Editing Pocketful of Miracles (section)

==Reception==
''Motion Picture Herald'' covered the preview and gave the film good marks, with the review headline "Pocketful of Dollars" predicting an excellent box office performance. ''Boxoffice'' confirmed that the film "ranked in the top hit class by exhibitors in the 20 key cities across the nation."<ref>''Boxoffice'', Mar. 10, 1962, p. 12.</ref> The critic for ''The Hollywood Reporter'' also looked upon the film favorably, calling it "a Christmas sockful of joy, funny, sentimental, romantic [and] frankly capricious."<ref name=McBride/>

Other reviewers were more guarded. In ''The New York Times'', A.H. Weiler noted: "Mr. Capra and his energetic troupe manage to get a fair share of laughs from Mr. Runyon's oddball guys and dolls, but their lampoon is dated and sometimes uneven and listless...Repetition and a world faced by grimmer problems seem to have been excessively tough competition for this plot."<ref name=McBride /> ''Variety'' thought the plot "alternates uneasily between wit and sentiment" and added "The picture seems too long, considering that there's never any doubt as to the outcome, and it's also too lethargic, but there are sporadic compensations of line and situation that reward the patience. Fortunately Capra has assembled some of Hollywood's outstanding character players for the chore...The best lines in the picture go to Peter Falk...[who] just about walks off with the film when he's on."<ref>{{cite magazine| magazine=Variety| title=Film Reviews: 'Pocketful of Miracles'| date=December 31, 1960| page=6| url=https://variety.com/1960/film/reviews/pocketful-of-miracles-1200419917/#!| access-date=2023-12-23}}</ref> Veteran publisher Pete Harrison classed the film as only "fair," citing the Bette Davis approach to the May Robson portrayal: "The old Robson touch of wistful poignancy to the role is missing. Miss Davis' sharp, clipped, almost cold delivery gives you the feeling that any minute she'll be calling out to 'Petah.' She fails to beget your sympathy. For all the individual brilliance shown by [the supporting players], this doesn't quite reach its big picture objective. To be sure, it doesn't fail by much."<ref> Pete Harrison, ''Harrison's Reports'', Oct. 28, 1961, p. 170.</ref> Least impressed was Elaine Rothschild of ''Films in Review'': "This unbelievable and unfunny comedy proves only that director Frank Capra has learned nothing and forgotten nothing in the 28 years that intervened between the two pictures. ''Pocketful of Miracles'' is not merely out of whole cloth, but out of date, and watching it is a painful experience."<ref name=McBride /> ''Filmink'' argued Ann Margret "is sweet in a small but important part, one of the best things about the movie; she certainly made more of an impact than the bloke who plays her fiancee, another 'discovery' Peter Mann."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/surviving-cold-streaks-ann-margret/|title=Surviving Cold Streaks: Ann-Margret|date=September 6, 2021|access-date=March 9, 2023}}</ref>

Exhibitors protested Bette Davis's star billing as they worried it would hurt the box office, and the receipts did fall short of expectations.<ref>{{cite magazine| magazine=Variety| date=May 15, 1968| page=1| last=Beaupre| first=Lee| title=Rising Skepticism On Stars}}</ref>