The delightful Francis Lederer shines in this unique drama which salutes the European immigrant in this late depression era drama that shows how determination and fortitude can help goals be achieved. In the case of Mr. Lederer, his Czech background left him desperate to come to America, and he has been saving money for years as well as learning English so he could make the journey. But upon arriving at Ellis Island, he finds out that the regulations for admittance have changed and he is told he will be sent back. This won't do, however, and at his first opportunity, Lederer does a dive out of his port hole, being fished out on the lower east side of Manhattan and losing his wallet.
Down on his luck, Lederer befriends a struggling chorus girl (the lovely Ginger Rogers) who helps him out and when he gets a job as a taxi driver, he returns the favor. He is determined to help her keep custody of her troubled younger brother who is always skipping school and being threatened with being put into an institution. Lederer wants to make sure she gets to keep custody so he of course proposes which leads to his identity being discovered and the deportation to go forward. Of course, if you're an illegal immigrant threatened with deportation, it helps to have a big-hearted Irish cop on your side, and here, that is the lovable J. Farrell MacDonald who steals every scene that he is in.
This really takes the viewer inside the life of a struggling immigrant, and here the hero doesn't achieve success overnight or become a mobster. He's a very honest sort who believes in hard work, and even faces threats of violence when he reluctantly becomes a scab by driving a cab during his company's taxi driver strike. When he becomes the victim of a shady lawyer, it is his integrity which gets the police force together to help him out, something I don't think you could see in the current day NYPD where red tape has so much glue on it, it sticks without possibility of removal.
Ginger Rogers' chorus girl isn't the wise-cracking toughy of "42nd Street" or "Gold Diggers of 1933". She, too, is an honest sort, coming across a starving Lederer stealing from the stash of food left out for the chorus girl's breaks. Jimmy Butler is memorable as her little brother, always charming even when getting into trouble, and one who definitely doesn't deserve the fate planned for him by the two uppity do-gooders (Helen Ware and Eily Malyon) determined to take him away from Rogers' care. This is a surprisingly sweet and affectionate tale of New York during one of its toughest times in history that shows that underneath all that hardness at that time did exist a big heart of gold.
Down on his luck, Lederer befriends a struggling chorus girl (the lovely Ginger Rogers) who helps him out and when he gets a job as a taxi driver, he returns the favor. He is determined to help her keep custody of her troubled younger brother who is always skipping school and being threatened with being put into an institution. Lederer wants to make sure she gets to keep custody so he of course proposes which leads to his identity being discovered and the deportation to go forward. Of course, if you're an illegal immigrant threatened with deportation, it helps to have a big-hearted Irish cop on your side, and here, that is the lovable J. Farrell MacDonald who steals every scene that he is in.
This really takes the viewer inside the life of a struggling immigrant, and here the hero doesn't achieve success overnight or become a mobster. He's a very honest sort who believes in hard work, and even faces threats of violence when he reluctantly becomes a scab by driving a cab during his company's taxi driver strike. When he becomes the victim of a shady lawyer, it is his integrity which gets the police force together to help him out, something I don't think you could see in the current day NYPD where red tape has so much glue on it, it sticks without possibility of removal.
Ginger Rogers' chorus girl isn't the wise-cracking toughy of "42nd Street" or "Gold Diggers of 1933". She, too, is an honest sort, coming across a starving Lederer stealing from the stash of food left out for the chorus girl's breaks. Jimmy Butler is memorable as her little brother, always charming even when getting into trouble, and one who definitely doesn't deserve the fate planned for him by the two uppity do-gooders (Helen Ware and Eily Malyon) determined to take him away from Rogers' care. This is a surprisingly sweet and affectionate tale of New York during one of its toughest times in history that shows that underneath all that hardness at that time did exist a big heart of gold.