For a director who made some of the most memorable, high-quality films between 1933 and 1941 and has become legendary for his priceless, classic IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES is a little too unfocused and cute at times to merit being a great film. While his earlier version, LADY FOR A DAY, was more compact, this one runs 40 minutes too long, extends scenes that could have trimmed the fat off the plotting and still have had the film look great, and seems too fairy-tale even for 1961 when it was released. Somehow what worked so well in the 30s fails to work here, and while the acting couldn't be better from many of the actors involved, the storyboarding itself is sub-par. Bette Davis shines as Apple Annie, though, and makes this escapist film worth watching even when its subject matter has not aged well and seems like a caricature of its earlier version.
Review of Pocketful of Miracles
