''So Big'' is a 1924 American silent film based on

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 ...

's 1924 novel of the same name which won the

Pulitzer Prize for the Novel The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...

in 1925. It was produced by independent producer Earl Hudson the film and distributed through Associated First National. Unseen for decades, it is considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

. Only a trailer survives at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. ''So Big'' at TheGreatStars.com; Lost Films Wanted
(Wayback Machine). Retrieved July 21, 2018

Plot

As described in a review in a film magazine, after returning from a tour of Europe with her father and finishing a course at a fashionable finishing school in the year 1888, Selina Peake (Moore) is shocked to find that her father is a gambler and has been killed during an accident in a gambling den. Left penniless, she gets a job as a school teacher in the Dutch colony at High Prairie. She marries Pervus DeJong (Bowers), a dull-witted and poor farmer, and soon finds that her life is one of drudgery, lightened only by her love of her son Dirk, whom she calls "So Big." When Pervus dies, Selina in old clothes, reduced to poverty, peddles vegetables. The father of a former school friend advances her a little money and, by stinting and hard work, after 18 years she has made the farm pay. Dirk (Lyon) has been educated as an architect and wins a competition. Dirk is loved by Dallas (Haver), an artist, but owes much of his success to Mrs. Paula Storm (Theby), a discontented wife who persuades him to elope with her. Selina learns of this, and begs the pair to give up the wild idea. Husband William Storm (Herbert) threatens to name Dirk as a correspondent in a divorce suit. After Selina pleads with him, he agrees to drop the matter. Thoroughly repentant, Dirk goes with Selina to see Dallas.

Cast

Reception

Colleen Moore's role in ''So Big'' quite different from her usual

flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...

parts. Because Moore's part in the film was so different from the roles she had become known for following '' Flaming Youth'', there was an outcry against her. Forgotten was that, before her success in ''Flaming Youth'', the vast majority of her roles had been dramatic in character, a few even tragic. She had not only played mothers, but mothers who had lost children ('' Broken Chains'') and mothers who died ('' Dinty''). Still, her performance generally was well received. The film, however, was not as big a success as her previous few comedies, and so ''

Sally Sally may refer to: People *Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name Military *Sortie (siege warfare), Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port *Sally, ...

'' was to follow ''So Big''. Moore wrote in ''Silent Star'' that, upon meeting Edna Ferber some years after the film, the author gave her approval of Moore's performance.

References

External links

* * * * * Posters for the 1924 version of ''So Big'
poster #1poster #2
(new link)

at silentfilmstillarchive.com {{Edna Ferber 1924 films Films set in 1888 American silent feature films Films based on American novels Films directed by Charles Brabin Lost American films First National Pictures films American black-and-white films Films based on works by Edna Ferber Silent American drama films 1924 drama films 1924 lost films Lost drama films 1920s American films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links