User Reviews

It shows its age, and that's part of its charm. It's filled with old-fashioned ethnic stereotypes, but that makes it even more fascinating. This movie is a time machine; hop into it and you'll see a gritty and realistic picture of working-class New York City life in the early 1930s. It's pre-Code, so the language is blunt and the sexuality more open. The plot isn't Shakespeare, but it grabs onto you anyway, and the characters are so attractive and watchable that you become part of their neighborhood. A piece of cinematic and social history that is well worth your 80 minutes of time.

King Vidor's film adaptation of Edgar Rice's Pulitzer Prize winning play about the denizens of a tenement on New York's West Side is a gracefully crafted well paced story balanced by an abundance of humor and sadness. As lives intersect in front of the stoop we are presented a cross section of the great melting pot with accents and biases in place arguing politics, dispensing philosophy, bragging, fueling stereotypes ,gossiping and complaining about the heat.

In less skillful and ambitious hands Street Scene might have made for a more than passable filmed stage play by working in the confines of a studio sound stage but Vidor takes it to the streets in more than one scene giving the film a more gritty and realistic feel as well as using the expanse for symbolic purpose. He also eschews back projection by cleverly erecting a set off of an actual city street to provide realistic backdrop. His camera movement is breathtaking and powerful without being self indulgent as his signature crane shots unveil the neighborhood to establish time place and elevate drama. Working in a limited space he keeps things fresh and energized by changing angles and using natural transition by tracking characters into other conversations. His languorous but deliberate pace befitting a summer in the city heat wave that leads up to the stunningly edited climactic scene is perfectly measured for maximum effect. Max Steiner's score as well as the ambient music of children playing and singing in two separate scenes of dark irony seamlessly contribute to the films mood. While a general gloominess pervades and bigotries are ungoverned the stoop is the scene of great joy and humor much of it dark.

The cast of various ethnic types run from comic to ugly as they freely spout superstitions, bravado, rumor, bigotry and revolution. Some have dreams but most are filled with cynicism. Beulah Bondi as busy body Emma Jones is a sidewalk Cassandra with nothing good to say about anything or anyone. Sad eyed Sylvia Sidney gives a heartfelt performance as the daughter in the tragic Maurant family. Pulled from all sides she struggles to keep her family together while fending off the the seduction efforts of her boss who dangles a place of her own in front of her.

Street Scene is a microcosm in part of the immigrant experience in America during the first half of the last century and though some of the characterizations may be broad it retains an important historical significance. But it is King Vidor's master class( greatly assisted by the lensing of Barnes and Toland) in cinema grammar that awes and makes Street Scene a superb work of the early sound era.

There is just one scene for the entirety of the film - the front of a brownstone tenement in New York City during the summer. However, residents and visitors come and go, making conversation and sometimes vicious gossip to pass the time on the steps of the building. This is not a film about people living in outright poverty. As a whole,they are one rung above being poor with the safer position of being outright middle class just out of reach. The drama and the conversation mainly revolves around the Maurrant family. Anna Maurrant has been having at least a close relationship and perhaps an affair with the married milkman. We never really see exactly what is going on between them. Anna's husband, Frank, a man who is basically angry at the whole world, thinks that in the depression the fact that he holds down a job should make him husband of the year in the eyes of his wife, and that his barking orders at her should be good enough conversation for her. The couple has a grown daughter, Rose (Sylvia Sidney), whose married boss is leaning hard on her to let him become her "sugar daddy" and set her up in her own apartment. The couple also has a son who is well on his way to becoming a juvenile delinquent. Beulah Bondi really steals the show as a middle-aged housewife who is the building's gossiper-in-chief. She doesn't have a kind word to say about anyone and thinks she knows how every household should be run. She doesn't seem to notice that her own Mama's boy son is a proficient bully and a journeyman gangster.

Sam, the son of a Jewish couple in the building, is somewhat sweet on Rose, as she is on him. Her father outright objects to any relationship based on his own prejudice. The Jewish couple has similar objections, although they try to use the reason that any girlfriend will interfere with Sam's ambitions to become a lawyer.

Then there is the woman and two children who are about to be evicted because the husband has run off and they cannot pay the rent. In one particular scene that is relevant to social attitudes towards the poor today, a welfare worker shows up and chastises the woman when she learns that she has taken the children to the movies - she has spent a whopping 75 cents. When one of the neighbors mentions that he gave the woman some money because it made him feel good and made the woman feel good, the welfare worker replies he shouldn't do that because it is bad for the woman's character.

The whole thing builds slowly and artfully. Everyone knows something violent is going to happen here, the question is who will be the perpetrator and who the victim. There are any number of disgruntled, desperate, and angry people with an ax to grind.

The whole movie is just a very well done depression era slice-of-life film that shows that the residents may come and go, but the situations for whatever occupants that live there will remain the same. They will remain people one paycheck away from poverty, and possibly one revelation or argument away from violence. Highly recommended if you can find a copy.

Even though this is a filmed version of a stage play, it never seems like a "filmed play," thanks to the fluid camera work and the excellent direction of King Vidor. The film is vibrant throughout and, at about an hour and 18 minutes, for me wasn't long enough. It never seems quaint or clunky, the way a lot of movies from this era do. Sylvia Sidney is the best known person in the cast but there are a few familiar faces among the supporting cast, such as Beulah Bondi and John Qualen. All are excellent. Highly recommended for the serious viewer interested in seeing filmed American literature.

STREET SCENE (United Artists, 1931), produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by King Vidor, is a remarkable film in many ways. This screen adaptation to Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize winning 1929 stage play, realistically focuses on a group of people of different ethnic backgrounds who gather together on the front steps of their tenement brownstone apartment building on the west side of Manhattan during a summer heat wave in mid July.

The plot, set during a 24 hour period, takes a look on various residents before centering its attention on the Maurrant family. Anna Maurrant (Estelle Taylor), a housewife and mother, has become so bored with her present existence that she carries on an affair with a married man, Steve Sankey (Russell Hopton) while her stern and unsentimental husband, Frank (David Landau) heads off for work. This illicit affair is known by many, thanks to the neighborhood gossip, Emma Jones (Beulah Bondi). Regardless of their knowledge, Frank does have his suspicions, as does their grown daughter, Rose (Sylvia Sidney). Rose is a working girl loved by Sam Kaplan (William Collier Jr.), a Jewish law student living in the same building. Like Rose, Sam longs on moving away to a better life. Although he has strong ambitions, his weakness is being a coward, especially when constantly bullied by Vincent (Matt McHugh), a heavy-set "Momma's Boy." After about an hour or so of realistic dialog, the street scene, as the title indicates, occurs when Frank Maurrant returns home unexpectedly to find the shades of his bedroom window being pulled down.

Light on action, STREET SCENE moves along very swiftly through numerous camera angles. Aside from its plot development of numerous characters, every one of them, down to the last extra, makes his presence count. With the storyline being limited to only the front portion of the building, the inside of the apartment is never shown. Vidor does break away from his limitations in giving the avid movie viewer a eye-view of Manhattan of 1931, ranging from the elevated train, a glimpse of the Chrysler Building and other tenement buildings. The opening sequence, underscored by Alfred Newman's now classic "New York City Theme," is priceless, ranging from children cooling themselves off from the summer heat as they get splashed on with water from a hose connected to a fire hydrant; an alley cat licking a block of ice; a family dog stretched out on the sidewalk to cool off; and a brief look at those now antique fans. The second act of the story, which takes place the following morning, goes a bit further with local boys picking up stacks of newspapers to be delivered; and a man waking up from a good night's sleep on the fire escape, and heading back in his apartment carrying his pillow and sheets through his open window, among others. There is also a noted scene in which Willie (Lambert Rogers), the younger member of the Maurrant family, skating down the street, pausing, yelling up the window to his mother to throw him a dime to buy an ice cream cone. The dime is then wrapped in tissue paper and rubber band and tossed directly to him. Those who recall such childhood memories of New York will definitely relate to these little detailed scenes. Some things, though, never change, notably how a quiet street stirs up a huge crowd whenever an incident occurs as expertly depicted in this photo-play.

Seen in the supporting cast are Greta Grandtedt, Max Mantor, John Qualen, George Humbert, Allan Fox, and Marcia Mae Jones, recognizable in her small role as Mary Hildebrand, one of the neighborhood children. In fact, many of the supporting players appearing in STREET SCENE reprized their roles from the stage version, especially that of Beulah Bondi, making her screen debut. Always an excellent performer, her nasty character nearly steals the film. Sylvia Sidney, with few movie credits to her name at the time, and a native New Yorker, makes a lasting impression with her role as Rose.

STREET SCENE is an excellent theme in storytelling that never lets go of its audience. In spite of its age, it's still timely. One element that shows King Vidor's style of sending out his messages to his viewers without the use of dialog is the use of closeups and facial expressions on several people. They don't say anything, but what they're thinking is passed across its audience. These and many other scenes are what makes STREET SCENE so remarkable, even today. Instances such as those depicted are those that could happen anytime, anywhere, not only in New York, but a movie such as this cannot be remade today or ever without the same impact as it did back in 1931. It's a wonder why STREET SCENE did not earn a single Academy Award nomination.

STREET SCENE, available on video and DVD, had been distributed by numerous public domain companies using reissue prints that substitute Samuel Goldwyn's opening with Associate Artists Productions Presents. Other than its occasional TV showings that have turned up on local public broadcasting stations after the midnight hours, STREET SCENE, occasionally plays Turner Classic Movies. Contrary to its host Robert Osborne in saying in his analysis of STREET SCENE making its TCM premiere on the evening of June 30, 2002, at 8 p.m., someone at the program department failed to indicate to him of its earlier air-date, June 6, 2002, at 7:30 a.m. Regardless, thanks to TCM for ever presenting this rare find, due to it being one of the very few from the early 1930s, that can still be seen and appreciated over and over again. (****)

King Vidor's Street Scene, from the infancy of the sound era, may be cinema's quintessential slice of life. Drawn from the 1929 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Elmer Rice – so many movies from the earliest 1930s were little more than filmed stage plays – Street Scene surmounts the limitations of its time and its material to achieve the status of a minor milestone in movie history. It's dated, occasionally clumsy, but unforgettable.

Street Scene's microcosm is a brownstone in a Manhattan tenement block during a scorching heat wave. The residents, in their various comings and goings, loiter on its front stoop to catch a stray zephyr and exchange some gossip. The gossip-in-chief is Beulah Bondi, a dried-up streel griping that she doesn't have a `dry stitch' on her (Vidor permits himself a cheeky shot of her, shot from below and behind, when she furtively unsticks her house dress from her, well, person).

Incidental players include a henpecked young husband whose wife is about to go into labor; an elderly Jew spouting socialist rant; his son, a non-violent college man with a crush on a gentile girl; cheerful Italians and dour Scandinavians; pinched and bitter social workers; gasbags, mashers and inebriates.

After reviling the weather with immemorial cliches, the characters turn wickedly to their chief topic: the milkman's suspicious visits to a married woman upstairs. (Her daughter, the central character in the drama -- Sylvia Sidney -- makes a later entrance but will ring down the curtain.) Meanwhile, the characters carry on city life in a rough-and-tumble of casually aimed racist barbs, sanctimonious judgementalism, and general acceptance of the notion that one's neighbors' lives are the reality television of the day, to be viewed with gusto. The potent cocktail of slander and humidity will have fatal results.

Vidor employs his talents adroitly. The movie's first `act' stays stubbornly crouched on that stoop, but gradually Vidor opens up his stage in a series of tilts and pans so that the brownstone becomes but one cell in a bustling urban organism. (Technically, it's precocious, and the story's dramatic `climax' arrives in a montage that may elicit smiles but still remains impressive.) Surviving current attitudes about political correctness and convincing `realism' (that most elusive of artifices), Street Scene endures as haunting, human experiment – among the finest of the first `talkies.'

Note: Rice's play was later to become the libretto to Kurt Weill's Broadway `opera' Street Scene.

In front of a New York City tenement, on a swelteringly hot summer day, gossipy Beulah Bondi (as Emma Jones) and neighbors gather to swap stories and complain about the heat. The story focuses on the Maurrant family. Pretty young Sylvia Sidney (as Rose) is the lead, as evident later in the running time. Her beauty attracts the opposite sex, most significantly sensitively Jewish William Collier Jr. (as Sam Kaplan). Mother Estelle Taylor (as Anna) is rumored to be having an affair with milkman Russell Hopton (as Steve Sankey). No wonder, as husband and father David Landau (as Frank) is a nasty, loud-mouthed bigot. Roller-skating son Lambert Rogers (as Willie) rounds out the Maurrant family. He has a great run as part of the classic opening sequence...

Producer Samuel Goldwyn did well in bringing this Elmer Rice's Broadway hit to the motion picture screen. The play won a "Pulitzer Prize" for drama (1929) and the film placed second in the annual "Film Daily" poll (1931).

The play was acted in front of the characters' tenement. The film preserves this gimmick, but stretches its landscape up and down the street. It's artistically directed by King Vidor, fluidly photographed by George Barnes, and features a classic soundtrack by Alfred Newman. We never see the inside of anyone's apartment. Some of the early scenes are stunning, with setting and characters strikingly presented. The great American "melting pot" of various ethnic groups living together in a city is nicely captured; this mixing produced an incredible country, but the stories herein only minimally illustrate a bigger picture. Violence and separation are the rule. As the story progresses, it cools off. "Street Scene" loses some of its sweat, and never its gimmick.

******* Street Scene (8/26/31) King Vidor ~ Sylvia Sidney, William Collier Jr., Estelle Taylor, Beulah Bondi

In a hot summer afternoon in New York, Emma Jones (Beulah Bondi) gossips with other neighbors of her residential building about the affair of Mrs. Anna Maurrant (Estelle Taylor) and the milkman Steve Sankey (Russell Hopton). When the rude Mr. Frank Maurrant (David Landau) arrives, they change the subject. Meanwhile, their teenage daughter Rose Maurrant (Sylvia Sidney) is sexually harassed by her boss Mr. Bert Easter (Walter Miller); however, she likes her Jewish neighbor Sam (William Collier Jr.) that has a crush on her. On the next morning, Frank tells that is traveling to Stanford on business. Mrs. Maurrant meets the gentle Sankey in her apartment, but out of the blue Frank comes back home in an announced tragedy.

"Street Scene" is an unknown early sound movie directed by King Vidor based on a play of Elmer Rice that explores the new technology to the maximum. The awesome story of gossips, small talks, adultery and murders in a hot day in New York has witty and feral dialogs associated to excellent performances and magnificent camera work. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "No Turbilhão da Metrópole" ("In the Whirlpool of the Metropolis")

The blistering heat and unrelenting humidity of a hot summer day drive the tenants of a four story walk-up out in front of the house, where they sit on the stoop and gossip about one another with wanton relish. Others hang out the window, watching the cars drive by on the busy, two way street, while the occasional passing of the el can be heard coming down the tracks at the end of the block.

The most vicious of the gossips is played by Beulah Bondi, a hag of a woman who looks much older than her years. Her favorite target is the very lonely, and very stunning Mrs. Maurrant, wonderfully played by Estelle Taylor, who is constantly bullied by her husband, played by David Landau. Mrs. Maurrant is so lovely, she looks more like an older sister to Rose, portrayed nicely by Sylvia Sidney, instead of her mother. Mrs. Maurrant is so desperate for some kindness and attention, that her fondness for the milkman is easily discerned by her jackal-like neighbors. The moment she's out of sight, Beulah Bondi's character starts passing judgment with a vengeance, and gets the other neighbors all stirred up in the process. To make matter's worse, Bondi and the others always act so peculiar every time Mr. Maurrant passes by, that he soon grasps the fact that they think his wife is having an affair with the milkman.

Although the building is filled with people of different nationalities and creeds, all displaying intolerance of others in one way or another, the main theme of the film is the belief that malicious gossip, unforgiving and relenting, is as deadly as any weapon, and probably more so. At least a gun can shoot a person dead in a moment, but cruel and relentless gossip cuts at the heart and soul without mercy. Mrs. Maurrant is chided, ridiculed, humiliated, and made fun of at every turn, while she bravely tries to be friendly and understanding to everyone else. Street Scene is well written and wonderfully acted by all the players, but it's a creaky film with almost no movement. The whole movie is shot on the front stoop of the house, and such a static film may be difficult for some to take. But, it is a touching story that will make some question the usual rules regarding morality and fidelity. Even Mr. Murrant becomes the victim of the gossip, as he explains to his daughter Rose, "It was all the talk that was driving me crazy."

In 1931, King Vidor adapted Elmer Rice's stage play to the screen without missing a beat. There is a first rate ensemble cast including the wonderful Sylvia Sydney as Rose Moran, the daughter of an Irish father and American mother. She works in an office with a boss who is after her for more than company. Her father is cold and distant from her lonely mother. Rose finds friendship and love with Sam Kaplan, a Russian Jewish neighbor. Despite their religious and ethnic differences, there is a genuine and authentic nature of their relationship. You can't help but rooting for them. Beulah Bondi plays nosy, opinionated Mrs. Jones who walks her beloved dog, Queenie. She's a hoot. The film version does justice since we never see what life is like behind the apartment doors. The tenement building on the Lower East Side of New York City is a mixture of religions and backgrounds, Irish, Italian, Russian, Jewish, living together and trying to survive in the Great Depression. The film has quite an ending and the tension does build up to it greatly. It's well-written and believable as a bunch of neighbors talk in the hot weather with their open windows about the other residents and local gossip.

Imagine Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, but instead of spying on the people in a building from across a Greenwich Village courtyard and speculating on what their lives are as Jimmy Stewart does, instead you're up close and personal like you have a dwelling right on the sidewalk and see and hear it all. Instead of a colorful Village apartment it's a Lower East Side tenement which today would be filled with Yuppies. But back in the Twenties when it was written you have Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize winning Street Scene.

Street Scene ran a very nice 601 performances on Broadway and two members of the original cast came over for the film. John Qualen and Beulah Bondi playing Mr.&Mrs. Olsen. They reminded me so much of the Kravitzes from Bewitched, Mr. Kravitz who just wanted to relax and read his paper and Mrs. Kravitz forever in everyone else's business mostly the Stevenses. Bondi was a much nastier character, still kind of funny that her own life is so empty that all she takes pleasure in is dishing the dirt about others.

The main action centers around Sylvia Sydney who with this film and Dead End established herself as Hollywood's favorite slum daughter. She's the pretty girl in the building who gets everyone's hormones in overdrive. Her lummox of a father David Landau feels trapped by middle age and a life of no special significance. So does her mother Estelle Taylor. Thanks to Bondi everyone knows about her carrying on with the milkman, except her children and husband. When Landau finds out there's tragedy coming up like an oil gusher.

The only other significant character is William Collier, Jr. a quiet and studious kid who just wants out of the slum. He's Jewish and Sylvia is Irish. Despite that Collier is the only one that Sylvia really responds to, even though others push him around and make fun of him.

Street Scene is not your melting pot slum of the East Side Kids who are from many backgrounds. Elmer Rice has a most politically incorrect work where everyone even casually refers to each other with all the ethnic slurs going. It's probably why Street Scene is not revived that often.

Yet I'm glad the film isn't lost, it should be preserved and seen as a guide to American attitudes back when it was made.

This movie is about life in the slums in New York and nothing much happens except for a murder. The people just hang out on the front steps of their apartment building and talk and gossip. The only person i know in here was Sylvia Sidney and her mom in the movie is cheating on her husband with another man. Everybody knows about it but the husband doesn't know and he knows something is up. Nothing else really happens except the murder and I'm not going to tell you who it is but you can guess pretty easily. This was one of King Vidor's first talking films and you can tell that this movie was first a play because the characters don't go anywhere. This movie wasn't bad but i wouldn't watch it again.

Yes, this does look like Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album cover has come to life! That's not a very good album and this isn't a good film.

It's not a film with characters to find out about. It's not a film with a plot or indeed a story - this is different. This came about from a more theatrical and quite clever idea - it's intended to give you a taste of a typical New York City street, eavesdropping on the neighbours, catching a few words of secret conversations and realising just how much the world has changed and stayed the same.

Although King Vidor absolutely changes the look of the titular stage play to a proper movie, the script still feels awfully like a play. Other than turning it into something different, it would be impossible not to. That's the problem with this. Live theatre can be wonderful but it can't just be superimposed onto film. It may have been great to watch this live, to see the next actor take centre stage and do their monologue but that style does not work on film. Some people might like this but if you're expecting a proper film with a proper story you will be very, very disappointed with this. The script is completely unrealistic and the characters are most definitely just actors.

The veteran character actress made her film debut in Street Scene and she is superb as the vicious gossip. This very unsentimental story, based on the Elmer Rice play showcases many excellent performances. The film is well directed by King Vidor and boasts a great score by Alfred Newman (love that jazz music!). The action takes place on the stoop of a New York City tenement. Gossip swirls around one of the tenants who is having an affair. There is also lots of talks about "foreigners" and socialism and of course the heat. As the city swelters, tensions rise and passions flare. Good story. Beaula Bondi takes acting honors as Mrs. Jones. She is so EVIL yet funny. Superb performance. Sylvia Sidney gets the first of her great "tenement" roles. William Collier, Jr. plays the Jewish student. Silent film star Estelle Taylor is wonderful as the lonely woman. Taylor should have had a bigger "talkie" career. John Qualen plays the Swedish janitor. George Humbert is the Italian tenant. David Landau is good as the jealous husband. Ann Kostant, Nora Cecil, Richard Powell, Matt McHugh, Russell Hopton, and Greta Granstedt are all good. Great camera work and sets..... A wonderful film.

This is my favorite Hollywood movie of the thirties, and it's hard to tell why. It has a radiance that no other movie has. It's filmed theater, but somehow more alive than real life. It takes ordinary life and challenges us to see the beauty in it, or even the ugliness, anything rather than nothing. It depicts a sordid life, but isn't all life sordid? All actors are wonderful, especially Bondi and Sydney. The camera work is a dream. It makes you love people. Cheap theatrics are deftly avoided. This is art. It makes a symphony of cacophony.

There is nothing I can add to the substantive dialogue concerning this film, but I urge all persons interested in early sound-era movies to look at this one, not only for how it exemplifies film as art, but also because it portrays human interaction in such a compelling and timeless way. Certainly without the play we wouldn't have the film. But the film interprets the play and that is what we are seeing here. The sense of neighbors of so many various backgrounds being pressed together in close quarters and not being allowed to stand as islands unto themselves may be more satisfyingly observed, or portrayed if you will, here than in any actual or attempted documentary from the early 1930s. I have looked over many of the scenes in this film several times, and each time my fascination with and admiration for the film only swells. "Street Scene" provides a very engrossing, if not great, motion picture experience!

"Street Scene" was obviously originally a play--as so much of the film looks like a Broadway set. And, folks appear and talk much like you'd expect in a play--not like in real life. Because of this, the film seems stagy as well as a bit dated. But, with topics like adultery and racial epithets, it's also obvious that, for its time, it was a rather bold production.

"Street Scene" is not really a complete story--it's more like a snippet of life for various folks living in a tenement. Because of this, by the time the film ends, you may well be left feeling a bit let down because there is no satisfying conclusion. Much of the stuff that occurs is pretty limp, though it certainly jumps into overdrive when there is a murder late in the film. Part of this is the excitement (which is really needed) and part is because for the first time the set opens up and you can see the neighborhood--which is something considering it was actually all filmed in California! But the crane shots and look of the set really make it seem real--even if the dialog often seems pretty fake. Overall, an interesting film and a movie that tries (it doesn't succeed but it tries) to create a historical look at New York City circa 1930.

If you do watch, a few things to look for are some film debuts (Beulah Bondi and John Qualen), the smart aleck cop and the frequent use of derisive terms for the Jewish character.

Back in the day of the mobs running just everything, if you believe the films of the time. and the neighbors on the street are all gossiping about the goings on. in very non-specific accents, clearly, from somewhere else. and every stereotype you've ever seen in the movies. Anna Maurant ( Estelle Taylor) having a thing with the milkman Steven (Russell Hopton). and the daughter Rose (Sylvia Sidney) is having her own problems. the only name in the cast that i recognized was Beulah Bondi, who was nominated twice for supporting actress in the 1930s. this film is all about real people, real goings on, on a hot night in the big city. with all the neighbors watching. everyone knows everything. about everyone else. and pops Maurant knows, but isn't happy about any of it. murder. mayhem. sweltering, summer heat. Directed by King Vidor. was nominated FIVE times for films... was finally given an honorary lifetime achievement award.

It's the hot days and nights in New York City. Various characters have gathered around a stoop to a Lower East Side tenement building.

On the one hand, I love the opening street scenes. I love the grittiness of old New York. I love the idea of a New York street story over a night's time. The problem starts with so many characters. It's hard to follow who's who and what's what. I'm looking for a lead character or at least, a lead character for a story section. Rose must be that lead and it should be concentrating on her from start to finish. In the end, it's interesting but not as compelling as it needs to be.

Twenty-four hours in the lives of the inhabitants of a New York tenement during a heatwave. The film takes place on one street as colorful characters come and go, interacting with one another and commenting on their various dramas. Wonderful Pre-Code film. Screen debut of Beulah Bondi, who pretty much owns the movie. Also a good showcase for lovely Sylvia Sidney. The rest of the excellent cast includes David Landau, Estelle Taylor, and John Qualen (also his film debut). It was based on a play, which is fairly obvious when viewing. That isn't to say its stagy, however. King Vidor does a magnificent job pacing things and keeping the camera moving so that you're never bored. The set is amazing, especially when the camera pans out and you see how much work they put into making it authentic. About as good as it gets as far as movies of this type go. One of the best of the many adaptations of plays made during the early sound era, a lot of which were often talky and have aged badly.

It seems I have to give Spike Lee more credit than I have been because "Do the Right Thing" looks very much like an adapted version of "Street Scene," which means Spike did some cinematic research. You don't see it? Watch the two again.

"Do the Right Thing" was about a hot day in Brooklyn in which most of the filming was done in a small area. The movie chronicled one New York day, it was a multi-ethnic cast of characters who were all bothered by the heat, there was some racist language bandied about, and a big commotion involving the police occurred near the end.

As for "Street Scene," it took place on one sweltering day in one of the New York burroughs. The entire movie took place on the stoop of an apartment building full of working class folks. The building had immigrants from different countries and it was a clash of cultures at times.

The main attraction was Anna Maurrant (Estelle Taylor) and her affair with Steve Sankey (Russell Hopton), the collector for milk money. Their affair was a poorly kept secret that everyone but Anna's husband, Frank (David Landau), knew about. It was just the sort of gossip that kept women like Emma Jones (Beulah Bondi) busy bumping her gums.

"Street Scene" was an engaging view of one day in the life of working class people in a multi-ethnic setting. It almost looked like a social science experiment to see if different ethnicities could coexist in one tight location. There were some cultural clashes-- one which was heated--but none of them compared to good ol' fashioned anger from a jealous husband--which is a trait that cuts across all races and ethnicities.

Free on Plex and Tubi.