Street Scene (1931)

Director: King Vidor                                Writer: Elmer Rice
Film Score: Alfred Newman                     Cinematography: George Barnes
Starring: Sylvia Sidney, Beulah Bondi, William Collier, Jr. and Estelle Taylor

Street Scene is a fascinating film in many respects. In the first place it gives lie to the myth that when sound was introduced into films that the camera stopped moving. While the story is simply a filmed version of the Pulitzer Prize winning hit play by Elmer Rice, the film is anything but a “talkie.” With the brilliant opening theme by Alfred Newman, the picture is more like a filmed version of a Gershwin melody. King Vidor’s dolly shots, crane shots, tracking shots and interesting camera angles all help to liven up what, in lesser hands, could have been a static, talking picture.

But it’s not just tracking shots that make the picture so distinctive from much of the talking films of the period. In one shot, pitched up from street level toward the second floor window, the camera is nearly centered on Beulah Bondi’s backside as she surreptitiously grabs at her dress to pull her underwear free. It's a funny shot, but technically it almost prefigures Alfred Hitchcock’s use of angles when he filmed Dial M for Murder. Another aspect that is reminiscent of Hitchcock is the opening of the second scene, where people are seen sleeping, playing, and shaving on their fire escapes in the morning, all versions of which appear later in Rear Window. There is also the murder scene, which could have been something of a blueprint for a similar scene in 42nd Street, especially with its lengthy series of reaction shots. But the film is much more than a template for later movies.

The story is simply that of a single twenty-four our period in the life of an apartment building in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen on a hot day at the beginning of summer. Vidor’s direction is exceptional, and the way that the film was shot still looks very modern. Sylvia Sidney, in a very early role, is quite natural in what would be the beginning of a very long career as an actress. The crane shot that follows her from the elevated train after the shooting is remarkable. Silent star Estelle Taylor is equally magnificent as Sidney’s mother, and manages to be sympathetic without being cloying. The real treat here is seeing Beulah Bondi in her first screen appearance. A Hollywood veteran for years to come, she is best remembered for her dozens of roles playing a mother, most memorably in Our Town and It’s A Wonderful Life. The cast is rounded out by character actors and walk-ons including John Qualen and David Landau.

It’s hard to know exactly how to assess a film like this. It occupies an awkward space between the classic silent films of the late 1920s and the more confident sound pictures of the late 1930s. Though Rice’s original play was a huge hit at the time, most of the ideas have been absorbed into any number of films since. The same could be said of Alfred Newman’s music for the film, a Gershwinesque piece that has been used in countless other films from Kiss of Death to How To Marry a Millionaire. Still, there’s a vibrance and vitality to the film that is lacking in most talkies of the period. Though perhaps not something you’d want to own, it is available for free on the Internet Archive and well worth the viewing.