BIG CITY (1948)

In 1937 New York City, a cantor (Danny Thomas) discovers an abandoned baby on the street. Soon, a settlement house minister (Robert Preston) and an Irish Catholic cop (George Murphy) have come along to offer help. They leave the infant in the care of Thomas's mother and go off to talk a judge (Edward Arnold) into giving them joint custody of the child, named Midge. Arnold agrees, with the caveat that the first of the men to marry will take permanent custody of Midge. For ten years, the arrangement works well—Midge (Margaret O’Brien, pictured with Preston) is happy, the men are happy, and the cantor's mom is happy. Midge's only problem seems to be dealing with a classmate (Butch Jenkins) who picks on her at school, but only because he has a crush on her. When Midge's teacher (Karin Booth) finds out about the unusual three-father situation, she arranges a visit with the family and sees how well things are working out. Both Preston and Thomas fall for Booth, but only Preston has the gumption to do something about it. Meanwhile, Murphy falls for a brassy saloon singer (Betty Garrett)—she's a bit rough around the edges but she has a good heart and loves Midge, though a Coney Island trip they take together ends up with Midge getting sick from too much junk food (they call it a "Coney Island hangover"). When Murphy and Garrett elope, they plan to take Midge to live with them, but Preston and Thomas both rebel, disapproving of Garrett and claiming the elopement was too sudden. Bad blood builds between the men, and soon it's off to see the judge who will need the wisdom of Solomon to work things out.

This light melodrama had the best of intentions when it was released shortly after WWII, making a case for tolerance, though honestly, the differences between the Jew, the Catholic and the Protestant are barely skin-deep, and it's really only the Jewish cantor who stands out because we see him singing at his synagogue. Today, the lack of people of color or of other nationalities in a plot about diversity seems astounding. Things start out well, but by the last half-hour, some predictable tear-jerking elements arise, none of which actually made me teary but which slow the movie's pace down. Preston is the acting standout here, doing a nice job with the one character (the Protestant minister) who doesn't have an obvious stereotype attached to him. O'Brien, at the age of 10, four years after her star turn in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, does a nice job, and the two femme interest types (Garrett and Booth) are both good, though their interesting characters are underdeveloped. There are way too many songs in the film; nothing against Thomas and Garrett who shoulder most of them, but they generally stop the movie dead in its tracks. Irving Berlin’s "What'll I Do" is used effectively, but his "God Bless America" is dragged out way too often, serving almost as a musical theme for the movie, even though there is little here that suggests patriotic feelings (or, despite the title, urban themes, either). A fun highlight is little O'Brien putting on lipstick and imitating Garrett singing a fun novelty song called "Ok'l Baby Dok'l," though it gets her in big trouble. [TCM]