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Warner Bros. Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Folks, meet a grand FATHER! He's the affable, laffable head of the most delightful family that ever stepped out of America's screens...into America's hearts!
Episodic look at the life of a minister and his family as they move from one parish to another.
CinemaSerf
Jul 20, 2025 · via TMDB
I was a little apprehensive when this started. I though we were in for one of those twee American bible-thumping exercises with soft choral music and rousing sermons. Actually, though, it’s quite a fun chronology of the life of pastor “Spence” (Fredric March) and his wife “Hope” (Martha Scott). To begin with they live in Canada, haven’t two cents to rub together and with barely half a loaf to live on are hoping that some would-be newly weds will stop by for a $2 or $5 wedding! With their first born arriving, they move south across the border for something a little more prosperous - and that’s when their snowball starts to roll through, quite literally, fire and some brimstone. March is on good form, as is the under-used Scott and the trio of Beulah Bondi, Gene Lockhart and Laura Hope Crews add a buy-your-way-into-heaven potency as wealthy citizens who are all for helping their minister succeed - just so long as he does it on their terms. When they discover the twentieth leak in their roof, they conclude that it would be easier to build a new church than a new parsonage, and those wealthy “patrons” become more important and downright obnoxious than ever. There is a Christian message here, but it’s not so much a religious one as one that ridicules the pompous and the gossips whilst encouraging humanity and decency - a quest all the more poignant as war soon rages in Europe. There is an headline on one of their newspapers that declares “Austria at war with Serbia” and I did wonder how many watching would ever have heard of either country at the time. They sure had by the end! It also illustrates just how poor as church mice church people actually were, and in the end it rather potently suggests that faith is much more than an edifice - even one with a $10,000 stained glass window.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Fredric March
William Spence
Martha Scott
Hope Morris Spence
Beulah Bondi
Lydia Sandow
Gene Lockhart
Preston Thurston
Elisabeth Fraser
Eileen Spence at Age 17
Harry Davenport
Elias Samson
Laura Hope Crews
Mrs. Preston Thurston
Grant Mitchell
Clayton Potter
Moroni Olsen
Dr. John Romer
Frankie Thomas
Hartzell Spence
Jerome Cowan
Dr. Horrigan
Ernest Cossart
John E. Morris
Nana Bryant
Mrs. Morris
Dorothy Adams
Woman Behind Hope at Baptism (uncredited)
Roscoe Ates
George Reynolds (uncredited)
Leah Baird
Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
Clara Blandick
Sister Watkins (uncredited)
Hobart Bosworth
Richard Hardy Case (uncredited)
Harlan Briggs
Mac MacFarland (uncredited)
Virginia Brissac
Mrs. Jellison (uncredited)
Sonny Bupp
Boy (uncredited)
Chester Conklin
Man Crying During Baptism (uncredited)
Charles Drake
Second Bridegroom (uncredited)
Sarah Edwards
Mrs. Spicer (uncredited)
Dick Elliott
Casper Cullenbaugh (uncredited)
Fern Emmett
Woman Gossip (uncredited)
Sol Gorss
Panhandler (uncredited)
William Gould
Fire Chief (uncredited)
Creighton Hale
Church Usher (uncredited)
Charles Halton
Haskins (uncredited)
Herbert Heywood
Shopkeeper (uncredited)
Gertrude Hoffmann
Elderly Woman (uncredited)
Olin Howland
Train Station Master (uncredited)
Delos Jewkes
Choir Member (uncredited)
Fred Kelsey
Train Conductor (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee
Alf McAfee (uncredited)
Mickey Kuhn
Boy (uncredited)
Harry Lewis
Young Soldier in Hospital (uncredited)
Vera Lewis
Mrs. Simpson (uncredited)
Audra Lindley
Mother (uncredited)
Hank Mann
Sam (uncredited)
Frank Marlowe
Soldier (uncredited)
Frank Mayo
Waiting Train Passenger (uncredited)
Robert McKim
Handsome Jack Pressley (archive footage) (uncredited)
Mira McKinney
Movie Theatre Cashier (uncredited)
Freddie Mercer
Choir Member (uncredited)
Harold Miller
Second Clerk (uncredited)
Jack Mower
Man Behind Hope at Baptism (uncredited)
George Nichols
Prechin' Bill Hardy (archive footage) (uncredited)
Tempe Pigott
Mrs. Dibble (uncredited)
Jane Randolph
Mother (uncredited)
Frank Reicher
Board Member (uncredited)
Virginia Sale
Sister Sale at the Movie Theatre (uncredited)
Reginald Simpson
Candy Butcher (uncredited)
Walter Soderling
Parishiner Wanting More Sin in Sermon (uncredited)
Paula Trueman
Miss Peabody (uncredited)
Dorothy Vaughan
Mrs. Ehrlich (uncredited)
Tom Wilson
Fireman Angus (uncredited)
Gig Young
First Groom Asking for Dog Licence (uncredited)
Terry Moore
Choir Member (uncredited)
Charles Rosher
Director of Photography
Irving Rapper
Director
Irving Rapper
Producer
Max Steiner
Music
Casey Robinson
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1987 · 14 wins
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1978 · 13 wins
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2000 · 12 wins
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1981 · 11 wins
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