Classic Film Guide

Cockeyed Miracle, The (1946)

Directed by S. Sylvan Simon, with a screenplay by Karen DeWolf that was based on a play by George Seaton (The Song of Bernadette (1944)), this average B movie fantasy comedy (aka Mr. Griggs Returns) features a recognizable cast and a friendly ghost story. Sam Griggs (Frank Morgan) dies of heart failure before everything in his family is in order, including their financial situation. Unbeknownst to his wife Amy (Gladys Cooper), he'd invested the last of their $1,800 in savings with his friend Tom Carter (Cecil Kellaway) in a real estate venture. Before his death, his son Jim (Marshall Thompson) was just about to leave for England to pursue a career in shipbuilding that his father, grandfather, etc. had, but Jim's $300 was part of the $1,800 that was invested and, unfortunately, Jim has 'burned bridges' with his current employer and Uncle (Amy's brother) Ralph Humphrey (Leon Ames). Meanwhile, the Griggs's daughter Jennifer (Audrey Totter) is in love with their summer boarder, an egghead instructor headed west to be a professor of geology named Howard Bankson (Richard Quine). But with help from his ghost of a father, Ben Griggs (Keenan Wynn) who'd been quite the dapper if rather irresponsible man when he'd died 50 years prior, Sam sticks around unseen and unheard in hopes of putting everything right before departing for the great beyond. Ben has the ability to conjure up rain and/or thunderstorms, which he does to help his son such that everything amusingly turns out alright in the end for the family. Morris Ankrum plays Dr. Wilson.