Sylvia Sidney was an up and coming Broadway ingenue when she was bought to Paramount as an insurance against Clara Bow, who was experiencing health problems. Interestingly, it was Nancy Carroll who was originally announced for the role of Rose Maurant in "Street Scene". Why she didn't do it I don't know but Sylvia Sidney was excellent in the part.
From the now familiar music of Alfred Newman, the camera pans over the New York skyline and starts to follow Beulah Bondi down the street in a typical tenement. Emma Jones (Beulah Bondi) is the street's vicious gossip and she has plenty to gossip about. She is so busy causing trouble but her own son (Matt McHugh) is a thug and a bully. Mrs Maurant (Estelle Taylor) is having an affair with a married man (Russell Hopton). The whole street seems to know except her husband (David Landau) and he certainly has his suspicions. She is just looking for kind words and gentleness - she believes in being a good neighbour and she has been a great help to one of the neighbours who is having a baby.
Daughter Rose (Sylvia Sidney) is also becoming involved with her boss (Walter Miller). He is married but wants to set her up in an apartment - he also wants her to go on the stage. Rose is attracted to Sam Kaplan (William Collier Jnr.) who yearns for a better way of life. When Frank Maurant comes home early from a sales trip and shoots his wife and her lover - the whole street is galvanized in a panic. It is an extraordinary sequence under King Vidor's masterful direction.
It is a wonderful film that doesn't feel like a play at all. There are lots of different characters - the jovial Italian, with ice creams for everyone, the worried father to be, the socialist, the young girl on a spree with her young man but holding it all together is the incredible Beulah Bondi - you cannot take your eyes from her.
Highly Recommended.
From the now familiar music of Alfred Newman, the camera pans over the New York skyline and starts to follow Beulah Bondi down the street in a typical tenement. Emma Jones (Beulah Bondi) is the street's vicious gossip and she has plenty to gossip about. She is so busy causing trouble but her own son (Matt McHugh) is a thug and a bully. Mrs Maurant (Estelle Taylor) is having an affair with a married man (Russell Hopton). The whole street seems to know except her husband (David Landau) and he certainly has his suspicions. She is just looking for kind words and gentleness - she believes in being a good neighbour and she has been a great help to one of the neighbours who is having a baby.
Daughter Rose (Sylvia Sidney) is also becoming involved with her boss (Walter Miller). He is married but wants to set her up in an apartment - he also wants her to go on the stage. Rose is attracted to Sam Kaplan (William Collier Jnr.) who yearns for a better way of life. When Frank Maurant comes home early from a sales trip and shoots his wife and her lover - the whole street is galvanized in a panic. It is an extraordinary sequence under King Vidor's masterful direction.
It is a wonderful film that doesn't feel like a play at all. There are lots of different characters - the jovial Italian, with ice creams for everyone, the worried father to be, the socialist, the young girl on a spree with her young man but holding it all together is the incredible Beulah Bondi - you cannot take your eyes from her.
Highly Recommended.