"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on
April 11, 1949 with Charles Bickford reprising his film role.
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on
October 26, 1954 with Charles Bickford again reprising his film role.
Lee J. Cobb (Dr. Dozous) and Roman Bohnen (Bernadette's father) were both members of the famous Group Theater (1931-1940), the first ensemble in America to put Konstantin Stanislavski's acting theories into practice. They often performed together, most notably in the plays of Clifford Odets. Both actors were accused of being members of the Communist Party. Bohnen was blacklisted, but Cobb named names and was eventually exonerated by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Anne Baxter, Teresa Wright and Gene Tierney were all tested for the lead role. Another actress in the running was Linda Darnell, who ultimately landed the role of the Virgin Mary.
Henry King himself directed the screen tests, instructing his actresses to look beyond the camera at a shining light. Jennifer Jones was the immediate front runner, as - according to King - she didn't just look, she saw.
Jennifer Jones became very close friends with actor Charles Bickford, who also co-starred with her in Duel in the Sun. An hour after hearing about his death in 1967, she attempted suicide with an overdose of seconal.
Jennifer Jones had made other films before this, but only under her real name, Phyllis Isley. In an effort to make the public believe that she was "discovered" for this film, her screen credit reads "and introducing Jennifer Jones as Bernadette."
Franz Werfel's book was published in 1942. 20th Century-Fox wasted no time in snapping up the rights. It was the studio's most ambitious and, at $2 million, its most expensive production of 1943.
Although Arthur Hohl and Fritz Leiber are listed in reference books as having appeared in the film, they are nowhere to be found in the final release print.
Father Peyramale actually died in 1877, two years before Bernadette's death, and thus was not present at her deathbed.
Other than The Wizard of Oz, "The Song of Bernadette" was one of the few pre-1950 major Hollywood films to be shown on American commercial network television before being sold to local stations. Others included the 1948 version of "Sorry Wrong Number", with Barbara Stanwyck.
The film played continuously at a special theater in Lourdes dedicated to it exclusively.
The Imperial Prosecutor Vital Dutour (played by Vincent Price) who investigates Bernadette's visions, is portrayed in the movie as an atheist and anti-religious persecutor. In real life, however, Dutour was a devout Catholic who thought that Bernadette Soubirous's visions were hallucinations.
The intermission break, omitted from the DVD release, comes at the point where Antoine runs from the grotto back to the village to tell the others about the spring that has just appeared. The second half begins when the stonecutter visits the doctor.
The movie's original score was partly composed by famous composer Igor Stravinsky but was subsequently rejected in favor of Alfred Newman's score. When Stravinsky was invited to a screening so he could plot out his score, he replied that he'd already begun. Evincing an unwillingness to change what he'd already composed, he was released from his contract. The second movement of his Symphony in Three Movements evolved out of the unused score.
This was Jennifer Jones' comeback film, her first under her new screen name after previously acting as Phyllis Isley. She had taken several years off to get married and have children, later getting divorced.
Using an actress to play "the lady" was controversial enough, and further controversy fulminated when Loretta Young was passed over in favour of sultry Linda Darnell. At that time, Darnell had an almost pornographic reputation. Franz Werfel, the author of the book on which the film was based, threatened to remove his name from the project. To make matters worse, Darnell was pregnant. Nothing would change Darryl F. Zanuck's mind, and Werfel was told that an unknown actress was chosen. Wearing a little more drapery than the simple dress and veil described by the historical Bernadette, Darnell played the role in bright light.
When David O. Selznick heard of the production, he exerted his influence to ensure his then-girlfriend Jennifer Jones got the part. She did, and she won an Oscar for it.