Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

JohnHowardReid For a female equivalent of Valentino in popularity and prestige, it would be hard to go past Lillian Gish - at least until Garbo appeared on the scene in Flesh and the Devil (1926). One of her most popular films, The White Sister (1923), is marketed on a DVD set with the 1933 version by the Warner Archive. There are actually four movie versions of the 1909 novel by Francis Marion Crawford and the 1909 play adapted by Crawford and Broadway author-director, Walter Hackett. Considering that the overly verbose play ran only 48 performances in New York, that's certainly a remarkable achievement. It's also astonishing that three of the four movies are available on DVD. Warner Archive market a set of the 1923 and 1933 versions. Laguna Films have the 1960 Mexican version, La Hermana Blanca. Produced by Hunt Stromberg and directed by Victor Fleming, the 1933 version is a high-budget production if ever there was one. It's also very overtly a Catholic picture, obviously aimed at innoculating M-G-M from the church's criticism of Hollywood studio's "turning audiences into pagans" (to quote a Joe Breen ally). In fact the picture often resembles The Nun's Story (1959) in its overt, highly detailed display of veiled church ceremonies. Unlike the Fred Zinnemann picture, however, there is not even the slightest shadow of doubt that the Church's philosophy is God's philosophy and that the Church's way is - without the faintest degree of dissension - the right way. Nonetheless, as a spectacle, these scenes do make an impact, although one has a feeling that the movie is always running slowly downhill from its vibrant opening scenes at the carnival. The stars (Helen Hayes and Clark Gable) and even the minor players too seem to be, scene by scene, becoming less enthusiastic, less charismatic as the script doggedly unwinds for 105 minutes towards its predictable, yet abrupt and nonetheless disheartening conclusion. Of course, like many screen adaptations, Fleming's White Sister bears only a passing resemblance to the novel. Gone are two of the book's three principal support characters: the wicked half-sister (so brilliantly played by Gail Kane in the 1923 film) and the hero's brother (not so colorfully interpreted by Gustavo Serena). The deletion of the brother means, of course, that the 1933 film has no climax. Nonetheless, although I'd give the visuals a lesser rating than the Sunrise Silents version, Warner have a far, far, far superior sound-track. The original music score by Garth Neustadter is the best I've ever heard. It brought tears to my eyes.

pixelwks Back in the days before VCR's I set my alarm clock to 3:00 Am to watch this film. If you were a film buff back then you had no choice, the TV told you when to watch something. I was a big Clark Gable fan and this was a pretty obscure film that I was keen on seeing.My grandmother wandered in and sat down with me to watch. She not only knew the film immediately but remembered every moment in the film like she had just seen it. She remembered what she wore and what she had for lunch that day in 1934. This movie was like a time machine for her. She cried at the end like a little girl.I lost my grandmother not long after that and this memory has stayed with me for 30 years.I haven't seen the film since but I remember it being a very old fashioned melodrama. It will never get to DVD I suppose.

crispy_comments I admire the stars of this film, and they give great performances, as expected. The acting strikes all the right emotional chords, but unfortunately the material is weak - one of those Doomed Romances where the plot contrives to keep the lovers apart through one calamity after another, and some stupid, unnecessary sacrifices made by the Heroine.She believes he's been killed in the war and becomes a nun. He escapes from prison camp *just* too late to stop her from taking her final vows. Oh, fate is Cru-el! Of course you're supposed to enjoy the soapy drama without questioning it, and have a good cry, but I just roll my eyes and berate the characters on the screen.She could've waited a bit before taking such a radical step - after all, he was only missing & presumed dead. I wouldn't be giving up on *my* True Love so soon. And after the poor guy struggles repeatedly to get back to her, how is he rewarded for being so brave, clever and loyal? He finds out she wasn't loyal to *him*, and she isn't brave enough to be with him no matter what. (I choose to interpret the "White" in this film's title as "Cowardly", thankyouverymuch).Oh, she can't renounce her vows (even though technically she *can*). It's Too Late. She's married to Jesus now. Even though she admits she still loves Gable and wouldn't have gone through with it if she'd found out he survived. Which means her vows are a mockery anyway and she pretty much lied during the ceremony. Isn't it compelling to watch someone struggle to suppress their real feelings for the sake of a promise made because it gave her "comfort", even when the reason & need for said comfort has been removed? No, it's just infuriating.The ending really piles on the soapsuds, as the Hero finally accepts her decision, and they have their upteenth Moving Goodbye Scene ...How many times do we have to watch these two say Goodbye Forever?! 1. when her father disapproves of him & she tries to honour her engagement to another man - 2. when she feels too guilty to be with Gable now that her father's gone, because dad died while chasing her (!) to stop her from being with Gable, you see! - 3. when Gable goes off to war - 4. when he first visits her at the convent & she sends him away - 5. when he finally stops pursuing her but promises to love her for the rest of his life ... and get ready for one more! A few seconds later the "rest of his life" is cut short (with just enough time to say Goodbye again though!) as he's killed by a bomb during a raid (which wouldn't have happened if she hadn't insisted on going back to the convent, under his escort).Sheesh. Jesus really hates this guy for moving in on His woman, eh? Gable promises to wait for her in the afterlife, but I have a feeling the Eternal Love Triangle will never be resolved. God, the big bully, will keep tripping Gable up with banana peels in Heaven. Or maybe He'll just remove the competition and send the guy to Hell. Fate is Cru-el that way."The White Sister" started off promisingly, with some cute and amusing courting scenes between the would-be lovers. Too bad the film descended into contrived melodrama that only a masochist (or a repressed nun, but now I'm being redundant) could enjoy.

oewnaynailf Throwing Clark Gable against God isn't exactly the best plot, but the movie is watchable. Giovanni (Gable) falls in love with Angela, a prince's daughter, after running into her at a festival. Complications arise for the two of them, including (spoilers ahead) Angela's fiancé Ernesto, her father's death, Giovanni's recruitment into war, and her eventual commitment to God.The first half of the film is pretty interesting as Gable wooing Helen Hayes is entertaining for the most part. Afterward, Hayes's indecisiveness about her way of life drags on a bit. In the beginning of the movie, she wishes to adventure out into the world and celebrate, then it takes her some time to realize she loves Giovanni, but a possible life with him is eventually put to an end as she becomes a nun.A movie worth catching on television on a rainy day.