Christmas in the Movies Everyday Through December
The Miracle of the Bells has this Christmas Eve scene included in this admittedly strange and affecting story of a Hollywood Press Agent, Bill Dunnigan (Fred MacMurray), in love with an unknown actress, Olga (Alida Valli), struggling to make it in Hollywood. But the movie opens with Dunnigan arriving in Olga's hometown with her coffin.
A flashback is essential to the magic and miracle to happen. We learn that this woman's background and history and her hopes and dreams. She has an amazing opportunity to test for the starring role of Joan of Arc and she puts her heart and soul into it. Her role is transformative for the picture and the studio. Tragically, after shooting has wrapped, Olga succumbs to tuberculosis and dies.
Months later, after meeting and falling for Olga, It is up to Bill Dunnigan to return the love and to bring her to the attention of Coal Town, PA- Olga's birthplace. He arrives in Coal Town and learns some hard truths about the place and Olga's circumstances as a child. Bill arranges through the town's three Churches to ring their bells for three days in honor of Olga.
How Bill handles their cynicism and the town's more heavy-handed response to Bill's request of the town's Church bells to ring for three days is the crux of the plot. But what I found is the more interesting part of the story is the sincerity of Olga's character and her belief in the basic goodness of people. Olga (even those who did not know her) is the driving force for everyone.