This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Debbie Reynolds portrays the Singing Nun based on a true story, Ricardo Montalban also stars. The music is light and lilting and completely enjoyable with Debbie Reynolds singing many songs throughout the film. At several points you question whether the order is the right place for Sister Ann as several intriguing opportunities are available. Enjoyable music and film.

This movie is basically a family movie. Although children under the age of ten probably would not appreciate it. The Singing Nun will leave you with positive messages and upbeat feelings. Wholesome Debbie Reynolds is perfect for a nun. Other great actors such as Greer Garson, Ricardo Montalban, Agnes Moorehead, and Katharine Ross further lead to the enjoyment of the film. It is hard to picture Ricardo Montalban as a priest. He is totally handsome and debonair in whatever he does. However, it is Debbie Reynolds who is the star. The Singing Nun has picturesque scenes and you feel warm and fuzzy throughout the film. The music is very good as well. It's a film that the whole family can watch together. Sit back, relax and enjoy. I give it four thumbs up.

If the real Jeanne Deckers had never made that recording in 1963 she probably would have been a much happier person, probably still in blessed obscurity in a convent somewhere on the globe. Only probably though because she was in conflict with the church she gave her life to.At the time the film The Singing Nun came out I well remember the critical roasting it got. Like Going My Way this is how the Roman Catholic Church likes to see itself portrayed. This film was such a ode to the faith, I'm wondering how the most famous Catholic lay person in the world, Bing Crosby, didn't get involved in it.Young Sister Anna, in real life known as Sister Sourire enters a convent in Belgium presided over by Mother Prioress Greer Garson and is part of the parish where Father Ricardo Montalban presides. The young nun with her guitar is played by Debbie Reynolds and her combination of music and faith wins over just about everyone around her.Including young recording executive Chad Everett who has her cut and album that becomes a worldwide phenomenon. I still remember her record of Dominique played right around the same time the Fab Four from Liverpool were bursting on the American consciousness. But as soon as she arrived, The Singing Nun went back into the convent, in the film she and fellow sister Juanita Moore go off to Africa as missionaries. By the way Moore has the best performance in the film.Debbie Reynolds performs the songs of The Singing Nun well and the musical numbers are well staged. Would that The Singing Nun did have a happily ever after life after fame.She didn't in fact. During the film Reynolds of course takes a strong anti-abortion position as per the Church teachings. In real life she did leave the convent and became an activist for birth control. She also had tax problems from our government, hardly the last celebrity to deal with that. She and a woman who had been her life companion for 10 years committed a double suicide together in 1985. She seems to have gone against her faith in any number of ways.Read the Wikipedia article on The Singing Nun, it will be quite an eye opener. It's a story that definitely needs telling and maybe one day someone will tell it.

In the early 60's, a nun, calling herself The Singing Nun, released an album of musical hymns and religious songs that turned out to strike a chord with the public. Just about everyone alive in that era still can recognize the strains of Dominique. Naturally, Hollywood chose to make her story into a movie. What they actually did was make an idealized story into a movie, pretending it is the true story. As such, the story comes off as syrupy and too much everyone's fantasy of the perfect nun. She wants only to work with children; she thinks of nothing but her service to the church, she actually rails against abortion in the film. This makes the movie plodding and very boring in places. It also projects a too-virginal image that gets old very quickly. And, for some reason they felt the need to have an old flame to the pre-habit days around to spice things up just a bit, though she remains true to her faith throughout. The true story is of Jeanine Deckers, known to the world mostly at Soeur Sourire ("Sister Smile"), who called the film "a film of fiction". In the convent she was known as Sister Luc-Gabrielle and did not like the Sister Smile moniker the record company came up with. In contrast to the perfection of the movie, Jeanine Deckers was a very conflicted personality who did not like the attention of the world and definitely did not hold an attraction to a male record producer as shown in the film. In fact, she left the order in 1965, accompanied by her lover, Annie Pescher, whom she stayed with until their mutual suicide pact in 1985. Gee, if you were an old Dominique fan, I probably burst a few bubbles there. What I think is interesting is that the true story would probably be the Hollywood choice were it made today. The 1965 film portrayed perfection and idealism. I'm sure a 2002 film would search for the seediest of details and revel in her contradictions. What is sad is that neither version would make a very good film. The excessively sweet Debbie Reynolds/Recardo Montalban version is mostly pretty dull and the true story would undoubtedly resemble yet anther VH1 Behind the Music.Watch for Katherine Ross in her first year as an actress as about the only real character in the film. The Ed Sullivan cameo is rather interesting as well.