Five writers worked on this unrelieved hokum about an abandoned baby girl on New York's East Side taken in by a Jewish cantor and his mama, watched over throughout her young life by the cantor and his buddies, a Catholic Reverend and a Protestant policeman (no atheist derelicts for this kid!). When the boys suffer a falling-out and go to court to decide who should raise the child, the decision should be overwhelmingly obvious but isn't (not even to the judge!). Margaret O'Brien plays the girl at grade-school age, but she seems too old to be getting her first tummy-ache and playing matchmaker for her bachelor fathers. The exceedingly thin story is padded with inappropriate song interludes, narration from O'Brien (as if she were reading from the Junior Miss section of the Sears & Roebuck catalogue), and a schoolroom full of annoying children who shoot mischievous looks at each other when Danny Thomas sings "Am I Blue?" to their teacher. The end card makes a claim that the film is meant for 'people who like people,' yet there's nobody on-screen who merits much interest. The adults act like teenagers in the throes of puppy love, while O'Brien appears ready to burst out of her training bra. *1/2 from ****
Review of Big City
