Good Morning, Miss Dove

I only discovered this movie about 18 months ago when I saw it on TV. I really enjoyed it and have seen it a couple of times since. it is sentimental and very simple in its construction. That is not to say it is not emotionally effective. I am an ex-teacher who always had a good relationship with the kids I taught (though not as authoritarian as the Miss Dove of the title. Each time I see it I find myself more affected than the last time, to the extent of blubbing like a baby at every emotional scene!! It is a very dated movie and the performances, though honest and direct, are not Oscar-winning. I was surprised to see Chuck Connors do justice to his part as a hardworking cop who dragged himself up from poverty-stricken childhood to upstanding adulthood. Jennifer Jones, as the star of this film acquits herself well as Miss Dove, a fearsome and legendary primary school teacher. She is respected and loved by the people of the town (as she has taught most of them or their children). She is taken ill and through flashbacks we learn about her life, career and relationships. Movie-making as it used to be- not a blockbuster but a solid story well told.

Excellent entertainment guaranteed to get the weepy eyes out and the warm and fuzzies too. This movie reminds me of Goodbye Mr. Chips which was good but I thought they could have done more in that movie to stress the point of all the good Mr. Chips the teacher did. Here, they do just that via flashbacks which are highly entertaining and give good background to the story-telling. In a Twilight Zone episode titled "The Changing of the Guard", they also capture the theme of this movie quite well so if you like either example I gave you will love this movie as it takes its place among them. A couple of those flashbacks had me in tears as you realize that those people are you or someone you know who cannot only use a helping hand but also allow us all to contribute to a better world one person at a time. Who hasn't gotten to where they are today without help of some kind? Imagine if you turned that principal up a few notches. That's what is going on here only someone donates their life (literally) to the theme. Good investment by my tally. Good supporting cast too with familiar faces that became famous in their own time. The virtues acted out and displayed in this move are numerous. Humility, sacrifice, service, hope, charity, unconditional love, honesty and commitment all come on the screen throughout this movie and make their points. We are also reminded not to base everything we do solely on money outcomes but instead to invest in the bigger picture of life that build character and joins the everlasting properties into eternity. I am also reminded of the many who we don't hear about, who stay in the shadows doing their share of good happy to do so and going unnoticed for it but perfectly content and satisfied. Why? The simplest answer is found in a well known scripture that keeps teaching us this principal: When you did it to the least of them, you did it to me. I know you. Come forward faithful steward. That's all that counts in the end is that you are recognized by the one who sent you here just for that purpose. Good movie to snack with plus a tasty drink, Kleenex on standby and bring an open heart so your soul can be cleansed too. Enjoy! I did!

CORNY BUT ENJOYABLE story of a strait-laced, stern disciplinarian schoolteacher who has her entire small town cowed, and how she got that way. "Terrible" Miss Dove's vocabulary and diction are so high-flown and stilted, I fear it would sound like a foreign language to today's audiences. "Allow me to convey my felicitations!" She always wears a hankie pinned to her jacket, and makes the students wear one too. Elementary school was rugged in those days. We never find out Miss Dove's first name, and she never calls anybody by a nickname, saying "Will-i-am" instead of "Bill," for instance. -

Jennifer Jones gets to do some acting in her scenes with Miss D as a 19-year-old. Stereotypes practically monopolize the supporting roles, Chuck Connors is an Irish cop, black servant, blonde floozy, they're all there. Miss D has little sympathy for a woman pregnant out of wedlock. Robert Stack is his usual confident self. There's even a Dead End Kid type who escapes from prison to see his beloved teacher--twice! The lone Jewish kid becomes a big-time Broadway playwright. It goes on and on. -

In my home town, there was a high school teacher much like this, Miss Stafford, who had the whole town in an iron grip of fear. When she retired, they had a big party for her, in the football stadium! And gave her a new car! So the story isn't so far from reality. -

The photography, in Cinemascope, is gorgeous. The story is told mainly in flashbacks, so don't go to sleep or you'll wake up confused. It's worth a look for fans of popular culture of the mid-twentieth century, and for those who are always whining about how there aren't any "likable characters" in a movie. No surprises here, all these characters are just what you expect, not scary at all.

Good Morning, Miss Dove is a property that I'm surprised Frank Capra didn't think to direct. It's entirely possible that Capra was a male chauvinist who only thought in terms of men who sacrifice like George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life. In many ways Jennifer Jones is the superior of Capra's George Bailey.

Jennifer's crisis comes real early in the beginning, she's the daughter of a well bred and prominent family whose father has just died. She thinks she's come into it, but she finds she's inherited debts beyond belief because dad was borrowing and living well beyond his means. To keep his good name, she gives up the life she expected like George Bailey and in the process becomes the moral center of her small town.

Her road was much harder than Jimmy Stewart's because Miss Dove never married, she instead devoted her life to teaching history and geography and never getting to see the faraway places with strange sounding names that she only read about. That song could have been written for her. George Bailey did have Mary Bailey and the kids, that was denied to Miss Dove.

That's just one of the flashbacks in a film that has many. In fact the current story is the fact this rock of the community is undergoing a health crisis and is admitted to the hospital. As she deals with her health issues and the many people who wish her well, her mind reflects on just how much influence she's had on generations of kids passing through her class.

She's a severe woman Ms. Dove, having denied herself a personal life. But she's also a kind and caring one and that comes through with all the people we see her interact with.

Despite a fine cast of players, Jennifer Jones dominates this film in a fine portrayal of what is essentially an unglamorous part. It's the kind of role you might see someone like Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn do, but Jones is just fine in it.

If you're not a fan of Jennifer Jones, you will be after seeing Good Morning, Miss Dove.

Frances Gray Patton wrote this beloved novel of a small-town spinster. She is a determined woman, one who turned a wrecked life and an enormous family debt into a reason to teach generations of New England young people the virtues of going-through-the-pain to get the gain. The theme of this film is the positive effect of her rough-hewn self-assertiveness training on her students. Jennifer Jones plays the schoolteacher, from youth to old-age, and very winningly. The film was directed by veteran Henry Koster. Others in the very large and amiably charming cast include Robert Stack, fine actor Robert Douglas, Kipp Hamilton, charismatic Peggy Knudsen, Chuck Connors, Jerry Paris, Mary Wickes, Leslie Bradley, Marshall Thompson, Biff Elliott, Richard Deacon and many more. What happens in the story is that Miss Dove falls ill one day during class and has to be carried from her students and taken to the hospital. The town's generations, all taught by this remarkable woman, react; some come from far away or start stopping by the hospital for news; and this leads to a flashback of how her life's course was changed by her father's money problems and the desertion of her by her erstwhile suitor; how she then vowed to pay back every cent of her father's debt, though she was not personally responsible; and how she began teaching school and has gone on doing so. This intelligent, heart-warming and thought-provoking story has a climax in her medical crisis and a happy ending; it is not perhaps a great film, but Miss Dove is very probably a great character, and one many can learn from long after the film has ended. Every element here is well-crafted and contributes to a surprisingly entertaining and most-believable presentation. Music is by Leigh Harline, cinematography by Leon Shamroy with contributions by Lyle Wheeler and many others. Cool and beautiful, and as fascinating as is the lady herself