Big Fella

About Big Fella

Singing Marseilles docker Joe is hired by wealthy English couple, the Oliphants, to find their missing son Gerald. When Joe finds him, he learns Gerald escaped of his own will and takes him to stay with a local singer, who offers a refuge from his repressed white parents.

Big Fella (1938) is a music film directed by J. Elder Wills. It runs 74 minutes and was released in January 1938.

The film is filed under low budget, runaway, rich kid, and runaway child.

Paul Robeson stars as Joe, Elisabeth Welch as Amanda 'Manda', Roy Emerton as Spike, and James Hayter as Chuck. The screenplay is by Fenn Sherie and Ingram D'Abbes. American members can watch it on FlixFling, IndieFlix, and IndieFlix Shorts Amazon Channel.

Blazing Saddles, West Side Story, and The Color Purple make useful companions to Big Fella, all filed under musical and racism.