress winners I ever saw -- entirely because of my mom's love for it -- but I have to admit that I don't remember the movie at all now. (FWIW my favorite Best Actress win of the 40s is a tight race between Crawford's Mildred Pierce and DeHavilland's The Heiress)

We name-checked Loretta very briefly on the recent podcast (Part 1 & 2) because my mom was so happy with the book I gave her as a gift recently. My mother is very conservative so perhaps it was Loretta's devout Christianity in the middle of the Sodom & Gomorrah --aka Hollywood -- that was a draw? Or maybe its was regional pride -  Loretta Young was one of the few big movie stars from Utah, where my mom was born and raised.

The book is called "Hollywood Madonna Loretta Young" (by Bernard F Dick) and is apparently the first biography of this Leading Actress of the 40s. In addition to film stardom, she had a secret love child with Clark Gable and found major television stardom in as the host / sometime star of the long running drama series "The Loretta Young Show" (1953-1961)

Have you seen any of her films?

Loretta Young is naturally being celebrated this month here and there. Her official website is tracking the celebrations and screenings if you're interested in checking her work out. I've got to catch Come to the Stable (1949) one of these days. Such a major hole in my Oscar viewing what with its seven nominations (among the highest for a film that missed a Best Picture citation) and it's a nun movie for Christ's sake  -- Oscar subgenre alert! Frustrated that Netflix doesn't have it.