User reviews

This musical comedy near the dawn of the sound era follows the routine formula (boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl) but sports a nice jazz combo, with John Harron playing piano and trumpet (sometimes at the same time), Ned Sparks playing violin, Jack Oakie with a mean clarinet and Guy Buccola on the accordion. I never tired of the one bouncy show-stopper by Oscar Levant and Sidney Claire called "Lovable and Sweet," despite it being played and sung several times. In fact, I was humming it for a day or so. What surprised me was seeing Jack Oakie looking so thin I almost didn't recognize him, and John Harron as the romantic lead, since I was used to seeing him only in bit parts in 30's movies. I'm not sure if the music the boys played was dubbed or not, but the female lead, silent star Betty Compson, was an accomplished violinist and surely did her own playing. I rather enjoyed watching this film despite its triteness.

Hungarian blonde Betty Compson (as Frederika "Freddie" Joyzelle) gets fired from her job as a New York waitress, for breaking a dish over her boss' head. Although the film is suggestively titled "Street Girl", Ms. Compson avoids dabbling in the world's oldest profession. Instead, Compson hooks up with attractive John Harron (as Mike Fall), who is so taken with briefly homeless Compson, he asks her to move in with his jazzy musical group.

As "The Four Seasons", Mr. Harron's "Mike Fall" is teamed with Jack Oakie (as Joe Spring), Ned Sparks (as Happy Winter), and Guy Buccola (as Pete Summer). Compson, conveniently a violinist, joins "The Four Seasons" both at home and on stage. The group is lively and likable; especially, the smiling Mr. Oakie, in his spring. The "Seasons" become successful, and romance blooms for Compson and Harron; but, a visiting Prince threatens the duo's happiness...

Compson, who was at an artistic peak around the time silent films found their voice, tends to be a little too theatrical in "Street Girl", her starring vehicle; she certainly proves her versatility on the screen, however. Leading man Harron gives director/co-producer Wesley Ruggles the film's best acting performance; he (perhaps unfairly) certainly makes you wonder what heights deceased brother Bobby Harron might have reached in the "talkies".

The early Oscar Levant music (with lyrics by Sidney Clare) is very good. Gus Arnheim "and His Coconut Grove Ambassadors" skillfully dubbed their instrumentals; apparently, this is before future star Fred MacMurray joined the group. The frequently heard "Loveable and Sweet" is considered a jazz classic, in the cover version expertly recorded by Annette Hanshaw with the Dorsey Brothers. Although the early "RKO Radio Picture" production is more than a little rough around the edges, the musical/comedy genre storyline is solid.

******* Street Girl (1929) Wesley Ruggles ~ Betty Compson, John Harron, Jack Oakie

Actually, this isn't much of a musical. Instead it is more of a movie about musicians. Four friends are trying to make it as a musical band when, one night, one member finds a girl being accosted by a fellow in the doorway of his apartment house. He gets rid of the masher and invites her in when he discovers she is hungry and homeless, and she quickly wins the other bandmembers/roommates over. First she takes to keeping house for them, then she graduates to promoting their careers, and does a pretty handy job of both. Of course, romance arises and complicates matters.

Unlike most backstagers of this era, this one is refreshingly different. These five people are looking for happiness, not just fame and fortune. Their bond of friendship seems to have depth, and success doesn't really change them. The only bad things I can really say is - like another reviewer - Betty Compson really is saddled with a ridiculous accent in this one. Also, the movie is just too long. At 90 minutes some scenes could have been tightened up or even deleted, and it would have been a better paced film had it been about 15 minutes shorter.

This 1929 original musical was a big hit (grossing more than $1M) for Betty Compson. She plays a "street girl," a homeless immigrant alone in a big American city. One rainy night she is saved from a lecher by a young man (John Harron) and invited upstairs for hot coffee. Harron is a musician and shares an apartment with three other musicians. They play for a local club.

Compson asks them to play for her and they do a swingy version of "Lovable and Sweet" (which was written by Oscar Levant and Sidney Clare). She tells them it's a nice tune but they need a violin. They produce a violin and she plays a soft and beautiful version of "My Dream Memory" (the talented Compson was also a concert violinist). It's a terrific moment.

She takes charge of the guys and gets them a gig for big bucks at a swanky restaurant where they become local stars. A dethroned prince from her home country drops by and almost steals her away but she has fallen for Harron. The film ends with a rousing dance number, "Broken Up Tune" as played by the group.

Despite the iffy accent, Compson is once again just wonderful. She has just the right touch of "old world" gentleness about her as she runs around managing the group) in a very aggressive American manner). Harron is also very good. He was the younger brother of DW Griffith star, Robert Harron, who died at age 27 from a mysterious gunshot accident in 1920. Kinetic Jack Oakie sings and dances (and fakes some clarinet playing). Acerbic Ned Sparks plays a few instruments as well and grouches at people. Guy Buccola is the fourth band member. Joseph Cawthorn (an expert at accents) is the club owner. Ivan Lebedeff is the prince. Among the big-band musicians is Russ Columbo, a major singing star of the 30s. Eddie Kane and June Clyde have small roles.

What this film is not, is a frenzied backstage musical, which was the rage for a time after the success of THE Broadway MELODY. After an initial craze, the public quickly tired of backstage musicals and all-star revues. STREET GIRL went in another direction, tying together a love story with music.

This film is worth watching for the great music and unjustly forgotten Betty Compson.

Had this film been made a few years later, I might have scored it a 6. This is because for 1929 (an early talkie) it's a pretty good little film. And, like so many films from 1929, it's a musical.

The film begins with an excellent jazz combo performing. The four guys in it all have last names like the seasons. Mike Fall is sort of the leader. After the show, he comes upon a masher bothering a young lady, Frederika (Betty Compson). Then he learns she's hungry and homeless and he takes her home to stay with his bandmates. This good deed is soon rewarded, as Frederika turns out to have musical talents of her own and she becomes part of the band. And, more importantly, she turns out to know the prince of the fictional country from which she came. His coming to their concert at a local restaurant suddenly makes them famous and, for once, very well paid. However, as Mike and Frederika fall in love, you see that Mike is a very stupid and insecure jerk-- and he's jealous of the attention the prince has paid to her. In fact, this jealousy threatens to ruin the band.

The film works best because the music is very enjoyable--even almost a century later. Additionally, Ms. Compson's odd accent works better than her accents in other films (such as a French one) because the country is fictional and you don't know what to compare it to! Overall, a fun little film. And, if you watch, look for a young Jack Oakie and Ned Sparks in the band.

I watched this on TCM and found it interesting, though in many ways just a showcase for the music. Very '20s, very period-piece stuff, with the usual strange choreography. I thought the title Street Girl was a bit of a tease however, as the "girl" turned out to be a homeless violinist who gets involved with a down-at-heels dance band. What stood out for me however was the noisiness of the sound track, the worst I have ever heard. I realize this is an early talkie and they were probably still struggling with ways to muffle the sound of the camera. But every shot seemed to have its own peculiar frequency, from whirring to humming to grinding to something like a garburator. I wonder now if early-talkie audiences noticed or cared about this, but it seems to me that many must have longed for the sophisticated accompaniment that had evolved by late in the silent era. What also amazes me is the leap in sophistication that took place in only a couple of years: by 1931, people had forgotten all about silent movies and screenwriters/actors had hit their stride. This is great to watch if you're a sound technician/film historian or both.

I'll say quite a few good things about "Street Girl." The overall plot is serviceable, the songs by Oscar Levant and Sidney Clare are nice period pieces (Levant spent much of his life trying to play on the pop-songwriting turf of his good friend George Gershwin, and he wrote one truly great song — "Blame It on My Youth" — but Gershwin he wasn't), the big musical finale "Broken-Up Tune" is suitably spectacular (I suspect this number was originally in two-strip Technicolor even though it only survives in black-and-white, and in the print just shown on TCM there's one shot in the final sequence that is photographically quite inferior to the rest, suggesting that the film as it stands was pieced back together from partial prints), and above all Wesley Ruggles' direction, though hardly at the imaginative level of Mamoulian's, Capra's, Wyler's, Milestone's or Vidor's in their first talkies, is quite fluid. The camera moves around quite a lot, the editing is fast-paced and the actors speak relatively naturally without the seemingly endless pauses between lines (sometimes between words!) that make a lot of early talkies virtually unwatchable today.

That's the good news. The bad news is the writer's dorky decision to change the origin of Betty Compson's character from a real country, Austria, to a fictitious one, "Aregon" (presumably not to be confused with the real Spanish province of Aragon); the awful accent Compson affects to sound suitably "Aregonese"; the casting of Jack Oakie without giving him any laughs (and he's utterly unable at any point to convince us he can actually play the clarinet); and a pretty sluggish pace despite all the camera movement and quick cutting. Also there's the obvious cheapness of using the same pre-recording of the song "Lovable and Sweet" all three times it's performed (you can tell because of the Beiderbecke-esquire "smear" John Harron's trumpet double performs in his solo each time). It ends up an O.K. movie but you get the impression it could have been better made a few years later — indeed it WAS made better on two separate occasions; "The Girl from Paris" isn't that great a movie either (though at least Lily Pons' accent is her real one!) but it's a damned sight better than this.

STREET GIRL (RKO Radio, 1929), directed by Wesley Ruggles, is not a pre-production code movie about prostitution, but actually a breezy early talkie musical about a jazz quartet meeting Frederica Joyzelle, alias "Freddie," a Hungarian violinist (Betty Compson) who has no place to stay. She is given room and board by the leader of the quartet (John Harron), and must share the apartment with three other fellows. Because of their acts of kindness, Freddie puts the quartet to work and success by becoming their manager.

This long forgotten musical of 1929, from the magazine story, "The Viennese Charmer," that formerly played on American Movie Classics prior to 1993, and sporadically on Turner Classic Movies, surprisingly holds up through much of its 88 minutes, especially with Compson's violin solo of "My Dream Melody" (by Oscar Levant), reprized several times throughout the story. Other songs include: "Loveable and Sweet," "King of Othello" and "Broken Up Tune." Aside from John Harron playing Fall, there's Ned Sparks as Winter, Jack Oakie as Spring and Guy Buccola as Summer. With these names, it's easy to see why the band called themselves THE FOUR SEASONS. Ned Sparks is a great grumpy character who at one point forces himself to smile; while Jack Oakie, young and slightly thin, is still an attention grabber with his "comedy relief," especially when Compson, after being offered room and board in an apartment occupied by four men, looking around where she's able to sleep for the night. Oakie, already lying in his bed, with a sneer smile on his face, moves over the sheets and pats on the vacant portion of his bed. Also in support are Joseph Cawthorn as Mr. Keppler, Ivan Lebedeff as Prince Nicholas, and Gus Arnheim and his Cocoanut Grove Ambassadors.

STREET GIRL must have been a success because it was was remade twice by RKO: THAT GIRL IN Paris (1936) with Lily Pons, Gene Raymond and Jack Oakie (again); and as FOUR JACKS AND A JILL (1941) with Ray Bolger, Anne Shirley and Desi Arnaz (in the role originated by Lebedeff). The 1929 original is highly regarded to those who simply enjoy watching hard to find movies such as this. (***)

John Harron, Jack Oakie, Ned Sparks -- who actually smiles in this movie, a terrifying sight -- and Guy Buccola are a jazz quartet who aren't doing well. Coming home with groceries, Harron runs into starving Betty Compson, and invites her to join them for dinner. When she claims she plays the violin, they lend her one.... and she's good. Soon they are making a living, playing for restaurateur Joseph Cawthorn, when prince Ivan Lebedeff comes to the restaurant, and recognizes Miss Compson; this gets Harron jealous.

Miss Compson is terrific, of course; her performance aided by her first job in show business, as a violinist, but this first production by RKO, with a score by Oscar Levant, is cannily directed by Wesley Ruggles. Over at First National, all the musical numbers seemed to be shot long distance on a proscenium stage that would make the one at Radio City seem a shoebox. Ruggles shoots them naturally: a jam session in the apartment, a performance or two in the restaurant, accented by a moving camera, while elements of the Gus Arnhem Orchestra did the actual playing, and only the last number on a big stage.

In the end, it's a well produced minor semi-musical that succeeds by the simple expedient of doing some things very right, and nothing wrong. That may seem like small potatoes, but is actually unusual. As the first movie produced, if not released by RKO, it was a major hit, and deserved to be. If it has fallen into desuetude, it is because the vast majority of 1929 musicals are properly held in low esteem -- First National, I'm looking at you! -- and this one is unfairly lumped in with them.

Okay, it was 1929 and movies had just started talking. But this tale of a jazz combo who take in a violin-playing waif moves lethargically through a few settings. There's the night spot where the band performs and the apartment where they live --and where the dialogue drones on and on. As the street girl, Betty Compson desperately tries to fake a Ruritanian accent while a young, thin Jack Oakie gets off a a few snappy one-liners. When the cast stops jabbering and the music takes over, it's entertaining -- particularly an up-tempo number, "Lovable and Sweet," co-written by Oscar Levant. But when they talk, you can't stop yawning.

"freddie" is a poor foreigner, so the gang brings her home to help her out. the Picture and sound are remarkably good, for such an oldie (and early talkie) film! Betty Compson, Ned Sparks, Jack Oakie, and John Harron had all started in the silent films. I recognized ( and LOVE ) Ned Sparks... was his usual sarcastic self in "Bride walks Out" and "Imitation of Life". Freddie tries to push the guys and herself to bigger and better things, but there are bumps along the way. some fun wordplay here and there, due to the mixups by the foreign folk. Thank goodness this was prior to the film production code, so they didn't have to sugar-coat much to tell the story. it's a fun adventure, even if some of those accents change along the way! Check it out. Showing on Turner Classics. Directed by Wes Ruggles; he had acted in silent shorts for years, then bumped up to director for many years more. It's a good one.

Its not a bad flick by all means, its just..so very mid. A boring movie with a story that comes and goes without any fascination to it. Not sure why its stamped as a musical when it just feels like a drama about musicians in general, which is not really the same genre per se..

I'm currently going thru all musical films by year (or the ones i can find atleast) and so far this must have been the most boring one of them. Again, not a bad movie, it's one of those films i would put on in the background for noise or to fall asleep too, as the music is very comfortable and soothing.

The cinematography is lackluster even for its time so theres much to be wanted.

Cheers.

Street Girl (1929)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

After finding herself homeless and hungry, Frederika (Betty Compson) is giving a place to stay by Mike Fall (John Harron), a band member who lives with his three other players. Frederika believes that the group could demand much more money because of their playing skills and soon she's working as their manager and the five start to rise in popularity but when a Prince starts to woo Frederika, this doesn't sit well with Mike.

STREET GIRL was the first film ever produced by RKO, although it turned out to be the second that they'd actually release. For the most part this is a pretty good early talkie that manages to follow a pretty basic formula but thankfully the cast is so good that it makes up for the family story, which even by 1929 standards was pretty predictable. Of course, the majority of the credit has to go to Compson who easily steals the picture of the lovable blonde.

Compson has the misfortune of having to speak with a silly accent that goes in and out throughout the picture but outside of this she's certainly a delight to watch. She manages to be incredibly lovable from the first moment we meet her and you just can't help but fall in love with her just like the four roommates do. Another good performance comes from Harron who manages to pull off that jealousy role quite well and we also get Jack Oakie in a supporting part. Ned Sparks is quite funny as "Happy," the person constantly thinking someone is cheating him.

The story itself is quite predictable but the technical side of things are actually quite good for 1929. A lot of times these early talkies pretty much have the camera sitting still but that's not the case here as there's a little style on display here. There are some musical numbers throughout and all of them are quite good and it's worth noting that the violin playing is done by Compson herself. STREET GIRL certainly has its flaws but fans of the actress will certainly enjoy her work here and fans of early talkies should be impressed on a technical level.

Betty Compson's 4 boys are a successful jazz band with awesome music also from Gus Arnheim. Jack Oakie is quite the dancer. From Wesley Ruggles this has some sound problems and can hear the camera but wouldn't change that. Compson easily drives this highly successful hit for RKO, a true star. Ned Sparks to Compson regarding her break up,"when they're jealous they always come back." Nothing better than a twenties musical based on a jazz band and here with a mushy love story. The piano player is the prime mover. A New York night club floor show with wonderful jazz dancing and proto- Busby Berkeley camera. If you don't like early jazz not so special. Thank Pre-Code for giving us a beautiful Snow White street-wise Aregonian homeless violinist who moves into a spacious one room apartment with four jazz guys and winds up wearing furs and jewels and gives the piano player his rightful romantic expression. For a remake would have had Streisand and Ryan O'Neal.