|
So Big!1932 US Dir William Wellman Cast Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, George Brent, Dickie Moore, Alan Hale IMDb |
Mercifully truncated Edna Ferber adaptation gives the episodic life story of Selina Peake, who suffers the early loss of her parents and then her spouse, sees beauty in cabbage fields and forges an asparagus empire, inspires lust in preteen lost souls, and generally perseveres through all manner of adversity with the inherited philosophy that life is, after all, “only so much velvet.” If the plot is so dull, it is enlivened considerably by the work of Stanwyck and Wellman. The “so big” of the title — which makes this sound like broad comedy; it is not — refers to the playful question Selina poses to her growing son: “How big is my boy? How big is my son?” to which he responds, spreading his arms wide, “So big!” Years later, aged but still scrappy, she asks him again in a tender moment, and hilariously her adult son spreads his hands about ten inches apart and declares himself “so big!” Lending more pre-Code credentials is Bette Davis in a small role as the modern girl who works hard and populates her nightlife with questionable characters. Reflecting upon her ideal man, she avows: “I’ll probably marry some horny-handed son of toil, and if I do, the horny hands’ll win me.”
4 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URILeave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
These reviews are definitely looking better sans score. But do you have to call it “screening log”? “Screening” implies that you did more than sit (lie?) in front of your computer, as though you actually projected real film on a real screen.
So Big! looks interesting.
Comment by Mango — 7 May 2008 @ 7 May 2008Oh. What should I call it? “Reviews” is saying far too much, too (though I could revert back to it).
So Big looks interesting? I guarantee it is of no interest to you, other than adorably young Barbara and some weird things Wild Bill tries.
Comment by Lauren — 7 May 2008 @ 7 May 2008What is wrong with ‘Viewing Log’? Or ‘Watched’? Or ‘Thoughts’?
Comment by Mango — 7 May 2008 @ 7 May 2008Viewing log, maybe. I’ll do some thinkin’.
Comment by Lauren — 7 May 2008 @ 7 May 2008