Blast from the Past: Stanwyck Revisited
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Theatrical release poster
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After her mother’s death, Selina Peake (Stanwyck) ] and her father Simeon move to Chicago, where she enrolls in finishing school. When her father is killed, Selina is penniless and friend Julie Hemple helps her find a job as a schoolteacher in small Dutch community.
Selina moves in with the Poole family and tutors their son Roelf. She eventually marries immigrant farmer Pervus De Jong, and gives birth to Dirk, nicknamed “So Big.” When Pervus dies, Selina struggles to keep the farm afloat to finance her son’s education, hoping that one day he will become an architect.
Dirk becomes involved with a married woman, who arranges for him a job as a bond salesman in her husband’s firm. Eventually he meets and falls in love with an artist named Dallas O’Mara (Bette Davis), but she refuses to marry him for lacking drive and ambition.
Now a renowned sculptor, Roef meets Dirk and, learning that Selina is his mother, reunites with his former tutor. Selina is pleased that her influence has helped mold Roelf’s character, even as she accepts the weaknesses of her own son’s
After Cimarron became the top-grossing film of 1931 and won multiple Oscars, there was a renewed in American historical dramas.
Considered “box-office material,” Warner decided to remake So Big into a talkie, paying Ferber $20,000 for sound rights. Despite the impact of the Depression, the film began production with an estimated budget of $228,000, and solid cast, headed by Stanwyck.
The credit title was shared by Ferber, who was given director approval, and Wellman as the creator.
This film distinguished itself from the 1924 adaption starring Colleen Moore as screenwriters J. Grubb Alexander and Robert Lord maintained Ferber’s theme of art versus materialism. A prevailing issue in 1932, the hardship farmers faced after the crashing stock market, was more accurately portrayed by this film, which garnered public support.
Stanwyck renders a sparkling performance in the virile part of a typical American mother whose simple life is the backbone of America’s greatness.
Bette Davis, cast in the small role of Dallas O’Mara, filmed So Big! at the same time as The Rich Are Always with Us. After The Man Who Played God, it was her second film for Warner and the first in which she appeared with George Brent, whowould co-starred with her in 11 more films. Davis considered her casting in a prestigious Stanwyck project a sign that Warner liked her.
As for Stanwyck, a year after her role in So Big, she starred in Baby Face (1933), opposite George Brent, and in Capra’s The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933). Her titular role in the 1936 melodrama Stella Dallas would earn her a Best Actress Osca nomination.
A cycle of popular historical films (Abraham Lincoln, 1930; Cimarron, 1931; Silver Dollar, 1932) and Ferber’s own stature, accounted for the movie’s commercial success.
Recycling
So Big was the second screen adaptation of Ferber’s novel. The first was a 1924 silent film, directed by Charles Brabin and starring Colleen Moore. A 1953 remake was directed by Robert Wise and starred Jane Wyman.
Cast
Barbara Stanwyck as Selina Peake De Jong
George Brent as Roelf Pool
Dickie Moore as Dirk De Jong (younger)
Bette Davis as Miss Dallas O’Mara
Mae Madison as Julie Hempel
Hardie Albright as Dirk De Jong
Alan Hale, Sr. as Klass Poole
Earle Foxe as Pervus De Jong
Robert Warwick as Simeon Peake, gambler
Dorothy Peterson as Maartje Pool
Noel Francis as Mabel, a “fancy woman”
Dick Winslow as Roelf, age 12
Credits:
Directed by William A. Wellman
Written by J. Grubb Alexander, Robert Lord, based on So Big, 1924 novel by Edna Ferber
Produced by Jack L. Warner
Cinematography Sidney Hickox
Edited by William Holmes
Music by W. Franke Harling
Production and Distribution: Warner Bros.
Release date: April 30, 1932
Running time: 81 minutes
