Big City

The opening dedication, "for people who like people," warns audiences that Big City is going to be corny, unrealistic, and way too family-friendly to please most people. But if you like those types of movie, you'll love this one. Police officer George Murphy, Jewish cantor Danny Thomas, and Catholic reverend Robert Preston, stumble upon an abandoned baby. Together, the three friends move in together, along with Danny's mother Lotte Lehmann, and a very friendly and sympathetic judge, Edward Arnold, allows them legal custody of the little girl. The child has three fathers and a grandmother, until one of the bachelors marry. The first to marry gains full custody, and even though that makes no sense and isn't fair, the audience has to accept it and become immersed in the story.

As you might expect, since she provides the opening narration, the little baby grows up to be Margaret O'Brien. And as you might also expect, two men fall in love with the same woman, Margaret's schoolteacher Karin Booth. Meanwhile, the third man falls in love with a coarse showgirl, played by Betty Garrett in her first film. She's given quite a few irritating numbers, making you wonder if you're supposed to be rooting against her for her bad influence on Margaret or her lack of talent.

Keep in mind that you've been warned. If you sit through Big City, you will more than likely develop a cavity. In this movie's world, three virtual strangers of different faiths can all move into the same apartment and raise a child with no fundamental arguments or conflicting opinions, and the entire legal system makes no sense. But if you like stories like 3 Men and a Baby, rent this black-and-white precursor.

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.

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.

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.

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.