''So Big'' is a 1932
pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...
American drama film directed by
William A. Wellman
William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and military pilot. He was known for his work in crime, adventure, and action genre films, often focusing on avi ...
and starring
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
. The screenplay by
J. Grubb Alexander
Joseph Grubb Alexander (December 25, 1887 – January 11, 1932) was an American screenwriter of the silent era. He wrote for more than 90 films between 1916 and 1932. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Joseph and Florence Grubb Alexan ...
and
Robert Lord is based on the 1924
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning
novel of the same name, by
Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), ''Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' Cim ...
.
''So Big'' was the second full-scale screen adaptation of the Ferber novel. The first was a 1924
silent film of the same name directed by
Charles Brabin
Charles Brabin (April 17, 1882 – November 3, 1957) was a British-American film director.
Biography
Born in Liverpool, England, he was educated at St. Francis Xavier College. Brabin sailed to New York City in the early 1900s and, while hold ...
and starring
Colleen Moore
Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped po ...
. A
1953 remake was directed by
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American film director, producer, and editor. He won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his musical films ''West Side Story'' (1961) and ''The Sound of ...
and starred
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007)["Actress, P ...](_blank)
.
The story was also made as a short in 1930, with
Helen Jerome Eddy
Helen Jerome Eddy (February 25, 1897 – January 27, 1990) was a motion picture actress from New York City. She was noted as a character actress who played genteel heroines in films such as ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' (1917).
Early years
Edd ...
.
Plot
Following the death of her mother, Selina Peake and her father, Simeon, move to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, where she enrolls in finishing school. Her father is killed, leaving her penniless, and Selina's friend, Julie Hemple, helps her find a job as a schoolteacher in a small Dutch community. Selina moves in with the Poole family and tutors their son Roelf. Selina eventually marries immigrant farmer Pervus De Jong, and gives birth to Dirk, nicknamed "So Big", who becomes the primary focus of her life. When Pervus dies, Selina struggles to keep the farm afloat so she can afford to finance her son's education, hoping he will become an architect.
Dirk becomes involved with a married woman, who arranges for him to get a job as a bond salesman in her husband's firm, making much more money than as an apprentice architect. Eventually he meets and falls in love with unconventional artist Dallas O'Mara, but she refuses to marry him because of his lack of ambition. Roelf, now a renowned sculptor, meets Dirk and, learning Selina is his mother, reunites with his former tutor. She is pleased to know her influence helped mold Roelf's character, even as she accepts her own son's weaknesses and disappointments.
Cast
![Advertisement for So Big!](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Advertisement_for_So_Big%21.png)
*
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
as Selina Peake De Jong
*
George Brent
George Brent (born George Brendan Nolan; 15 March 1904 – 26 May 1979) was an Irish-American stage, film, and television actor. He is best remembered for the eleven films he made with Bette Davis, which included ''Jezebel'' and ''Dark Victory ...
as Roelf Pool
*
Dickie Moore as Dirk De Jong (younger)
*
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
as Miss Dallas O'Mara
*
Mae Madison
Mae is an American rock band that formed in Norfolk, Virginia in 2001. The band's name is an acronym for "Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience", based on a course taken by drummer Jacob Marshall while a student at Old Dominion University.
Histor ...
as Julie Hempel
*
Hardie Albright
Hardie Hunter Albright (born Hardie Hunter Albrecht; December 16, 1903 – December 7, 1975) was an American actor.
Early years
Albright was born on December 16, 1903, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, to traveling vaudeville performers. He made his ...
as Dirk De Jong
*
Alan Hale, Sr.
Alan Hale Sr. (born Rufus Edward Mackahan; February 10, 1892 – January 22, 1950) was an American actor and director. He is best remembered for his many character roles, in particular as a frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn, as well as f ...
as Klass Poole
*
Earle Foxe
Earle Foxe (born Earl Aldrich Fox; December 25, 1891 – December 10, 1973) was an American actor.
Early years
Foxe was born in Oxford, Ohio, to Charles Aldrich Fox, originally of Flint, Michigan, and Eva May Herron. He was educated at Ohio Sta ...
as Pervus De Jong
*
Robert Warwick
Robert Warwick (born Robert Taylor Bien, October 9, 1878 – June 6, 1964) was an American stage, film and television actor with over 200 film appearances. A matinee idol during the silent film era, he also prospered after the introduction ...
as Simeon Peake, gambler
*
Dorothy Peterson
Bergetta "Dorothy" Peterson (25 December 1897 - 3 October 1979) was an American actress. She began her acting career on Broadway before appearing in more than eighty Hollywood films.
Early years
Peterson was born in Hector, Minnesota, the daug ...
as Maartje Pool
*
Noel Francis
Noel Francis (born Noel Frances Sweeney, August 31, 1906 – October 30, 1959) was an American actress of the stage and screen during the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Texas, she began her acting career on the Broadway stage in the mid-1920s, befor ...
as Mabel, a "fancy woman"
*
Dick Winslow
Richard Winslow (March 25, 1915 – February 7, 1991) was an American film actor, mostly in supporting roles.
He died of complications of diabetes on February 7, 1991, in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
California is a U.S. stat ...
as Roelf, age 12
*
Lionel Belmore
Lionel Belmore (12 May 1867 – 30 January 1953) was an English character actor and director on stage for more than a quarter of a century.
Life and career
Onstage, Belmore appeared with Wilson Barrett, Sir Henry Irving, William Faversham, Lil ...
as Reverend Dekker (uncredited)
*
Olin Howland
Olin Ross Howland (February 10, 1886 – September 20, 1959) was an American film and theatre actor.
Life and career
Howland was born in Denver, Colorado, to Joby A. Howland, one of the youngest enlisted participants in the Civil War, an ...
as Jacob Pogadunk (uncredited)
*
John Larkin as Jeff (uncredited)
*
Elizabeth Patterson as Mrs. Tebbit (uncredited)
Cast notes:
*
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
, cast in the relatively small role of Dallas O'Mara, filmed ''So Big!'' simultaneously with ''
The Rich Are Always with Us
''The Rich Are Always with Us'' is a 1932 American pre-Code romantic comedy-drama film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, and Bette Davis. The screenplay by Austin Parker is based on the novel of the same n ...
''.
[Davis, Bette, ''A Lonely Life''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons 1962. , pp. 150-151.] Following ''
The Man Who Played God'', it was her second film for
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
, and the first in which she appeared with
George Brent
George Brent (born George Brendan Nolan; 15 March 1904 – 26 May 1979) was an Irish-American stage, film, and television actor. He is best remembered for the eleven films he made with Bette Davis, which included ''Jezebel'' and ''Dark Victory ...
, who co-starred with her in eleven more films. Davis considered her casting in a prestigious
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
project a sign
Jack L. Warner
Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some ...
was acknowledging her value to the studio. In her 1962 autobiography ''A Lonely Life'', she recalled, "It was a source of tremendous satisfaction, and encouraged me to unheard-of dreams of glory.".
[
*]Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
, a rising star, was brought to even bigger fame with the release of ''So Big!''. A year after her role in ''So Big!'', she starred in ''Baby Face Babyface or Baby Face can refer to:
Nicknames
* Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber
* Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician
* "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...
'' (1933) and ''The Bitter Tea of General Yen
''The Bitter Tea of General Yen'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama war film directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck, and featuring Nils Asther and Walter Connolly. Based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Grace Zaring Stone, th ...
'' (1933). Her role as Stella Dallas in the 1936 eponymous film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
was Academy-award nominated largely due to the role she perfected as a mother in ''So Big!''.[Smyth, J. E. Edna Ferber's Hollywood. University Of Texas Press, 2011.]
Production
After '' Cimarron'' became the top grossing film of 1931 and won multiple Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, a newfound interest was spurred in American historical cinema- particularly that of Ferber's. Considered "box-office material", Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
decided to remake ''So Big'' into a talking cinema, paying Ferber an additional $20,000 for sound rights. Despite Hollywood still recovering from its worst year in the Depression, the film underwent production in 1932 with an estimated budget of $228,000 and a solid cast, including well-known actress Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
. The credit title was shared between Ferber, who was given director approval, and Wellman as the creator of ''So Big!''. The film was shot from January 11 to February 3, finished in just under a month.
This film distinguished itself from the 1924 adaption starring Colleen Moore
Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped po ...
because screenwriters J. Grubb Alexander and Robert Lord maintained Ferber's theme of art versus materialism. A prevailing issue in 1932, the hardship farmers faced as a result of the crashing stock market, was accurately portrayed by the film, garnering the support of the public. This, alongside a new wave of American historical films (''Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
'', 1930; '' Cimarron'', 1931; '' Silver Dollar'', 1932) and Ferber's popularity, made the movie a success.
Critical reception
Andre Sennwald of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called the film "a faithful and methodical treatment of Miss Ferber's novel, but without fire or drama or the vitality of the original." He added, "A fine actress, Miss Stanwyck seems ill-suited to a role that hustles her in jerky steps from girlhood to old age; a role in which she is asked to express rugged grandeur and the beauty of a life well-lived from behind a mask of grease paint ... Little Dickie Moore is delightful as the younger So Big. Bette Davis ... is unusually competent."
''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' noted, ""Wellman's endeavor at kaleidoscopic flashes in the life of Selina Dejong ... make for a choppy continuity ... As it is, the 83 minutes are overly long, but in toto, it's a disjointed affair."[Landazuri, Margarita]
"So Big! (1932)"
TCM.com
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' considered Barbara Stanwyck's performance "the best work she has yet shown us", while the ''New York Daily Mirror
The ''New York Daily Mirror'' was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the ''Evening Journal'' and ''N ...
'' called her "exquisite" and added, "Her great talent as an actress never has been demonstrated more brilliantly. A sparkling performance. She is magnificent."
Critics of the ''Motion Picture Herald The ''Motion Picture Herald'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1931 to December 1972.Anthony Slide, ed. (1985)''International Film, Radio, and Television Journals'' Greenwood Press. p. 242. It was replaced by the ''QP Herald ...
'' commented, "Warner has remade Edna Ferber's ''So Big'' for the talking screen with Barbara Stanwyck in the virile part of a typical American mother whose simple life epic is the backbone of America's greatness... The Ferber classic should not disappoint those who enjoyed the silent version..."
The film was regarded not only for its great cast and detailed adaptation of the novel, but its unusual plot line for Hollywood movies typical of that time. Commentators praised the film for its "characterization...revelation of plain folk doing the things they think, striving always toward a goal of useful citizenship...It goes back to the days when farm life was drudgery, but it brings it up to the day of the tractor, the radio, the automobile, paved highways and so many other conveniences which have radically altered rural life."[review in the ''Motion Picture Herald'', March 19, 1932.]
References
External links
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{{Edna Ferber
1932 films
1932 drama films
American drama films
1930s English-language films
Films based on American novels
Films directed by William A. Wellman
Warner Bros. films
Films about educators
American black-and-white films
Films based on works by Edna Ferber
Films with screenplays by Robert Lord (screenwriter)
1930s American films