Sally and Saint Anne
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Rudolph Maté
Ann Blyth
Edmund Gwenn
John Mcintire
Palmer Lee
Hugh O'brian
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When she cannot find her lunch upon arrving at St. Anthony's, her high school, Sally O'Moyne prays to a statue of St. Anne for help. Immediately afterward, she is punished by the Mother Superior when ice man "Gold Tooth" MCarthy finds her lunch on the back of his truck and realizes she hitched a ride into town with him. Sally races to St. Anne and, chastising her for being a "snitcher," declares that McCarthy should get a black eye. When she sees the ice man with a bruised eye the next day, she becomes a true believer. Soon, Sally has purchased a small statue of her saint and is praying for everyone in town, keeping track of their wishes in a small notebook. Six years later, her stack of notebooks has grown, and everyone in town is beholden to St. Anne for such things as Sally's friend Jean's engagement ring and the shopkeeper's first baby boy. One day, Sally, who does not often pray for herself, asks St. Anne to help her family to keep their house, which McCarthy, now an alderman, has scheduled for destruction to make room for a new highway. The entire family--Sally, Mr. and Mrs. O'Moyne and brothers Mike, a magician, Danny, a failing boxer, and Willie, a musician--are eager to save their idyllic home. Sally then visits the soda shop with her new friend, worldly city girl Lois Foran. When Johnny Evans, a college football star on whom Sally has a crush, arrives, Sally is chagrined to note his interest in Lois. At home, meanwhile, local priest Father Kennedy criticizes Sally's grandfather, Pat Ryan, for refusing to die until he has finished his crocheting, regardless of his poor health. McCarthy visits with his lawyer, Parker, and insists once again that Grandpa sign over a small parcel of land he owns, which sits between McCarthy's two downtown highrises. Grandpa, who loves the little lot, decides to thwart McCarthy by having their current house moved there. When Sally, who secretly unravels Grandpa's crocheting each night, tells him about Johnny, he advises her to use "bait" to catch him and points to sophisticated Jean as an example. Sally asks a soda jerk, Henry, to take her to the country club dance, and stops at Jean's beforehand for a makeover. When they arrive at the dance, Johnny is awed by Sally's newfound beauty and elegance and leaves Lois to pursue her. When he takes her parking, however, she is overwhelmed by his advances and runs home. There, she finds that she is so late the house has already been moved across town, and she must walk there in her high heels. The next day, McCarthy, furious with the O'Moynes for moving their house next to his modern apartments, orders the police to ticket the family for every possible minor violation. Meanwhile, Johnny visits and, when Sally refuses to speak to him, takes Grandpa's advice to settle into the house until she will be forced to acknowledge him. At dinner, McCarthy arrives to declare that their tree is choking the water pipes and must be cut down immediately. Although Grandpa planted the tree himself, they are forced to comply, but when the boys chop it down, it falls on McCarthy's building and causes $2,000 worth of damage. McCarthy offers to buy the site for the amount of the damages, which will leave the family homeless, but Danny announces that an upcoming fight with the local champion will pay the same amount. As he has lost every fight to date, his brothers keep him up all night, "training" him in the arts of deception and rhythm. Unable to sleep, Grandpa leaves his bed for the first time in months. As he paces up and down the plot, he realizes that McCarthy's building occupies a small fraction of his land. At the fight the next day, Danny is losing badly until he becomes so addled that he dances around the ring, shocking his opponent into submission. He wins the prize money. That night when McCarthy interrupts the family's dinner, they triumphantly present him with the check. Grandpa then announces that Johnny has procured McCarthy's original architectural plans, which indicate that the buildings are illegally placed. Although McCarthy offers the family anything it wants, Grandpa asks only for an end to the feud. Before he leaves, McCarthy quietly offers to plant a new tree for them, and Grandpa, impressed, declares that they will all go to church together. Sally, blowing a kiss to St. Anne, calls McCarthy "neighbor."
Director
Rudolph Maté
Cast
Ann Blyth
Edmund Gwenn
John Mcintire
Palmer Lee
Hugh O'brian
Jack Kelly
Frances Bavier
Otto Hulett
Kathleen Hughes
George Mathews
Lamont Johnson
King Donovan
Robert Nichols
Dabbs Greer
Alix Talton
Joe Mell
Leo Cleary
George Wallace
Mary Alan Hokanson
Eilene Janssen
Lois Austin
Sadie Lou Tieri
Sara Taft
Kay Riehl
Joe Gray
Nesdon Booth
Frankie Van
June Hedin
Barbara Brady
Jack Gargan
Diane Christian
Mike Pat Donovan
Bob Perry
Bess Flowers
Harry Raven
Walter Smith
Phil Bloom
James Gray
Jack Mower
Crew
Harold Belfer
Hilyard Brown
Eugene Busch
Leslie I. Carey
Edward Curtiss
Richard Deweese
Russell A. Gausman
Irving Glassberg
Leonard Goldstein
Marshall Green
Julia Heron
Bernard Herzbrun
Anton Leader
Lew Leary
Herb Meadow
James O'hanlon
James O'hanlon
Rosemary Odell
Robert Pritchard
Frank Shaw
Frank Skinner
Joan St. Oegger
Bud Westmore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Some reviews and advertisements refer to the film's title as All Because of Sally; the Story of "Sally and Saint Anne". According to Hollywood Reporter's "Rambling Reporter," Universal worked with the Catholic Church to finalize the story. A Hollywood Reporter news item reported that actor Harvey Lembeck was a cast member, but he was not in the released film.
