User Reviews

Collection of stories to show the melting pot aspect of the USA. The film is blessed with an array of talent that only could be pulled together in Hollywood at its peak.

Episodic by nature and all the vignettes have their charm but the first three are really the best.

William Powell and James Whitmore breeze their way through a lively discussion of the ever evolving nature of the country. Their reactions to each other are what makes the skit.

Next up is a little story about not being lost in the crowd made charming by Ethel Barrymore's gentle performance.

The next segment is a tribute to notable African Americans which is nice in and of itself but that's also why it's a bit problematic. Considering the time it was made the isolated state of the short would have made it easy to snip out in the South. Of course the same could be said for any of the stories but since their are not people of color in any of the other segments it's rather obvious that was the intention at the time. Still it's a nice opportunity to see the significant Americans it spotlights.

The other sections all showing various slices of life, aside from Gary Cooper's star bit simply representing Texas, are pleasant but are on the sticky side of sweet.

I doubt if a film like It's A Big Country could be made in and about the America of post Vietnam and Watergate. A whole lot of the clichés presented here just aren't bought any more by large segments of the population. For whatever it's worth the film is a presentation of what we thought about ourselves in 1951.

It's a film with several different segments, some serious some pretty funny about every day Americans in all walks of life, in all parts of the then 48 states.

The two I liked best were those that ironically starred the two men who were not MGM contract players, Gary Cooper and Fredric March. Gary Cooper plays a Texas cowboy talking about his state and disillusioning us with a tongue in cheek delivery about the way Texans and Texas are perceived by the other 47 states. Of course Cooper's humor and the whole premise behind this segment was that Texas was our largest state in land mass. That ended in 1959 when Alaska became the 49th state, still it's the highlight of It's A Big Country.

Fredric March plays an Italian American father who's opposed to his son, Bobby Hyatt, getting needed glasses even after teacher Nancy Davis tells him it's necessary. He's got some old world ideas that need a bit of adjustment. March plays the role with dignity never do you feel he's a caricature.

Another episode that is nicely done involves Gene Kelly, Greek American boy falling for Janet Leigh, Hungarian American girl. They've got a problem though, her father played by Hollywood's number one Hungarian S.Z. Sakall. In the past 20 years we've seen a whole lot of stories about ancient ethnic hatreds coming out of Eastern Europe. Sakall is carrying some old grudges against Greeks though he really isn't sure why. Point being that here in America you're supposed to leave that all behind. That segment is still very much relevant.

Could we make It's A Big Country today? Not at this time, maybe at some future point when we've reached a national consensus that despite all our problems, America's a pretty good place after all.

This was released during the height of the Red Scare of the early 1950s, and I suppose its purpose is for MGM to prove its patriotism to the powers that be. At the time numerous Hollywood figures both in front of and behind the camera were being hauled before Congress to testify pertaining their loyalty to the United States.

Directed by seven different directors and featuring an ensemble cast of both MGM contract actors and non contract players, this film portrays various stories and characters, each representing different aspects of American life as it existed in the 1950s. I won't go over every segment, but I will mention some that stood out and why.

In the segment concerning the Hungarian immigrant (S. Z. Sakall) who does not want his daughter to marry a Greek because Hungarians hate Greeks - Is that even true?

The third segment is different from the rest as it is a mini documentary concerning successful and prominent Black Americans. This is actually the best part of the film as it was very informative and progressive for its time.

The fifth segment about a Jewish soldier who has been to Korea visiting the mother of a dead comrade in arms seems like it might have originally been written concerning WWII soldiers.

The sixth segment has Gary Cooper as a Texan disputing Texas stereotypes by dispensing even more Texas stereotypes. Qualifications for this judgment - I am a Texan.

The seventh segment also seems like it might have been written for WWII. Van Johnson plays the minister in a church that the president attends when in Washington, and as a result he writes a bunch of dull wonky sermons about public policy that only the president could appreciate. The reason that I think that it was written for WWII is that Lewis Stone talks about how the president was missing if traveling or relaxing at Hyde Park, which is where Roosevelt lived. Also, at the end, when the president is going to come see Johnson's character, there is the distinct sound of crutches.

I liked the introductory segment the best because it had William Powell in it AND it had Powell, as a passenger on a train who puts an annoying know it all in his place. Powell is actually the reason I decided to watch this in the first place.

I would say the film as a whole is a tough slog unless you look at it in its historical context.

This anthology left me with a strange sense of unease. I got the distinct impression that most of it was wishful thinking - subsequent history showed just how few of the heavy handed messages in this film were heeded by the population at large. The country was involved in the Korean War, which had devolved into a stalemate. The threat of nuclear annihilation had suddenly become a nightmare people would be forced to live with for decades. The depredations of two world wars had weakened faith in churches and organized religion. Life for black Americans would see them remain second class citizens for another 14 years. And distrust of government and its machinations would grow with every scandal and shady deal, and culminate some 22 years later during the Watergate fiasco. The film seems almost determined to restore the innocence that the country enjoyed early in the century, when involvement with the world's problems was the remotest thing on most anyone's mind. And at the end, we have none other than Nancy Reagan, who would one day be married to a man who made a political career of looking backward to a less complicated time, one who could never endorse the progressive ideas that the film pays lip service to.

Very interesting, and well worth seeing.

I love propaganda films. I don't care how dated and cheesy they can be. I'm fascinated by how they try to do whatever it is they are trying to do, even when I don't at all agree with their communication goals. If you watch this movie purely as an example of propaganda, and are aware of what was going on in the USA when the film was released (1951), you will enjoy it, even as cheesy as it can be. What I love about this film in particular is that it's not just a rah-rah-USA-we're-fabulous film, but it's a challenge to viewers as well, asking the people of the USA a number of things, including if they understand that it's the racial and ethnic diversity of this country that makes the USA so special, if they will fear change or embrace it, and if they can let go of long-held prejudices. If you aren't fascinated by propaganda, then you will enjoy the film at the very least if you are a movie buff: so many, many big names! My favorite: Fredric March, who is absolutely aDORKable. What I wondered after watching it: could a similar film be made now? And what would it look like?

This par excellence a film only the American could make.I cannot imagine a French,English or Italian director making a movie to glorify his/her country.

Wellmann and co tell us that America is a big country ,with big differences but where everybody has his place in the sun: in the "celebrities" segment,there are plenty of black artists such as Armstrong ,but the civil rights were ignored in 1949.

What saves this naive film containing more finer feelings than a Capra movie,is some kind of humor .Take the first scene on a train and the last sentence of the baffled traveler or the Hungarian daddy who does not want his daughters to marry a Greek,cause we are "enemies" .How great the melting pot is!And so are Gene Kelly and Janet Leigh.

Some stars only appear a few minutes:Gary Cooper tells us what a wonderful state "Lone Star" Texas is where oil spurts out everywhere under your feet;Ethel Barrymore plays a delightful old lady who is cross cause she was not counted when they took a census of the population.

The last sketch ,about glasses ,was perhaps not a very good choice to conclude the movie.

It was,is and will always be a big country.

I'm not sure why this anthology film was made, but its segments seem to reflect a desire by new MGM head of production Dore Schary, a Democrat, to demonstrate that liberal values are American values. (There was a lot of equating liberals with communists, at that time).

An opening segment on a train, that draws us into the whole thing, features James Whitmore as a patriotic, "I love America" type. "Which America?" asks the always-debonair and well-spoken William Powell. We then see the many sides of our country depicted through vignettes.

There are a couple of segments against prejudice. One is about a Greek-hating Hungarian American father of several girls (S. Z. Sakall) whose eldest daughter (Janet Leigh) falls for a young Greek American (Gene Kelly - actually pushing 40 at the time but you'd never guess it). As a piece against xenophobia, it's nice, and gets its point across with humor, wit, and romance.

There's also a segment against religious prejudice, where an ex-seviceman named Maxie Klein (Keefe Brasselle) visits the mother (Marjorie Main) of a dead war buddy. At first the mother doesn't know the man because her son had used his nickname in his letters. She's suspicious of his motives because he's Jewish. Eventually she's grateful for the comfort the stranger has given her, putting aside whatever prejudices she was harboring, and requesting his mother's address so that she can write her about it all.

The segments are all fairly interesting, but not exactly first-rate drama or comedy.

There's one about a minister (Van Johnson) who learns a lesson in humility from a deacon (played by Louis Stone). There's one in which Fredric March plays a working-class Italian American who won't be convinced by a schoolteacher (Nancy Davis) his son needs glasses. Gary Cooper plays a cowboy in a humorous monologue about Texas. Louis Calhern narrates a documentary sequence about African Americans. Ethel Barrymore and George Murphy star in a dramatic sketch wherein an old Boston-Irish woman is upset because the US Census ignored her. Etc.

The overall effect is a little like picking up an old copy of Reader's Digest.

Without the stars, this would be very minor, indeed. With them, it becomes a big film. Not a great film, but, undoubtedly, a big one. It covers a lot of ground, and comes up a little bit short.

WARNING: These comments may reveal portions of the film's plot.

I had thought that the "episodic" film format was an invention of the 1980's art film. "It's a Big Country" killed that myth by presenting a film about the USA that is built on eight different episodes. The episodes are drawn together by a common narration, their focus on different ways of looking at the USA, and the introductory episode which lays out the concept for the film.

In the opening segment, James Whitmore rides a commuter train and tells another rider, "I love this country?" The other rider's response catches Whitmore off guard. "Which country?" He then points out that the USA is many countries -- political, military, religious, industrious, urban, rural, and many others. Each of the following seven segments of the film then focus on various ways of looking at the USA.

The actors in those seven segments are a "Who's Who" of 1950's film. The already mentioned Whitmore, Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, Gary Cooper, Janet Leigh and Keenan Wynn share the screen along with many others, including legends Ethel Barrymore and Fredric March. If you are a classic film lover, check out the list of credits and you'll find at least one favorite among the actors.

The film overall only comes across as average however -- it seems rather "preachy" on the concept of acceptance, and the happy endings of the segments come across too sugary. Fortunately the great acting in some of the segments pull them to the top of the heap. Gary Cooper's deadpan delivery combined with his Texas drawl in the one true comedy segment work's well. And the final segment in which a young immigrant boy finds he must wear glasses at the risk of ridicule of his father as well as his friends at school is equally appealing.

There is one glaring inconsistency in the film. The overall point seems to be that we must drop our racial stereotypes. To that end virtually every racial stereotype is presented and cut down. Each of the episodes of the film is presented as independent stories within the film -- little stories within the story. But when they presented the segment focusing on African American's, no story is given, only a narrated segment with stock shots of black America are presented. Not one known American actor of African descent is included. In this respect, Hollywood seems to have been unable to overcome it's own prejudice and exclusionary practices of that time.

You might enjoy portions of this film, but most persons will either stop part way through or fall asleep during this average film.

"It's a Big Country: An American Anthology" is a very unusual movie and is clearly a product of its times. While such a schmaltzy bit of unabashed patriotism and propaganda would be laughed at today, following WWII and in the midst of the Red Scare, it all made perfect sense back in the day. It was intended to hammer home the goodness of America and its people...though perhaps it comes on a bit strong here and there.

The film is made up of eight different stories. To me, this is the biggest weakness of the film. Perhaps paring it down to three or four stories would have worked better...especially since some of the stories are underdeveloped or just didn't work all that well. Here's a breakdown of the stories:

1. Two guys are on a train. One is a loudmouth (James Whitmore) and he strikes up a conversation with a guy who seems, at first, to just want a bit of peace and quiet (William Powell). This one was very forgettable and a bit stupid. This one merits a 3.

2. Ethel Barrymore plays a lonely widow who was somehow missed in the census. With the help of a newspaper editor (George Murphy) she gets counted. VERY schmaltzy and utterly ridiculous, this one is still very enjoyable and merits a 6.

3. In a tribute to the accomplishments of Black Americans, a montage of famous Blacks is shown while the narrator describes their many achievements and contributions. This is totally unlike most of the rest of the film and instead of a fictional story, it's a mini- documentary. For 1951, it's very liberal and positive...though folks today will likely think it's a bit of a 'whitewash' by making everything look too positive for this minority group. Despite this, I think it's quite good for the time in which it was made and I give it an 8.

4. Mr. Szabo (Cuddles Sakal) is a Hungarian man with many daughters...who he dearly loves. However, Mr. Szabo is a bigot when it comes to Greeks--he hates them and insists Hungarians ALWAYS will hate Greeks. Not surprisingly, his oldest daughter (Janet Leigh) ends up falling for a Greek (Gene Kelly) and this causes many problems...as well as forces Mr. Szabo to examine his own prejudices--hammering home the message that Americans should be united. However, I do wonder-- do Greeks and Hungarians really dislike each other? I don't think this has ever been true...and would love to know more from anyone who knows more about this. Making Kelly and his brothers Turkish-Americans...that would have made a lot more sense since there has been a long, long tradition of distrust and dislike between these groups. This segment easily could have been longer and more developed and was one of the more enjoyable segments thanks, as always, to the wonderful Cuddles Sakal. Of course, I'd love him in ANYTHING! 8.

5. A Jewish soldier (Keefe Brasselle) returns home from the Korean War. Among the first things he does is visit the mother (Marjorie Main) of a fallen buddy. The message is about more than tolerance for others but about our need for each other--and the strength Americans derive from its many ethnic groups. EXTREMELY preachy and schmaltzy but well done. 6.

6. This is a bizarre one. The narrator begins talking about Texas when Gary Cooper (dressed as a cowboy) interrupts and begins talking at length about his beloved Texas (though Cooper was actually from Montana!). It plays much like a travelogue...to a foreign country! This is among the shortest segments and is kind of funny...and forgettable. 6.

7. Van Johnson plays a young minister who has just arrived in Washington, DC and the church is the same one the President usually attends. His preaching sucks--mostly because he is more concerned with impressing the President than the congregation. Among the least watchable of the segments, 3.

8. Nancy Davis (Reagan) plays a school teacher who notices that an Italian-American kid cannot see very well...so she sends a note home. The father (Frederic March) is angry...his son sees just fine...or so he thinks. He's so upset he goes to see the teacher about this. Somehow, this idiotic father thinks that needing glasses is the same has having a hearing problem. Huh?! Well, regardless, the teacher has a tough time getting through to him. This segment seems to have less lot to do with the overall theme of the film but was okay otherwise. 5.

Overall, this is a fair film--with several really good portions and several which just don't work well. In many cases, by allowing the story to slowly reveal itself would have made the message less preachy and obvious. Subtle, it ain't but an interesting little experimental film.

This movie seems like a good idea -- debunking myths and defusing prejudice, showing us all how diverse America is -- but it also begs the question of why nearly all the main characters are WASPs (okay, except for S.Z. Sakall)! Janet Leigh is lovely in the Hungarian-Greek love story, but why not cast someone Hungarian, or at least Eastern European? And Gene Kelly as a Greek (speaking, by the way, with a perfect American accent, but a few stiff phrases thrown in to show he's a foreigner)? Fredric March as an Italian father (named Esposito?) ... and the list goes on. All wonderful actors, but miscast in this. Not only are all the actors as white as snow, the rhetoric is pretty heavy-handed, too. I love many of the old Hollywood movies, but this one could have used a more realistic approach. The '50s were a strange time in American film, as in American life. Everything and everybody were supposed to be sparklingly clean and chipper all the time. We had to wait until the '60s for a wrench to be thrown into those oh-so-smoothly-functioning works ...

"It's a Big Country" is a significant film. Created only a few years after the victorious effort of WWII, it was delivered to an American public that was exercising newfound powers, economic and political. It was a society undergoing rapid change for the same reasons and also due to changing mores in gender and race relations (caused by war experiences) and due to changes in technology and infrastructure (the car, interstate highways, etc.). The film fairly pleads for factions of the country to remain united despite their tendency to seek their own identities.

This film feels like a moving representation of Norman Rockwell paintings, displaying a homespun, good-natured respect for traditions and the values that drove the United States to become successful. From the viewpoint of the 21st century, some of these values seem naïve. In our post-Watergate world, fewer Americans see government authority and other established authorities as innately benign. But it is simplistically easy to view this film as merely propaganda or naïve.

Most of the episodes in this collection of vignettes champion values that were and are important to embrace: Racial understanding. The American melting pot. The Constitutional freedoms. But reading some reviews of the film, it is clear that some viewers also see the film as a documentary on American exceptionalism. And it's a subtext that cannot be ignored. Various individuals have always promoted the idea that America is the greatest country that ever existed--teachers, politicians, the military, the clergy.

The thing that is exceptional and unique about the U.S. is its Constitution. Sometimes that message is lost in the nationalistic clamor.

The film has an exceptional cast (Frederic March continues to amaze), exceptional writing that stirs the heart and summons tears, and solid production values. For those of any age, it can serve as a marker designating the state of the country circa 1950. So many complex factors have affected the evolution of the U.S. from what it was to what it is now. I like being reminded of the optimism of that time, however naïve. And it can remind us of the values we need to preserve and the viewpoints we have thankfully left behind.

Well-intentioned anthology film from MGM that lacks a clear focus. It's a collection of short stories that don't seem to have any other point except, I suppose, that the United States is a melting pot and how swell that is. Absolutely nothing wrong with that idea but I feel like more effort could have been put into (a) writing better stories and (b) having the stories connect better to drive home the "we're all different but we're all together" theme. The best anthology films tend to connect their stories and this just doesn't do that well. Still, it's full of old stars and the stories themselves, while not the strongest, are enjoyable enough. Worth a look for classic film fans. Probably kryptonite to cynics.

Expensive and all-star and in production for most of 1950 and 51, this MGM anthology reflects what patriotism looked like in the Cold War era, and uncertainly jumbled together comic and dramatic episodes. A couple just pass muster: There's one where Ethel Barrymore is a sad Boston matron dismayed to learn she hasn't been counted in the census, and in another, Marjorie Main is excellent as a grieving mother visited by her dead son's war buddy. Most of the stories just aren't interesting, and there's some amazing miscasting: Gene Kelly as a Greek entrepreneur making goo-goo eyes at Janet Leigh (and S.Z. Sakall rattling his cheeks as her father), Fredric March (in a rare bad performance) as a stupid Italian immigrant arguing with schoolteacher Nancy Davis over whether his son should have eyeglasses, Gary Cooper over-drawling as a Texan mis-explaining the Lone Star State. There's a welcome but perfunctory documentary about great African Americans, and William Powell is elegant in the opening segment. There's also a lot of narration, and if I'm not mistaken, it's Louis Calhern. It was understandable that MGM wanted to celebrate America in the early '50s, but couldn't they have come up with some better plots?

Something that stood out for me was the African American segment. The only descriptive words in the narration were that they were Americans, and that "there are many different types of Americans", a phrase used throughout the movie. Not once did they say black, negro etc., it being obvious. However, they could easily have spoken of them as having a different label. It's a small thing, but it was pleasantly surprising. I don't think they mentioned Fredric March's family being Italian either, but they certainly portrayed them with the typical overblown stereotype of the time period. The Italian stereotype in early movies are cartoonish to put it mildly, and cringe inducing. They were either organ grinders, or had 15 children. I have to remind myself that the influx of immigrants in the early 20th century may have made it easy to stereotype all of them. Many adults hadn't learned English yet, and this made it difficult to meld with other communities. This did not however, give movie makers the right to look down on Italians and treat them as having childlike minds. 🙄

It's hard to understand why this movie was made in 1951. It is obviously a public service announcement (propaganda piece) that was made for some reason.

The movie is made up of eight vignettes whose only commonality seems to be that America is a diverse country. While this notion seems hackneyed to us today, it must have had a reason to be made back then. One wonders if it was made for adult audiences or just for elementary school children. In any case, it is interesting to see what the public thought of as diversity in 1951 and how it was portrayed.

The vignettes display several nationalities and ethnic groups whom American WASPS seem to be just discovering, as if they never knew these groups were also Americans. The celebrities in this film seem to be telling us how diverse American is and doing it with platitudes. If nothing else, this film is quaint by today's standards.

---There is a segment with Marjorie Main (as herself) meeting one of her deceased son's army buddies. At first, she seemed put off by the fact that his buddy (Keefe Brasselle) is Jewish (though the word is never used).

After talking to him a while, she wants to write to his mother to let her know what a fine boy she thought he was. The apparent anti-Semitism of the 40s and 50s in America is something I can't personally relate to. However, it must have occurred since it crops up so often in the movies of that period: For example: Gentleman's Agreement and Crossfire.

----Garry Cooper does a humorous piece about Texas--the biggest of the 48 states at the time—and how Texas is no different than any other state. While he describes Texas and Texans as just like any other state, the clips in the background show just the opposite.

----In another vignette, S.Z. Sakall plays the role of a widowed Hungarian with five daughters. He tells his daughters that he hates Greeks. When asked why, he says that Hungarians just hate Greeks. When his eldest daughter (Janet Leigh) is given a ride by a Greek (Gene Kelly) they soon fall in love, and the two families learn to like each other.

----In presenting stories about the diversity of America in the 50s, the movie fails to show us stories about American Indians or Asian Americans. Evidently, such was what American diversity did NOT include in 1950.

To me, the most interesting segment of the movie was the one featuring American Negroes (for that would have been the correct term at the time). Yet, the term, 'Negro' is never uttered in the cluster of newsreels shown---with a congratulatory narration about these "great Americans."

What we IS shown are the contributions made by great Americans such as: Jackie Robinson, Jessie Owens, Marion Anderson (singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial), and entertainers such as Lois Armstrong, Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, etc.

The reason this segment was interesting to me is that there is no cute little story to be told here: Just newsreels and monuments. The American audience had not yet reached the point where blacks and whites could be seen interacting with each other (on anything like an equal basis) in the same little story.

Why? Because there were no such little stories like this--in any part of the country--at that time. I don't say this to put down the film. I only say it because it was TRUE. And, if nothing else, it demonstrates how far we have come since the film was made.

The film was dull but (in a way) interesting as a time capsule for the period in when it was made.

This is the crap we were force fed in the early 50's. While our government washed our young brains with " how marvelous" we are. Fictional stories that promote the US as a place of racial, ethnic and religious equality. Apparently, we didn't hate people who didn't buy into the Christian superstition and allowed them to practice their special brand of voodoo, as we do. This movie was made before the christians needed to slap their slogan on the US currency. One of the best examples of propaganda, since Hitler.

I saw this movie when it originally came out and I took more people to see it in at least two successive trips to the old Crawford Theater. It is touching and worthwhile and depicts an America that all should see. Ethel Barrymore gives one of the best performances of her career. The preacher to the President is another vignette that stands out. There are memorable performances by Gary Cooper, Van Johnson, Gene Kelly, and Marjorie Main. Each vignette is a memorable one and all touch your heartstrings and provoke thought. It would be nice if it were available on DVD or even tape. What a delightful anthology this is. I recommend this to all. It is a movie you will enjoy.

I'm not quite sure who IT'S A BIG COUNTRY was aimed at. And given the fact that it was a box office flop, I'm guessing that the general audience didn't think it was aimed at them. It purports to show the diversity of America by offering seven segments promoting different aspects of life in postwar America, but it still traffics in stereotypes and Hollywood conventions. For instance, there are two segments involving immigrant fathers with children assimilating in ways they don't like. One immigrant father from Hungary hates Greeks and is appalled when his cherished oldest daughter falls in love with one. The other immigrant father, from Italy, refuses to let his son wear glasses because they're not manly even though the boy's teacher insists he needs them to be able to read the blackboard. In each case the immigrant, in a film supposedly pro-diversity, behaves in a most backward fashion. At least the Hungarian is played by an actual Hungarian immigrant actor, S.Z. Sakall, so there is some authenticity there. However, the Italian immigrant is played by Fredric March, of English, German and Scottish heritage, and the performance seems highly exaggerated. Surely, they could have gotten an Italian actor or even J. Carrol Naish, who did that kind of role effectively plenty of times in his career. It's the final sequence in the film and left me with a distinctly uneasy feeling. In the Hungarian sequence, Janet Leigh plays the oldest daughter and Gene Kelly plays the Greek she falls in love with. I guess this is what is meant by "ethnically blind" casting.

The first sequence goes so far as to dissect the notion that America is a "great country" when a traveling salesman (James Whitmore) on a train ride buttonholes a college professor (William Powell) to tell him that America is a great country and the professor then responds with "Which America?," and starts pointing out how different America is depending on where you are in its vast domain. So it looks like there will be some critique of blind patriotism, a direction then completely ignored in the rest of the film.

The segment on African-Americans doesn't even mention the race of its participants in the narration (by Louis Calhern) accompanying it, preferring to use the phrase, "other Americans." Instead of a fictional story, it offers a documentary sequence on prominent blacks in the postwar era, including Nobel Prize winner Ralph Bunche, then the ambassador to the United Nations, General Benjamin O. Davis, and the late George Washington Carver. There are segments on sports and the arts that highlight Jackie Robinson and Lena Horne, among others. There are numerous less well-known blacks in government and business who are cited, so it's nice to see a slice of little-known history. Curiously, the military footage is all from World War II and shows a distinctly segregated military even though President Truman had desegregated the military three years before this film. I suspect that producer Dore Schary feared that any fictional story about blacks that they created for the film would get criticized for stereotypes, denounced for avoiding the topic of discrimination, or, if they chose to be bold enough to tell a proper story about blacks in the postwar era, boycotted by southern theater owners. The documentary sequence was clearly a compromise and it could easily be removed by theater owners in the south. There are no non-white characters in any other sequence of the film.

There's a comic monologue by Gary Cooper as a Texan who speaks modestly of the state's size and reputation, wondering, in tongue-in-cheek fashion, why everyone thinks Texas is so "big." It doesn't jibe with the rest of the sequences here and was clearly inserted for comic relief.

The best sequence is arguably the one in which an Irish immigrant widow, played by Ethel Barrymore, insists to a Boston newspaper editor (George Murphy) that the 1950 census did not include her, so, after a false start, the editor starts a campaign to get the Census Bureau to correct its mistake. It's about wanting to be acknowledged and recognized by the larger society, something each wave of immigrants has had to deal with in different ways over the last couple of centuries.

Another sequence focuses on a visiting minister (Van Johnson) who takes the pulpit at a church in Washington D.C. in 1944 at a time when the then-president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, attends that church. The minister tailors his carefully prepared sermon to the president every week, despite the president's absence, putting the regular parishioners to sleep until the church sexton (Lewis Stone) finally calls him on it, urging him to address the entire congregation. I'm not sure what this segment had to do with the aims of the film or what it was trying to tell us, but, interestingly, the sequence cuts from the entrance of the president (off-camera) at the very end to the next sequence where we see a school teacher at work, played by Nancy Davis, who would marry Ronald Reagan the following year and become the First Lady 30 years after this film, adding a surprisingly prophetic touch.

Curiously, the cast includes a mix of liberals and conservatives from Hollywood's ranks. George Murphy, Gary Cooper and Nancy Davis were notable conservatives, while Gene Kelly and Fredric March were outspoken liberals. I wonder what they all thought of the finished film.

I saw this movie once years ago, and I distinctly remember when the Hungarian-American girl told her Greek-American lover that Hungarians hate Greeks, it struck a nerve--my late mother was of Hungarian stock, and I never once heard her--or any of my maternal relatives--speak an ill word of Greeks.

Robert Mazzella.

The precursor to How the West Was Won, It's a Big Country is a rah-rah Americana production with a long list of MGM stars to praise their great country right after the end of a war and the start of another. America is the greatest country on Earth-and if you agree, you'll want to watch this unapologetic love letter to the United States.

In the first vignette, William Powell and James Whitmore get into an argument on a train about what America really means. It's a bit boring and not the best one to start with, but have no fear, it only gets better from then on out. In the second segment, Ethel Barrymore stars as a lonely, old Irishwoman who merely wants to be known. It's a very touching segment, as she appeals to newspaper men George Murphy and Keenan Wynn to include them in the US Census.

Next up is S.Z. Sakall, a Hungarian with five daughters who harbors prejudice towards her eldest daughter's new boyfriend, a Greek. Janet Leigh is about as Hungarian as Gene Kelly is Greek, but it's the story that's important. In America, different ethnicities come together in the great melting pot, even though sometimes the parents aren't very supportive to start with.

There's also an interesting documentary portion of the film that showcases African-Americans. Real footage is shown of black units of every branch of the armed forces, as well as commanders and recipients of medals. It seems pretty dated by today's standards, but at the time, it was noteworthy. At a point in American cinema when black actors were finally being cast in important, inoffensive roles, it was a natural step for this segment of an Americana movie to include prominent black athletes, entertainers, politicians, doctors, college students, and even Mother of the Year. In 1949's Home of the Brave, James Edwards's character repeats, "I'm just like everyone else!" emphatically, to drive it home to the audience that African-Americans fought and died for their country, just like everyone else. In It's a Big Country, narrator Louis Calhern gives the same message.

Gary Cooper talks directly into the camera in the Wild West segment, as he explains that Texas is full of wide open spaces, cattle, cowboys, and oil wells. It's quite funny to see him convincing the audience that he's the great American cowboy when he owes that persona to Randolph Scott, who made more western movies than even John Wayne! Native Southerner Scottie was hired back in 1929 to teach Gary how to talk with a Southern accent. Alas, since Scottie didn't belong to MGM, he wasn't included in this anthology.

MGM was home to Lewis Stone, and in fact, he held the longest contract in MGM history, from 1920 to 1952. In his vignette, he plays a retired minister in Washington making way for newcomer Van Johnson. Van is so preoccupied in delivering a speech worthy of the President of the United States-who never shows up-that he's not paying attention to his flock. Lew's job is to give him advice, and also to keep the audience from getting bored out of their skulls.

Marjorie Main isn't given a very lengthy vignette, but it's quite touching. She plays a grieving mother visited by soldier Keefe Brasselle, a Jewish friend of her son's. At first, she's hostile towards him, but when he reads her son's last letter before his death, she softens. I'm sure she was very happy to act in it, since she wasn't usually given a chance to show off her acting chops.

The last vignette, as is often the case, is the best. I didn't recognize him, but I'll give you a heads up: Fredric March plays an Italian and gives Charles Laughton a run for his money! He's the patriarch of a large Italian-American family in San Francisco, and the father of young Bobby Hyatt. Bobby's schoolteacher Nancy Davis finds out that his eyesight is poor, but Freddie is too proud to let his son wear glasses. He's absolutely hilarious, trying endlessly to prove his point and being too stubborn to understand the bigger picture. If you don't know it's Fredric March under the mustache and wild hair, you'll think he's a real Italian; his accent is great, and his emotions are right on his sleeve.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. During Gary Cooper's segment, the camera frequently swishes to the left and right, and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

This movie is a fantasy of an America that never was. There is no hate in this America. Everybody is happy and successful no matter their background. I was surprised that this propaganda movie was made in 1951, after WW II.

1. The worst problem is that your Hungarian daughter has married a Greek.

2. All black people are either judges or sports stars but they should not be able to vote.

3. The worst problem seniors face is that they weren't counted in the Census.

4. Everybody in America goes to Church and everyone respects every other religion.

5. Italians don't wear glasses.

This is the Great America that never existed that politicians want to go back to.

It's A Big Country: An American Anthology is a fair anthology with eight segments, of various lengths. It is not a great movie, but it is not horrible propaganda ( one poster here actually linked the movie with Hitler). The main reason to watch the movie is if you are a fan of one of the stars: Several of whom are still known today: Janet Leigh, Frederick March, William Powell and Gary Cooper. The Cooper segment ( number 6) is very short but funny. You can tell Cooper was enjoying himself being on a horse and trying to explain about Texas but his explanation was the opposite of what was being shown. For example he was talking about "Women in Levi's" while they were showing bathing beauties. The Leigh Segment is not bad ( mostly for "Cuddles" Sakall as a Greek hating Hungarian), whose daughter ( Leigh) marries a Greek ( the very NON Greek Gene Kelly) The Powell segment ( with James Whitmore) on a train was boring to be honest. Anyway I consider the film fair, so I give the film 5/10. Cooper and Sakall are the standouts.