Friday, March 2, 2012

Mr. Big

A long awaited Donald O'Connor movie and perhaps my favorite of his teen movies has been uploaded to YouTube.  Mr. Big is the story of a bunch of kids who want to be "on the beam" but can't because the school encourages classical.  But when Patricia's aunt and head of the school, leaves for New York, the kids - led by Donald J. O'Connor, Esquire - start working on making the classical play Antigone into something a little more interesting.  With the school board behind them, they begin putting on Donald J. O'Connor, Esquire's musical comedies.

Patricia is the only girl in the whole group who is not "hep", and with a stuffy aunt, nobody really likes her.  But she doesn't fawn over Donald like the other girls do so he likes her, and the other girls are jealous of her.  But when Donald finds out she wants to be hep like the rest of them, she's as good as in the show.  Before long, Donald is as head over heals for her as she is for him.

The movie has lots of singing and dancing, but there is a solid plot behind it to make it interesting.  Donald O'Connor plays himself, Gloria Jean plays Patricia, and Reggy Ryan plays Peggy.  The rest of the cast includes - who else? - The Jivin' Jacks and Jills (and at one point you get a good shot of the boy who grew up to become Frank in 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers') and other actors who were common to Donald O'Connor's teen years.  In addition, you get a pretty good idea of the kind of actor Donald would grow up to be - you can really hear his older self in his voice.

Click here to view Mr. Big
Rating: 10, A

~Meggy

1 comment:

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