So Big! (1932)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

J. Grubb Alexander (adaptation)
Edna Ferber (novel)

Release Date:

30 April 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Selina lived well until her father Simeon died. Her aunts sold the estate and put her in a boarding school...

Plot Keywords:

Sculptor | Farmer | Teacher | Chicago Illinois | Child

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck	...	Selina Peake De Jong
George Brent	...	Roelf Pool
Dickie Moore	...	Dirk De Jong (younger)
Bette Davis	...	Miss Dallas O'Mara
Mae Madison	...	Julie Hempel
Hardie Albright	...	Dirk De Jong
Alan Hale	...	Klass Poole
Earle Foxe	...	Pervus De Jong
Robert Warwick	...	Simeon Peake, Gambler
Dorothy Peterson	...	Maartje Pool
Noel Francis	...	Mabel, a 'Fancy Woman'
Dick Winslow	...	Roelf, age 12
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
André Cheron	...	The General (scenes deleted)
Guy Kibbee	...	August Hemple (scenes deleted)
Martha Mattox	...	Maiden Aunt (scenes deleted)
Willard Robertson	...	The Doctor (scenes deleted)
Arthur Stone	...	Jan Steen (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Vitaphone

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Quotes:

Dirk De Jong: You're just about the most attractive girl I've ever met
Miss Dallas O'Mara: Very good. Kinda sterotyped, but still effective. Time out while I work up a maidenly blush.
Dirk De Jong: Now this is your last chance. I'm not going to ask you this question any more. How about having dinner with me some night?
Miss Dallas O'Mara: Love to.
Dirk De Jong: When?
Miss Dallas O'Mara: Oh, sometime in the distant future... say, um, tonight.
Dirk De Jong: Perfect. Where would you like to go, the Casino?
Miss Dallas O'Mara: Oh, let's not and say we did. Those upper-crust places make me jitter.
Dirk De Jong: Well, how about Thompson's Lunch?
Miss Dallas O'Mara: Oh, I'm still hunchbacked from sitting in those one-armed chairs. Let's go to a hotel--full of all sorts of people: actors, gamblers, thieves, bootleggers, ladies and...and women. That's my dish.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Private Screenings: Child Stars" (2006)

Soundtrack:

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

A Great Classic Film

There is no doubt in my mind after viewing this picture from way back in the early 30's, that this is a great Classic with great actors. Most of these actors, Barbara Stanwyck,"Dynasty" '85 TV series, were just starting their careers along with Bette Davis, (Miss Dallas O'Mara),"The Old Maid",'33 and George Brent, (Roelf Pool),"The Spiral Staircase",'46. In this picture Stanwyck plays a woman who was very close to her dad, who was a gambler and once he died, she had no choice but to take on a teaching position in Kansas and wound up married to a farmer. This is a wonderful story of a woman who raises her children against all the set backs that life has to offer and how she deals with each problem that seems to face her, which she calls Velvet. Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis never got a long together when making a film and they both made very few. Stanwyck was always outgoing with the stage hands and crew and Bette Davis just did her acting job and no socializing with the regular people. I must say that Bette Davis looked fantastic in this picture and of course she was a great actress.