So Big! (1932)

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

I didn't read Edna Ferber's novel so I can't tell if it or the movie is better. But I can't imagine the book didn't live up to the author's reputation - the film certainly doesn't. As presented here, "So Big" is a run-of-the-mill story of the tedium of rural life during the depression, saved only by the luminous presence of Barbara Stanwyck. Although a Warner Bros. production, they didn't surround her with a distinguished cast or any noteworthy production values, as though her starpower would carry the picture all by itself.Well, she nearly pulls it off. She is pretty close to the suffering queen bee role she played in "Stella Dallas" a few years later, but here she races through adolescence, marriage, motherhood and then widowhood at breakneck speed in a picture which must have been edited to death. The pace of the picture makes it impossible for the viewer to adapt to Stanwyck's circumstances before changing them radically. She becomes a mother, then in almost the next scene 'So Big' is an adult - and Stanwyck is saddled with Hardie Albright, one of Hollywood's most uncharismatic actors.Since this is 1932 we get to see young starlet Bette Davis, and George Brent minus mustache, in support roles. I could have rated this under-produced slog through the underbrush lower than I did, but for the sheer radiance of the star that was Barbara Stanwyck.

There's a good reason you've never heard of this title. Similar to another Barbara Stanwyck film, Stella Dallas, So Big! lacks depth, while being disgustingly saccharine. The film starts out promising enough. I did keep watching. But midway through I could not understand why the Stanwyck character was making certain decisions and I absolutely couldn't believe the character was so happy about it. It was as though the film was a summary of plot points lacking character motivation. Sure, those things could have happened, I guess. But the film failed to communicate why. And even when it would have been natural for the character to be regretful, she was unnaturally positive and cheerful.I gave the film three out of ten because Stanwyck still communicated great emotion, I liked the costumes, & I did enjoy the brief appearance of Bette Davis. So don't even bother with this film unless you're a Barbara Stanwyck or Bette Davis fanatic. Stella Dallas is similar and a much better film.

So Big is a film based on a novel and has a wonderful cast to bring it to life. Barbara Stanwyck is the lead, a woman whose life isn't perfect but which she works hard to be proud of. In the beginning, she is a wealthy girl, but when her father dies, she is sent away to a small town to live with a farmer and become a schoolteacher. There she meets a boy (George Brent) with an enthusiasm for life that she shares and she becomes his inspiration to become an artist. Later, she weds and has a child (Dickie Moore) who she plays a game with that explains the title of the film. Sadly, these scenes are short and the film progresses toward the future where her grown-up son enters the world and experiences trials that challenge his values. In the process, he meets Bette Davis, a beautiful artist with similar principles as his mother.The problem with this film is that it seems to constantly be gathering speed and presenting a back-story, but there is no major climax. One watches and wonders who is the main character, Stanwyck or her son. It seems to be more of a discussion on how to live one's life than a story. The cast will bring audiences, but they will come away confused.

Well acted by Barbara Stanwyck, and, in a lesser role, Bette Davis. Stanwyck's make-up to age her throughout the film is remarkable. I must mention one part of the film that, though unintentional I'm sure, to me was funnier than the campfire scene in "Blazing Saddles". In several scenes Stanwyck asks her small child, "How big is my boy? How big is my son?" The small boy stretches out his arms and says, "Sooooo big!". Thus the name of the film. But toward the end, Stanwyck, as an old woman is in bed, and she asks her now grown adult son who is standing at her bedside, as a way of remembering the past, "How big is my son?". And he replies by taking his two index fingers and expanding then about 10 inches apart, and say with a smile "So big!"