So Big ** (1953, Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, Nancy Olson, Richard Beymer, Nancy Olson, Steve Forrest) – Classic Movie Review 9775

Director Robert Wise’s 1953 romantic drama So Big, the desultory remake of the 1932 semi-classic So Big, based on the Pulitizer Prize novel by Edna Ferber, is thin, soapy and over-extended. The cast is good enough, but they don’t spark up, with one or two exceptions.

Jane Wyman is no match for the original’s Barbara Stanwyck as Selina DeJong, and she is outshone here by Sterling Hayden as Pervus DeJong, the Dutch farmer she marries. Steve Forrest is more than adequate as the ne’er-do-well son, Dirk DeJong, their only child. Forrest was rewarded with a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, albeit tied with two other actors. Walter Coy plays Roelf Pool, and Richard Beymer plays young Roelf, age 12-16, who has a crush on Selina who teaches him piano. Tommy Rettig plays Dirk, age 8.

However, Hayden, Forrest, Coy, Beymer and Rettig are all good, the production is impressive and Max Steiner’s score is outstanding, and Wise turns in his usual highly professional job of work.

Also in the cast are Nancy Olson, Steve Forrest, Elizabeth Fraser, Martha Hyer, Roland Winters, Jacques Aubuchon, Ruth Swanson, Dorothy Christy, Oliver Blake, Lillian Kemble-Cooper [Lily Kemble], Noralee Normans, Jill Jansen, Kerry Donnelly, Vera Miles, Grandon Rhodes, Bud Osborne, Elizabeth Russell, Dick Alexander, David McMahon, Kenner G Kemp, Paul Brinegar, Marjorie Bennett, Frank Ferguson, Douglas Evans, Kenneth Osmond and Lottie Stein.

So Big is directed by Robert Wise, runs 101 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by John Twist, based on the novel by Edna Ferber, is shot in black and white by Ellsworth Frederick, is produced by Henry Blanke, is scored by Max Steiner and is designed by John Beckman.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9775

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