The Miracle is a 1959 American historical fiction film directed by Irving Rapper and starring Carroll Baker and Roger Moore.

She sings worldly love songs to the other postulants and reads secular stories and plays such as Romeo and Juliet.

When the British march through the town on their way to battle Napoleon’s French troops, Teresa is drawn to a handsome captain she sees while he waters his horse.

After the victory at the Battle of Salamanca the British regiment limps back to the convent which the Mother Superior offers as a hospital for the wounded.

They kiss and Michael proposes that they meet at the town's inn if she wants to leave the religious life and marry him.

When no tangible sign is forthcoming she strips off her postulant's habit, wraps a cloak about herself and dashes off into the night to meet with Michael in the town.

The cherished statue of the Virgin Mary comes to life, dons the discarded habit, and secretly takes Teresa's place at the convent.

A thunderstorm roars up as the statue of the Holy Mother steps off its pedestal, but it is the last rain the people of the valley will see for several years.

(The townspeople are convinced that the beneficent intercession of the Virgin Mary has caused the area to flourish, and their belief seems to contain an element of truth for the drought beginning with the disappearance of the Blessed Mother's statue.)

He's too late, the Mother Superior informs him, "Teresa is now the Bride of Christ," meaning that she has taken her final vows and is now a fully professed nun.

Michael pushes past her only to find "Teresa" in full habit - actually the Virgin Mary impersonating her - in a procession singing "Ave Regina Coelarum" ("Hail, Queen of Heaven").

After the French captain tosses a bag of gold to Carlitos, he is in turn shot to death by La Roca, the two men's mother for betraying his brother.

Coming to Madrid, Teresa flirts with Cordoba, a bullfighter while being pursued by the wealthy Count Casimir who finances her career as a singer.

The bullfighter is gored in the bullring while smiling at her, deepening Teresa's belief that she the cause of his death as, she believes, she was for Michael and the two gypsy brothers, "I'm bad luck to anyone who shows me any kindness or affection," as she once told Flaco.

In Belgium on a concert tour, a special ball is being prepared for the British officers stationed there before they again meet the armies of Napoleon, now escaped from Elba.

Just then word comes to Colonel Stuart that Michael's uncle, the Duke of Wellington, has called all officers to join their ranks.

In anguish Michael asks the priest for his spiritual guidance, knowing that he must respect Teresa's choice and do what is right by letting her go.

Back in Salamanca Teresa finds the region suffering a drought "for four years now," as a woman tells her - ever since the statue of the Virgin Mary disappeared.

Everyone is struck by what is considered the miraculous reappearance of the statue and join in singing Mozart's beautiful motet, Ave verum corpus.

[3][4] A 1924 Reinhardt co-production with Morris Gest in New York starring Lady Diana Cooper aroused interest in a re-make by Metro-Goldwyn Pictures with Menchen's involvement.

[6] Various scripts were written over the intervening years by Ulrich Steindorff [de],[7] Wolfgang Reinhardt, and James Hilton, among others.

Warner Bros put her under suspension for refusing the latter; she agreed to play The Miracle for the studio, in part because the role was "sympathetic" and similar to a "feminine Faust".

Such a drastic classification had seldom been given to any domestic releases due to the strict enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code in the film industry.

I wanted things to be artistically wonderful, and when I worked with a bad director when I did with The Miracle, I was jumping all over him and saying, "No, you can't do that" and "No, you're not going to have me do this."

Carroll Baker claims the film made money at the box office but says she disliked it so much she bought out her contract with Warner Bros.

[18] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "All the ingredients of the romantic Gothic novel are to be found in this travesty of the solemn religious pageant produced fifty years ago by Max Reinhardt.

Unfortunately the film never knows when to cry halt, and the result is nothing more nor less than a cloying confection of wide-screen wonders, shot in hysterical Technicolor.

"[19] The film, which was originally shot in wide screen Technirama and Technicolor and projected with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio was issued on videocassette in a cropped 4 x 3 Pan and Scan transfer in 1997, appearing on DVD in a Korean subtitled version.