Living in a Big Way

I thought this movie was quite good. It was on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) at three am one night, and its offbeat humor kept me up til five. Kelly performs beautifully in this role, especially with the Grandma (whose quip almost caused me to laugh out of my seat). The main actress was alright, but the father was able to keep his character isolated from the marriage conflict and kept the humor coming. If you like a good offbeat, older movie, I would recommend it. Unlike the other comment, I do like Gene Kelly. He was the perfect leading actor for many of the early musicals and I think in this role, he oozes his charisma. One drawback is the dance scenes get a little long-winded, but if you can get through those, you're in the clear.

The dog, the kids and the dancing were really good. Someone should take the dancing sequences out and put them into a Kelly documentary. The kids were cute especially dancing and in the bathtub. Chris, the dog, was fantastic.

It is really hard not to like Gene Kelly. There was a real fault in the screen play in the lack of character development. Phyllis Thaxter's role was underdeveloped as was Marie MacDonald's. Thaxter was as perfect as she could be granted her limited screen time; I would have thought that a lot of her material was left on the cutting room floor. MacDonald had beautiful hair and figure, but the script gave her no consistent motivation.

Ideas of divorce and marriage in this film were problematic (or fortyish) but they did not interfere with the dog, the kids, or the dancing.

There was a lot of room for further development of the with Morgan family. There seemed to be gaps, which led me to wonder what the exact nature of family tension was.

All in all, there were a lot of missed opportunities.

I only knew of this title after reading a book of the films of Gene Kelly. So now I've just watched this on a DVD I borrowed from the library. It seems to be mainly a comedy of soldier Kelly and a dance hall girl played by Marie McDonald who get married during World War II before he leaves for another service run. It's after the war's over and he comes back and she's wealthy which he didn't know at the time that things get a little complicated. There's some funny lines from supporting players like Spring Byington, Charles Winninger, and Clinton Sundberg. But the main enjoyment comes from Kelly's dances especially one sequence where he plays with some children while also going up and down a half-built house. So on that note, I recommend Living in a Big Way for any Gene Kelly fan who has yet to discover this.

Cute film. Lots of plusses, a comfortable way to fill 100 minutes.

Some of the directorial touches could have been stronger. The biggest issue with box office failure 75 years ago, I suspect, is that viewers probably expected Anchors Aweigh or The Pirate.

Living in a Big Way is not that. It offers a ,mix of post-WW II reality, romance (not especially well handled), humor, dance numbers, and family fare.

Gene Kelly's dancing and choreography (done by the star and Stanley Donnen) are first-class. The children are excellent. I'd never seen Jean Adair before: Her turn as the female star's grandmother is first-rate. An early-30s Barbara Billingsley (Leave It To Beaver) looks like Lucille Ball's separated-at-birth twin.

I don't often, after 10,000 movies, find a new, fresh offering. This one qualifies. High quality? No . . . Sometimes, escapist fun is plenty.

Love Gene Kelly and musicals, but 'Living in a Big Way' is somewhat of a lesser film in Kelly's filmography and while there are definitely far worse film musicals out there while watchable there are far better as well.

There are pleasures here. The best thing about 'Living in a Big Way' is the dancing, which is memorable and a sheer delight. The sequence on the construction site sends up an absolute storm, and it is difficult to resist the adorable one with the dog. Kelly is charismatic in the lead and dances a dream as always, he's never put a foot wrong when it comes to dancing and has dazzled more often than not as a choreographer. Jean Adair and Spring Byington are breaths of fresh air in support, and Phyllis Thaxter charms even with a limited character and a subplot that is not developed that well.

You can't talk about a musical without mentioning the music/songs, and while only "It Had to Be You" is a classic all of them are very pleasant to listen to with nothing coming over as a dud. Gregory La Cava does reliably direction-wise with what there is, and the production values are lovingly done if not spectacular.

On the other hand, Clinton Sundberg falls completely flat and is not funny at all, what was intended as sardonic comes over as mean-spirited and Sundberg just grates to maximum effect. Outside of the musical numbers and the dance sequences, the story is nowhere near as memorable and can drag, suffering also from a lack of chemistry between Kelly and Marie McDonald, who is very sympathetic and cold with little charm or range.

Coming off worst is the script, which tonally is very confused, inept at worst, and doesn't seem to be able to decide what it wanted to be. It tries to be comedy, drama, a musical and social message film, and only really succeeds at the musical. The comedy has fleeting good moments, mainly with Adair, but frequently grates and lacks wit particularly with Sundberg. The drama lays it heavy with the sentimentality and the over-maudlin quality is hard to stomach on occasions, while the social message element was forced and unnecessary.

On the whole, an obscure with pleasures, like the memorable dancing, but because the script is as poor as it is, is worth it for curiosity value and for Kelly completests but not much else. 5/10 Bethany Cox