Big City

In the filmography of Stanley Donen's biography "Dancing on the Ceiling" Marni Nixon is listed as the singing voice of young Margaret O'Brien. That tidbit alone made we want to see/hear this movie with the early work of filmdom's greatest vocal dubber ever. I saw a sweet performance by Margaret O'Brien in Baltimore in the autumn of 1963 in "A Thousand Clowns". On stage as in film the unique, sympathetic colors of her voice stayed with you. Elements of compassion, anxiety and sweetness in a soft thickish voice...how can a young clarion voiced soprano duplicate those complex textures? I haven't heard her yet, but I'll bet Marni pulled it off! Margaret, Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn owe Marni a big kiss from Heaven or Earth.

For one reason alone, I adore "Big City". This is because it marks the final screen appearance of Butch Jenkins, perhaps the least talented child star of all time. I always thought it odd that MGM, the biggest and most prestigious studio at the time, put so much energy into trying to make young Jenkins a star...and after 13 films the experiment was (thankfully) over!

The story is a very contrived and hard to believe....so I suggest you just turn off that pesky brain of yours and watch! It begins with three bachelors finding a baby girl and all three agreeing to raise her. To make it more tough to believe, one's a Jewish cantor (Danny Thomas), one's a Protestant minister (Robert Preston) and one's a Catholic cop (George Murphy). However nice this arrangement is, it cannot continue forever, as the men start meeting women and want to marry and settle down. So what is going to happen to little Midge (Margaret O'Brien)?

This is an odd film because although the plot doesn't sound like there should be tons of music, the film is chock full of musical numbers...mostly by Thomas and Betty Garrett...though you also hear from George Murphy and O'Brien (though she's dubbed). I honestly think having a few less songs would have helped the story, as it really didn't seem conducive to so much music. Other than that, the film is enjoyable...even if O'Brien is a bit older and not quite as cute as she'd been in prior films. I was prepared to give it a 7 but the end was so schmaltzy that I couldn't see scoring it this highly.

BIG CITY (1948) has a cute set-up, about three men agreeing to raise a foundling as co-fathers. The movie is well-made, but it's just too sentimental for me to stomach. Child-star Margaret O'Brien is comfortable as always in front of the camera, but seems like she might be trying too hard to act, now that she's a few years older.

Everything is hunky dory until the fathers start competing for the same woman, and ultimately fighting for sole custody of their girl. Betty Garrett (in her screen debut) is a kind-hearted bar singer who inadvertently corrupts sweet little O'Brien with her cabaret act and big city lingo. Garrett weds George Murphy, seemingly the lesser of the three fathers (as a cop he's always on a beat), who decides they're more entitled to the girl than the others.

When everybody gets together to sing "God Bless America", it becomes clear what the message is. The judge speaks about The Great Experiment of uniting three men of different faiths to raise a child together. (Robert Preston is a reverend at a city mission, Danny Thomas is a cantor at the Jewish temple, George Murphy is an Irish policeman, and thereby assumed to be Roman Catholic.) Men of different faiths united together in a Great Experiment. It becomes some sort of patriotic metaphor for the good ol' United States. "God Bless America."

The movie is alright and has its fun moments, but there's too much of a "love thy neighbor", innocent-children-singing-in-one-voice, sugary- sweet, high moral sentimentality coating the proceedings. Men of *three faiths* raising a daughter together, then playing gentle music together in the parlor after dinner. What a wholesome family.

Not my cup of tea, I suppose. But it could be a winner for those less cynical than I. It has a sort of wholesome message for "people who like people". Betty Garrett does a fine job and fans of Margaret O'Brien would want to check this out.

6.5/10

Big City is one of the later movies Margaret OBrien made during her time as a child star with MGM in the 1940s. It's an entertaining film, which isn't quite up to the level of some other movies she made with the studio. It's an unusual situation especially for the time to have three foster fathers and no mother. A reality which isn't lost in the film. It's good to see Margaret in movies with Butch Jenkins. This one seems a little long. Robert Preston, George Murphy and Danny Thomas play the parents. I'd never seen Thomas in a movie before, and he used his singing and acting talents well. The movie explains its designed for people who like people, and it makes the case for the importance of family well. There's also the message of redemption after past mistakes in Betty Garrett's character. This message is also displayed in Norman Taurog's Boys Town movies. The people involved have done better work elsewhere, but a family film with God Bless America in it is well worth any viewer's time.

I watched this movie on television for the first time, and have to say that it was a great movie. Margaret O'Brien at age 11, was a great actress, acting better than many other famous adults of her times. Danny Thomas and Robert Preston add talent to the movie. One of the best parts of the movie was when Margaret sang the Shu-Shu song. A great family film.