The Big Street (1942)
Directed by Irving Reis

Film Review

An appealing mix of social satire, romantic comedy and melodrama, The Big Street showcases two of 1940s Hollywood's most charismatic performers at their best, although the film's abrupt swings from good-natured comedy to heart-tugging pathos are jarring and prevent it from being as slick and effective as it might have been.  Lucille Ball has rarely given a performance of such dramatic power and poignancy as she does here, nor has she looked more glamorous.  Ball may not have been the obvious casting choice (producer Damon Runyon had originally wanted Carole Lombard for the role) but she comes up with the goods, turning in one of her best performances as she does so.

Henry Fonda is ideally suited to play opposite Ball as the sympathetic, self-effacing hero who is ready to sacrifice everything for love - hardly Fonda's most challenging role but one that suits his natural nice guy image to a tee.  The leads are admirably served by supporting artistes Agnes Moorehead and Eugene Pallette, who presence helps to prevent the film from becoming hopelessly maudlin, and Barton MacLane makes a suitably nasty villain, one we can't help hating when he slugs Miss Ball and casually walks away, leaving nice Mr Fonda to pick up the pieces.  With its references to the New Deal and constant allusions to self-sacrifice and solidarity amongst decent folk, The Big Street looks as if it was made during the Great Depression, although its essential underlying theme that kindness matters far more than money is one that still resonates.

Film Synopsis

Augustus Pinkerton II, known to all as Little Pinks, ekes out a living in New York as a busboy at some of the classiest joints in town.  Having lost one job, his hero, the heavenly singer-dancer Gloria Lyons, finds him another in a nightclub owned by Case Ables.  When Gloria picks a fight with her employer, Abes hit back and knocks her unconscious.  Badly injured, Gloria becomes dependent on the generosity of Pinks and her housemaid, who sacrifice everything to pay for her expensive hospital treatment.  When Gloria is fit enough to leave hospital, she is still wheelchair bound, but Pinks does his best to convince her that one day she will walk again.  Having grown tried of New York, Gloria insists that she be moved to Florida, where the climate is better for her health.  With no money, Pinks has no option but to make the one thousand mile journey on foot, pushing his idol in her wheelchair.  Once she reaches her destination, Gloria intends to patch things up with her former lover, Decatur, convinced that a brighter future awaits her...