Living in a Big Way

Despite MGM's insistence that star Gene Kelly, just returning from military service in 1947, appear exclusively in big-budget Technicolor musicals, maverick director Gregory La Cava showcased Kelly in the modest black and white tunefest Living in a Big Way. Kelly is cast as an ex-GI who discovers ...more

While Living in a Big Way was a big flop upon its release, and while it will never rank among Gene Kelly's best films, it actually is a diverting little mini-musical, certainly flawed but just as certainly containing a number of very good things. Among those very good things are the musical numbers, inserted well into production when it was decided that Big should be a musical rather than a straight comedy. These numbers, which include a very fine sequence with Kelly and a dog and an excellent ...more