Big City

1948
Approved
1h 43m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Margaret O'Brien sings, dances and keeps the faith in this heartwarming musical drama co-starring Robert Preston, Danny Thomas and George Murphy.Margaret O'Brien sings, dances and keeps the faith in this heartwarming musical drama co-starring Robert Preston, Danny Thomas and George Murphy.Margaret O'Brien sings, dances and keeps the faith in this heartwarming musical drama co-starring Robert Preston, Danny Thomas and George Murphy.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

374

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos6

Top cast48

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Margaret O'Brien

Midge

Robert Preston

Reverend Phillip Y. Andrews

Danny Thomas

Cantor David Irwin Feldman

George Murphy

Patrick O'Donnell

Karin Booth

Florence Bartlett

Edward Arnold

Judge Martin O. Abercrombie

Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins

Lewis Keller
(as Butch Jenkins)

Betty Garrett

'Shoo-Shoo' Grady

Lotte Lehmann

'Mama' Feldman

Page Cavanaugh Trio

Page Cavanaugh Trio

Connie Gilchrist

Martha

David Bair

Boy
(voice)
(uncredited)

Bobby Barber

Fighter
(uncredited)

Stanley Blystone

Mike
(uncredited)

George Calliga

Rabbi
(uncredited)

Page Cavanaugh

Page Cavanaugh
(uncredited)

Heinie Conklin

Drunk Barfly
(uncredited)

George Davis

The Florist
(uncredited)

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Marni Nixon, famed for doing similar voicing duties on The King and I (1956) and West Side Story (1961), sings for Margaret O'Brien in the synagogue choir scenes.

Quotes
[first lines]
Midge: [voice over] Back in nineteen thirty-seven, our street was pretty much like it is today. One end was the settlement house where you could find the Reverend Phillip Andrews almost any time of the day or night. If you ever needed a policeman, there'd be Patrick O'Donnell coming around the corner. He was a good friend to all the kids in the neighborhood, and to the grown-ups too. Sometimes while he was walking his beat, he'd stop and listen to the music coming from the temple down at the other end of the street. It would be the cantor singing and the boys choir.
[Cantor David Feldman and the boys choir are seen performing Kol Nidre in the temple]
Midge: [voice over] One Sabbath evening after service, Cantor Feldman was on his way home.
Passerby: Good evening, Cantor Feldman.
Cantor David Irwin Feldman: Oh, good evening.
Midge: [voice over] As he started up his front steps, he heard a funny little noise.
Cantor David Irwin Feldman: [looking around] Here kitty. Here...
Midge: [in Cantor Feldman spotting a newspaper covered basket, and removing the newspapers to find a baby crying inside] It was me.

Crazy credits
The following general acknowledgment is listed following the opening credits: "This picture is dedicated to people who like people."

Connections
Referenced in The Blue Lamp (1950)

Soundtracks
God Bless America
Written by Irving Berlin
Performed by Marles Noie (uncredited), Margaret O'Brien (uncredited), Robert Preston (uncredited), Danny Thomas (uncredited), George Murphy (uncredited), Betty Garrett (uncredited), Karin Booth (uncredited), Edward Arnold (uncredited) and Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins (uncredited)

User reviews19

Review

Featured review

8/10

Apropo for out times

A 1948 film on religious tolerance. A rabbi(Danny Thomas), a Protestant clergyman(Robert Preston), and a Irish Catholic policeman(George Murphy), discover an abandoned baby and decide to bring her up equally between them. Of course, conflict arises and they are about to break the ties that bind them, but with darling Margaret O'Brien and a wise judge, they bring them all together by the end.

A film that was evidently not well thought of, but seeing it today with all the conflict caused by religion around the world, you realize if we can't get along in our own little corner or the world, and these characters were not, how can the greater conflicts ever be solved. Really made me stop and think. And should have been better received in 1948. 8/10

Jane