Load of rubbish!!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Every era has had its variation of the influence of teenagers on American culture, whether it be Mickey and Judy in the early 40's or the Sweet Apple kids of "Bye Bye Birdie" in the early 60's. Today's High School Musical series, "Glee" and "Smash" owe a lot to these, but never is the importance of teen culture more obvious than in the series of low budget musicals that Universal filmed in the 1940's. Usually starring the team of Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan, they were jazzy, peppy and fast moving, made on lower budgets than what MGM was doing with "Babes in Arms" and "Strike Up the Band!".The storyline here surrounds a dramatic school where the kids prefer jazz over what school owner Florence Bates prefers them to do-Sophocles' "Antigone", which has no interest whatsoever for the kids. There are a dozen musical numbers that prove that the kids talent lies elsewhere, but will highbrow Bates see that? Typical teen romantic adventures only are a shadow in this story, so the music is the thing. Some blackface numbers seem really unnecessary, although when a young group of black teens (the Ben Carter Choir) sing "We'll Meet Again", it is really touching. This is the type of musical to just accept as a product of its time, one that will never be a classic but filled with plenty of what would influence the arrival of rock n' roll just a decade later.

My copy of this is so murky it's like looking through the mists of time, but the movie itself is as fun now as it was in 1943. It was a star-maker for Donald O'Connor, and it's easy to see why - he's hilarious, adorable, and already shows the crisp, weightless precision in his dancing that later became his trademark.Peggy Ryan (like a young Lucille Ball!) and Gloria Jean (endearingly beautiful and with a voice to die for) are both at their best, and Louis DaPron, head choreographer at Universal, did right by the Jivin' Jacks and Jills, who are thrilling to watch. Some even get small acting parts, but it's their acrobatic dancing that astounds, then and now.As another reviewer commented, there is a routine in blackface, and that is always jarring for modern audiences, me included. The later sequence where the black children sing in a hayloft could (as the earlier reviewer suggested) be seen as demeaning, or it could be seen as the kids being an angelic choir (I think more the intent). I doubt that Universal gave it a lot of deep thought either way... it was intended as a means of separating on stage two separate 'acts', the choir from the dancers.There's not too much time wasted on plot here, but what little there is is friskied-up by off-the-cuffs and a general lack of formality. According to Peggy Ryan, the filming took eight days. The result is a film with a lively spontaneity that would only have been muted with further polishing.

As a fan of musicals in general and Donald O'Connor in specific, I was all set to enjoy my first dive into the teen musicals he made with Universal in the 1940s. Mister Big turned out the be incredibly enjoyable in some respects, and incredibly cringe-worthy in others.On the one hand, the performances are generally top-notch, the one-liners are that wonderful mix of hokey and enjoyable, and Donald wears some ridiculous clothing. (Am I the only person who wants to tell him to stop trying on his father's suits? They all look so big on him!) The entire movie is worth buying just for the opportunity to watch Peggy Ryan kick Donald O'Connor in the face in "Rude, Crude, and Unattractive"--the play violence is half the gimmick in their dancing, but that song goes above and beyond the usual. O'Connor's interpretation of Hamlet's soliloquy is likewise charming, and Gloria Jean's solos are a delight.On the other hand, there are some painfully racist scenes--I'm honestly surprised the other reviews haven't mentioned them. There's an entire number in blackface, and a group of black children are allowed the opportunity to perform with the lily-white main cast in the final number...from a hayloft. Because, of course, people of colour performing in a stable-like setting doesn't imply that they're animal-like at all. Insert eye rolling here.I'd love to see Mister Big and all the rest of the hep musicals released on commercial DVD someday in a proper boxed set. Even if they're imperfect, these films need to be preserved for study and enjoyment (because really, the less racist moments are worth watching multiple times). However, if the other titles in the O'Connor/Ryan/Jean catalogue contain such blatant racism as is found in this one, I can understand why Universal's been hesitant to put these to press.My 8/10 rating is for the parts of the film that didn't make me cringe from the unrepentant blackface and marginalization of the blacks in the cast. Including those parts, my rating goes down significantly.

Originally titled, "School of Jive", this movie is one of the standard "Hep" musicals that were popular with the young crowd during the WW2 years. It features the popular Gloria Jean, Donald O'Connor, and Peggy Ryan in a swinging, breezy, upbeat production that runs at a frantic pace for the full 63 minutes.The plot is simple: Teens, in a school that teaches the arts, would rather perform popular music of the day. They overcome their stuffy highbrow sponsor's objections by performing a Swing musical instead of the classical work that's requested. Of course, the kids' version is a big success.The movie features jazz and swing music, and popular bands of the era appear. A lot of the dialog, while dated to that day and age, is nonetheless entertaining. O'Connor and Ryan are their usual energetic selves and, of course, perform their zany songs and dances. Gloria Jean is charming as always and sings beautifully. Several other kids and adults perform as well, including a very talented six-year-old Elinor Donahue (who later played Betty in "Father Knows Best" and has many other TV and screen credits).I haven't seen this movie on TV for over 25 years, and it's hard to find a good copy of it. However, you can buy a quality copy of it from Gloria Jean herself at her website. IMDb policies forbid the posting of URL's, but you can find her site by using your favorite search engine and her full name of "Gloria Jean Schoonover".