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Apparently the censorship was not too happy with the ending and wanted a real miracle to happen and San Dimas had to show up. Only the first 45 mins or so belong to the original script, the second half was entirely rewritten. They tried to force Berlanga to keep re-shooting scenes constantly and when he refused, they hired Grau and it is unclear how many scenes he directed.
Funnily enough even after putting up with their bs, the censors still gave the film a 3R rating and it bombed when released. It might be the biggest commercial failure of Berlanga´s career.
Sad story. Sadder still, I just finished it and, not surprisingly, it's the weakest of his films yet. Unlike with Kubrick's Lolita, where he wasn't able to go as far as he wanted to go but still was able to make a hell of a film, Miracles of Thursday was very lame. Again, not surprisingly, the first third is the best (and the funniest---there are barely even any jokes for the rest of the movie, and only one mildly funny one). I loved the knuckleheads putting their (knuckle)heads together to try to create the fake miracle, and squabbling all the way through their attempts, but once Richard Basehart showed up and it became a weird dramatic treatment of the power of faith, it got very bland. And the big reveal at the end is just bad religious propaganda. Berlanga must've been so pissed. Damn shame, because it could've been a hell of a film.
If you haven't come across this, there's this website ran by a foundation which has some interesting facts on his bio and filmography. The guy at one point even volunteered for the blue division when they joined the nazi army in the eastern front to help save his father whom had a death penalty upon him, unlike most of the other volunteers who were in it because of their falangist ideology. Very little is widely known about the blue division (later called blue legion) but those guys went through hell in there, if he made it back and retained his sanity he must have been tough as nails.
https://berlangafilmmuseum.com/en/biography/
I knew that part of his bio with his dad, but I didn't go too deep into the historical war stuff. Cool video, though, and I appreciate that link. Tons of great info there.