Big City

Synopsis:

As the film opens, three men, all of whom live in the same neighborhood but have differing religious and social circles, come across an abandoned infant in a basket at the steps to one of the men's apartment building...

This film, whose alternate title could have been 'Three Men and a Baby', deals with the commonalities of the Jew, the Catholic and the Protestant as they work for the common good of this baby girl. The cast is rounded out by a sweet, if not stereotypical, Jewish 'grandmother', a benevolent judge and a couple of 'love interests'.

After the initial introduction of the characters, we are left to assume that all goes well for some 10-12 years where the film picks up on the co-mingled lives of the odd family and some of the challenges faced by Midge, the infant now turned lady-beyond-her-years, in the classroom, and by her adoptive fathers in their courtships. It includes many of the aspects of today's 'reality television' shows, including 'alliances', differing moral values, and competition among participants.

Social Impact:

The movie deals nicely, if not superficially and somewhat predictably, with the issues of finding common ground to base friendships on, rather than differences upon which to build enmity.

Recommendation:

This film is timely for 1948 and for today in a world where religious differences seem to be playing a vital role in public opinion.

I recommend this film for its cinematography (B&W) and for its ability to remind the viewer that there are things worth working together for, especially the future we build for our children.

MGM's contribution to ecumenism and universal brotherhood post World War II came with this film Big City. The idea that a Protestant, Catholic, and a Jew combine to raise a child was certainly an intriguing one.

On his way home Cantor Danny Thomas finds an abandoned baby on the basement steps of his home. As it turns out Reverend Robert Preston and policeman George Murphy are on the scene as well and they're all friends. Thomas lives with his mother Lotte Lehmann. In one fell swoop with the blessing of Judge Edward Arnold the baby who grows up to be Margaret O'Brien gets three fathers and a grandmother.

But Judge Arnold made an interesting provision in deciding custody. Which ever of the men marries first there's a provision that he and his wife get sole custody. So Margaret who is now about 11 becomes the object of a legal battle when George Murphy decides to marry lounge singer Betty Garrett. Complicating things more is Preston and Thomas are both interested in Margaret's teacher Karin Booth.

Big City holds up well as a nice family film. I'm still not sure what the fuss was, despite the fact she sings in bars Garrett was a perfectly nice person. Still Arnold must have wished he could get some advice from King Solomon.

Big City is also a fine opportunity to see concert singer Lotte Lehman in one of her few film appearances. It's a good film for a family afternoon viewing.

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.

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.

The film was okay up until the last quarter of the film where they start establishing a bond between Midge and Shoo Shoo that has a hint of romance to it.

They made O'Brien who was a pre-teen at the time physically appealing to this woman named Shoo Shoo. They had her sneak into a bar to watch her performance with nobody being wary about a child being in the bar and forced her and Shoo Shoo to develop a shallow romance and what disgusts me is that this is between a grown woman and a young child. I mean, I guess I kind of understand that they want to bond and connect to each other because they're potentially going to be mother and child but I still find this romance and Midge's sneaky behavior inappropriate. And yes, I get it, it has a lot of romance in it and it's about family but it's not much of a romance film.

As for my problems with the earlier parts of the film, there is one major problem I had, I didn't like the parts where they have boys messing with Midge for reasons out of her control yet they barely do anything about this. There could've been a positive message about coming to accept others instead of bullying them but that unfortunately doesn't become the centerpoint of the film and thus, the boy has a fairly shallow redemption character arc and this is because he has too little screentime in the film.

It's a disappointing film which is quite a waste of talent from the sweet, talented Margaret O'Brien on a shallow screenplay and somewhat poor direction.