In this follow-up to director Leo McCareys Going My Way (1944), Bing Crosby repeats his Oscar-winning characterization of happy-go-lucky priest Father OMalley. The good father is sent to help out financially strapped St. Marys Academy, a parochial school presided over by lovely nun Sister Benedict (Ingrid Bergman). The film is constructed in anecdotal fashion: Nun and priest gently quarrel over teaching methods; they help patch up the tottering marriage of William Gargan and Martha Sleeper; Sister Benedict plays baseball and teaches a student how to box; Father OMalley softens the heart of the man who holds the mortgage (Henry Travers) by convincing the poor fellow that hes only got a few months to live; and the kids of St. Marys put on a much-revised stage version of the Nativity, complete with a chorus of Happy Birthday on the occasion of the Virgin Birth. A huge hit at the box office, Bells of St. Marys was nominated for nine Academy Awards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide