It's a Big Country Reviews

IT'S A BIG COUNTRY is a big yawn. Its eight separate episodes, done by some of the best writers and directors in the MGM stable, with some of the best actors in front of the camera, prove too much and not enough at the same time. Openly made as a propaganda film, it begins with Powell lecturing Whitmore on America. Powell is a university professor and his lecture segues into the vignettes. In Boston, Barrymore is annoyed with the national census takers after being overlooked. Wynn and Murphy appear, after which there is a brief montage about the accomplishments of African Americans. Then Kelly plays a Greek who takes the hand of Leigh, despite objections from her Hungarian father, Sakall. Next, Brasselle delivers a letter from Korea to a gold-star mother played by Main. After that, Cooper delivers a semihumorous tribute to Texas. Van Johnson, in the seventh segment, is a minister who gets to meet the US President. Finally, March is an Italian-American who resists buying a set of glasses for his son, Hyatt. The stories are slim and unrelated so there is no sustained interest. The credits read like who's who in the movie business, but someone didn't know what was what, and the picture sank quickly. At 88 minutes--you can gather how short each segment is--the film gives no one enough time to stand out, so what goes by is a panoply rather than anything we can sink our teeth into.