Pre-Code film about relationships.
The plot: "plain" and middle-aged spinster "Bertha Krasnoff" (Aline MacMahon) is instantly smitten by ruggedly handsome merchant marine sailor "Tim O'Hara" (Paul Kelly). Thinking she doesn't have much to offer in the looks department, she woos the unemployed and irresponsible O'Hara with: food, shelter, whiskey, employment at her small "side street" furrier, and eventually a place in her bed. That all leads to marriage. Yet, O'Hara longs for a return to the sea and also cannot resist the temptations of younger, prettier women like "Marguerite" (Ann Dvorak) and his wife's niece (Dorothy Tree). Can Bertha hold onto him? (And why would she want to?)
Like many films "Side Streets" requires a healthy dose of a suspension of disbelief. Having the rather striking looking MacMahon playing an "undesirable" old maid is rather silly. Also, silly is that three extremely attractive women would fall for the penniless, unambitious, philandering, and not very bright O'Hara. What did they see in HIM?!?! The weakest point of the film is it does a poor job of explaining why Bertha would sacrifice her dignity for this dumb lug who is beneath her.
Still, the movie is interesting mainly due to MacMahon's performance. A hard-working business owner with a good heart and a sense of justice. She'll let payments for a fur coat slide for a hard-up working girl, but won't bat an eye gouging an unfaithful husband who lavishes such gifts upon a mistress and then claims poverty to his wife. She also deeply loves O'Hara despite knowing about his betrayals and how much they hurt her. How MacMahon portrays her character's emotional turmoil with little dialogue is the best part of the film.
Plus, the pre-Code aspects are always interesting. This film's frank portrayals of premarital sex in which females pursue it, matter-of-fact infidelities, an out-of-wedlock birth, and married couples actually sharing the same bed are all things that would be either drastically toned down or disappear almost entirely from films and TV for the next thirty years.
The plot: "plain" and middle-aged spinster "Bertha Krasnoff" (Aline MacMahon) is instantly smitten by ruggedly handsome merchant marine sailor "Tim O'Hara" (Paul Kelly). Thinking she doesn't have much to offer in the looks department, she woos the unemployed and irresponsible O'Hara with: food, shelter, whiskey, employment at her small "side street" furrier, and eventually a place in her bed. That all leads to marriage. Yet, O'Hara longs for a return to the sea and also cannot resist the temptations of younger, prettier women like "Marguerite" (Ann Dvorak) and his wife's niece (Dorothy Tree). Can Bertha hold onto him? (And why would she want to?)
Like many films "Side Streets" requires a healthy dose of a suspension of disbelief. Having the rather striking looking MacMahon playing an "undesirable" old maid is rather silly. Also, silly is that three extremely attractive women would fall for the penniless, unambitious, philandering, and not very bright O'Hara. What did they see in HIM?!?! The weakest point of the film is it does a poor job of explaining why Bertha would sacrifice her dignity for this dumb lug who is beneath her.
Still, the movie is interesting mainly due to MacMahon's performance. A hard-working business owner with a good heart and a sense of justice. She'll let payments for a fur coat slide for a hard-up working girl, but won't bat an eye gouging an unfaithful husband who lavishes such gifts upon a mistress and then claims poverty to his wife. She also deeply loves O'Hara despite knowing about his betrayals and how much they hurt her. How MacMahon portrays her character's emotional turmoil with little dialogue is the best part of the film.
Plus, the pre-Code aspects are always interesting. This film's frank portrayals of premarital sex in which females pursue it, matter-of-fact infidelities, an out-of-wedlock birth, and married couples actually sharing the same bed are all things that would be either drastically toned down or disappear almost entirely from films and TV for the next thirty years.