Living in a Big Way [1947] [DVD]

Marrying in haste before being drafted overseas, a GI returns to repent at leisure when his wife turns out to be wealthy, pampered, intent on a good time and a totally unsuitable mate.

A box-office disaster in its day and hardly seen since, this confused mix of comedy, drama, social message, and sentimentality is not without some entertainment value. Gene Kelly stars as the idealistic hero, and he dances up a storm in a handful of numbers co-choreographed with Stanley Donen.

Marie “The Body” McDonald is the wife; and the experienced Gregory La Cava, while partly responsible for the inept screenplay, directs with the style you would expect.