Greatest Film Scenes
and Moments



The Song of Bernadette (1943)

 



Written by Tim Dirks

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Movie Title/Year and Scene Descriptions
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The Song of Bernadette (1943)

In director Henry King's inspirational film based on Franz Werfel's best-selling account:

  • the innocent wonderment of sickly French peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous/Mary Bernard (Oscar-winning Jennifer Jones)
  • the scene of her experiencing a vision of the Virgin Mary (uncredited and pregnant Linda Darnell) ("I saw a lady and she was all in white...and she wore a blue girdle and had a golden rose on each foot. I've never seen anything in my life so beautiful") in mid 19th century France
  • the dramatic ending scene when she showed doubting, vicious and jealous Sister Vauzous (Gladys Cooper) her horribly diseased bone afflicted legs when being reprimanded for not suffering enough to have been chosen to see the Virgin
  • Bernadette Soubirous' death scene when her deathbed was surrounded by other nuns and priests as the last rites were read. Bernadette worried that she wouldn't ever see the Virgin Mary (Linda Darnell) again: ("Where are you, Madame? Where are you? She's gone...I won't see her. I'll never see her again. Never, never, I'll never see...")
  • about at the moment of death, she raised her head from the pillow and experienced a final visitation from the Virgin Mary who held out her arms, and smiled. Bernadette responded: ("I love you! I love you! Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for me.")

Bernadette's Death Scene
  • after her death, Father Peyramale (Charles Bickford) stated: ("You are now in Heaven and on Earth. Your life begins, O Bernadette"). Superimposed bells began to peal from the church tower, and there was a chorus of "Hallelujahs," as the film concluded
  • her death scene was coupled with the film’s climactic final moment when the cold hearted, atheistic local prosecutor Vital Dutour (Vincent Price), dying of throat cancer, stood before the grotto of the Virgin and suffered a crisis of faith


Bernadette's Vision of the Virgin Mary



Sister Vauzous (Gladys Cooper)


Bernadette on Her Death Bed


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