Street Scene

1931
Approved
1h 20m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

William Collier Jr. and Sylvia Sidney in Street Scene (1931)

Twenty-four hours elapse on the stoop of a Hell's Kitchen tenement as a microcosm of the American melting pot interconnects during a summer heatwave.Twenty-four hours elapse on the stoop of a Hell's Kitchen tenement as a microcosm of the American melting pot interconnects during a summer heatwave.Twenty-four hours elapse on the stoop of a Hell's Kitchen tenement as a microcosm of the American melting pot interconnects during a summer heatwave.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

2.2K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
The surviving print, preserved by the Library of Congress, and occasionally shown on TCM, is the post-Production Code re-release (bearing the re-release Seal of Approval), but since it runs exactly 1:28:40, apparently little alteration was made from the original, whose 1931 New York City opening was clocked at 80 minutes. However, on a couple of occasions, lines of dialogue have been obviously edited out that evidently failed to pass post-code regulations.

Goofs
When the milkman arrives in the morning, a moving shadow of the boom microphone is visible to the right of the stoop and is seen again a moment later when Sam comes out of the building.

Quotes
Emma Jones: Aw, men are all alike. They're all easy enough to get along with so long as everything goes the way they want it to, but once it don't, good night.

Connections
Referenced in It's a Date (1940)

Soundtracks
The Sidewalks of New York
(1894) (uncredited)
Music by Charles Lawlor
Played as background music twice when children are playing

User reviews45

Review

Featured review

8/10

Gossips, Small Talks, Adultery and Murders in a Hot Summer Day in New York

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")