A Wonderful Life

James Dunn has just died, and his daughter, Allene Roberts, is having a crisis of faith. It's been going through her mind for some time as she enters her last year of college, that kind, generous, church-going people like Dunn are always called upon to do the work, and receive no payment or credit. Every civic committee in his town has him as unpaid treasurer, because everyone trusts him. Now, with the War on, Miss Roberts thinks it's all for naught,

This short feature (43 minutes in length) in from the Presbyterian Church. It's directed by William Beaudine -- he directed a lot of the Church's movies in this period -- and narrated by Arthur Shields, who also plays the minister. We see Dunn's life from 1929 through his death, and his cheerful demeanor in times of hardship. Clearly, this was the message the Presbyterian Church wished to send: forward thinking, kindly, and trusting in G*d.

It's a straightforward effort, without much in the way of cinematic pizzazz. Doubtless that was its selling point, and the reason they hired Beaudine to do the job: given the good actors he had here, his nickname of "One Shot" because he didn't like to do retakes, meant an inexpensive shoot.