"So Big" did a lot to salvage Barbara Stanwyck's career. Apart from "Ladies of Leisure" which had prestige, many of Stanwyck's early films were potboilers and, often, her's was the only performance worth watching. This story of mother love and self sacrifice was dear to people's hearts at the time (struggling through the Great Depression) and Stanwyck's honesty and earthiness made her a natural for Selina Peake. Warners surrounded her with the best talent they had - William Wellman directing, George Brent as the male lead (although his part lasted barely 10 minutes) and the studio's new ingenue, Bette Davis, in an interesting role as a young artist who tries to guide Dirk back to his roots. There were also two of the better child stars of the day - Dawn O'Day was Selina as a child (five years later, as Anne Shirley, she would play Stanwyck's daughter in the acclaimed "Stella Dallas") and the very cute Dickie Moore as "So Big" as a child.In many of Edna Ferber's books the male characters didn't hang around, they either abandoned their family or were killed off (Ferber never married and many critics felt she didn't really understand men) and "So Big" was no exception. Selina's beloved father (Robert Warwick) is shot (he has a gambling house, a fact that all through her childhood has been kept secret). The only friend who hasn't deserted her secures her a job as a teacher in High Prairie, but her first impressions of the town are not favourable. She finds the Pooles, her host family, ignorant and crude, the mother (another thankless role for Dorothy Peterson) is worn out and old at 31. The one ray of hope is Roelf, who is eager to learn and, when Selina arrives, is half way through reading the dictionary. He also departs, after a time, to make his way in the world.Selina marries Pervus DeJong (Earle Fox), a decent farmer, but someone who is mired in the past and won't learn new ways or experiment with different crops - asparagus for example. Life is going to be a long, hard struggle but his death gives Selina the opportunity to try new methods. All she has left is Dirk (Hardie Albright) but he is a bitter disappointment to her. Not only is he materialistic and worships money, he is also going about with a married woman, who convinces him to give up architecture for the lucrative field of advertising. With his new executive postion he is slipping further from Selina's values, but he then meets Dallas, a young artist, who convinces him to find truer ideals. Roelf has just returned from Europe, where his renown as a sculptor has made him a celebrity, and he is eager to see Selina, who he regards as his inspiration. Together, they all return to the farm and the film ends with Dirk's realisation that he had been misguided and Selina has known all along the answer to true happiness."So Big" is just "So Wonderful". One of the nicest scenes (I think) is when Selina, newly widowed, takes "So Big" to market. There, they meet two "ladies of the night", one of them, Mabel, strikes up a friendship with "So Big". Another small role for Noel Francis, she always played shady ladies but she had the bearing of a Duchess.Highly, Highly Recommended.

This is an extremely condensed version of Edna Ferber's Pulitzer Prize winning novel. It moves much too fast, missing the epic scope of Ferber's writing, but it works on its own small terms, establishing characters, filling them out, though in miniature, and telling Ferber's story. I wonder what she thought of this version! Stanwyck is wonderful in this, simple and straightforward, really playing the character. This was an amazing performer. The more I see of her body of work the more impressed I am. She could do anything, comedy, serious drama, playing all kinds of characters from good to bad, "dames" to ladies.Bette Davis shines in this early performance. She was only twenty four years old here, and without tricks or gimmicks (the kind she would use increasingly as she got older and the passion for acting faded) she plays a character, inhabits her, plays in the scene and really holds your attention. She looks lovely by the way, even with her platinum dyed tresses.

Sickeningly sweet. Yeah, that's the first phrase that comes to mind when I think about this film. And, while you might immediately assume I am a heartless soul for not particularly liking this film, I do occasionally like tear-jerkers and sentimental films. However, to me this film went way over the edge to the territory of "sappy".The scope of the film was not bad--showing the evolution and life of this character over time. And technically it was a very pretty film--the cinematographer did a wonderful job of filming the star and making her seem, at times, radiant. But, it was so heavy-handed and lacked subtlety when it came to her child. In some ways, for this very same reason, I am not a huge fan of another Stanwyck film, STELLA DALLAS--though it's MUCH better than SO BIG!. Sorry to be the dissenting voice, but the film just didn't do it for me.

My sisters, mother and I were discussing this movie and thought we had seen this movie with Jane Wyman as the leading star. I am trying to find this movie to purchase, but the websites say this movie is with Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck. I would appreciate if someone would set me straight. I remember this being a heartfelt movie and one that took a lot of tissues. It's been many years since I've seen it, and would love to see it again. This being my first time to comment about any movie... in the future hope to be better informed about this and other movies ... I am a very big movie watcher and collector and browser, mostly CLASSICS. Always searching.