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Living in a Big Way
A World War II pilot (Gene Kelly) comes home to a bride (Marie McDonald) who, spoiled by her father (Charles Winninger), now wants a divorce.
Release : | 1947 |
Rating : | 6.1 |
Studio : | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Art Direction, |
Cast : | Gene Kelly Marie McDonald Charles Winninger Phyllis Thaxter Spring Byington |
Genre : | Comedy Music |
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Reviews
Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
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.
The wartime housing shortage for returning veterans gets an amusing and telling look from one of Gene Kelly's lesser known pictures, Living In A Big Way. Kelly plays a GI who marries Marie McDonald on impulse before going overseas. They don't even have time to get down to business. They're not even that well acquainted.This film is directed by Gregory LaCava who gave us two screen comedy classics, Stage Door and My Man Godfrey. This film bares more than a passing resemblance to the latter. Living In A Big Way turned out to be LaCava's last completed film.The big shock that Kelly gets when he returns home to claim his bride with pal Bill Phipps is to discover she's rich. And she's got a stuffy fiancé in John Warburton whom she hasn't bothered to tell about that unconsummated marriage. Being married to 'The Body' that's the part most unbelievable about Living In A Big Way.In fact it is the main weakness of Living In A Big Way. Had someone like Lana Turner or Carole Lombard been cast in the role of the unfulfilled wife some of the comedy aspects in her character would have been handled a lot better. Living In A Big Way might have become a classic. It might not have needed the musical numbers Kelly did which were creative and fun, but kind of forced into the film. The wife's role truly was one made for Carole Lombard who was beyond casting.Charles Winninger and Spring Byington as the parents are carbon copies of Eugene Palette and Alice Brady from My Man Godfrey. There's also a nice performance by Jean Adair as McDonald's grandmother.And one role to note, that of Phyllis Thaxter as a war widow who joins Kelly's and Phipps's community of veterans. She's the kind of girl that every GI would love to have come home to.Living In A Big Way is an amusing enough film, but hardly one of the great films of Gene Kelly or Gregory LaCava.
I thought this movie was fun. I have never really watched old movies before and this one was a really great first date film. It had warmth and heart and spirit. Was kind of cheesy but in today's film industry, cheesy is cute. I gave it a ten and I highly suggest renting, buying or seeing the movie anyway you can. Gene Kelly was very dreamy and a little bit sarcastic and you knew the character thought that he was gonna have it all. The female lead was cast perfect because their two personalities had spark and you wanted to hold on and see what would happen. The grandma in the movie was priceless. The perfect addition to a great old movie. I love the fact it was black and white and Gene Kelly is so sweet with all the kids in the movie that you can't help liking him. See It.
No, this is not "Singin in the Rain" or "On the Town" or "Cover Girl" or "Anchors Away"! It's a simple black and white comedy with a handful of musical numbers thrown in. Kelly does an eye popping dance number on a construction site and does another cute number with a dog. These are as inventive as his numbers in more expensive films, but the "B quality" of the film does not do them any justice. He also sings "It Had to Be You". The plot is totally forgettable comedy fodder and since Kelly was never really known for his comedy playing, it falls a little flat. However, the dance numbers are terrific.