Living in a Big Way

Which rarely screened comedy has what Gene Kelly calls some of his favorite dance creations? That’s right: Living in a Big Way. This 1947 movie is Kelly in a big way. Like many postwar films, Living in a Big Way embraces a familiar theme: the plight of the returning servicemen. Kelly returns home to the war bride he scarcely knows and finds she has misgivings about their impulsive nuptials. While sorting out this personal problem, he involves himself in a public one: construction of housing for the huge number of homeless vets. Marie McDonald plays Kelly’s bride (a role Louis B. Mayer hoped would launch her on a Lana Turner-type career). But the film’s true focal point is Kelly. You’ll see him cavorting with a clever dog, wooing a statue, scampering across the beams of an uncompleted apartment and joining children in a medley of games.