Mormon Movie Review - How Near to the Angels REVIEW (1956)

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Welcome brothers and sisters to Mormon Movie Reviews: Where LDS movie lovers belong! I am your humble host, Dives, and I’m here with Mormonish podcasting legend, Rebecca Biblioteca,

today is April 23, 2023, this is episode where we will review

EP: How Near to the Angels REVIEW (1956)
Link: https://youtu.be/4DJklc6CYbI
Running time: 41 minutes
Rating: not rated
Genre: Religious Drama

This review works best if you have seen this film before, though that is not required.
Spoiler alert
We will watch this short together while we make insightful and occasionally irreverent commentary.

Synopsis Janet is a latter-day saint who wants a temple marriage, but her steady boyfriend, Kent, is inactive. But while Janet attends a church fireside, a young Mormon man named Tim introduces himself and proposes suddenly. Tim’s mission president told him to get married within six months of coming home. Now Janet faces a tough choice.

Yes this is an official Church video brought to us by the Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association which was founded by Brigham Young under a different name way back in 1869.

We are a bit lucky to have this film in color because some other church films in this era like ‘And Should We Die’ were shot in black and white.

And this film was produced by Judge Whitaker, the most prolific LDS filmmaker of all time.

What is the film's overall message?
One small step off the straight and narrow like skipping mutual or listening to jazz, can lead to heartache and jeopardize your life plan
Hanging out with the wrong friends is nothing but trouble
Marriage in the temple is the single most important life event for a young woman
No man can compare to a returned missionary who bears a strong testimony
Even if a less active Mormon says he will start paying tithing, go to church, and is willing to marry a young woman in the temple, he is not to be trusted
A young woman’s personal feelings about her marital suitor are of lesser importance than her lover’s Mormon bona fides
Mormon utopia is achieved by going to mutual, attending firesides, playing in the church sports league, getting married in the temple, and of course women bearing tons of kids,
bottom line: one’s entire life should be built around the church

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Thanks so much for joining us to review this film, please like, subscribe, leave a comment, and join us next time for another episode of the MormonMovieReviews: Where LDS Movie Lovers Belong. So long.

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