Street Scene (1931)

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

Director:

King Vidor

Writers:

Elmer Rice (play), Elmer Rice (adaptation)

Stars:

Sylvia Sidney, William Collier Jr., Estelle Taylor

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sylvia Sidney	...	Rose Maurrant
William Collier Jr.	...	Sam Kaplan
Estelle Taylor	...	Mrs. Anna Maurrant
Beulah Bondi	...	Emma Jones
David Landau	...	Mr. Frank Maurrant
Matt McHugh	...	Vincent Jones
Russell Hopton	...	Steve Sankey
Greta Granstedt	...	Mae Jones (as Greta Grandstedt)
Eleanor Wesselhoeft	...	Marguerite 'Greta' Fiorentino
Allen Fox	...	Dick McGann (as Allan Fox)
Nora Cecil	...	Alice Simpson (welfare worker)
Margaret Robertson	...	Minor Role
Walter James	...	Marshal James Henry
Max Montor	...	Abe Kaplan
Walter Miller	...	Mr. Bert Easter (Rose's boss)

Storyline

In a hot summer afternoon in New York, Emma Jones gossips with other neighbors of her residential building about the affair of Mrs. Anna Maurrant and the milkman Steve Sankey. When the rude Mr. Frank Maurrant arrives, they change the subject. Meanwhile, their teenage daughter Rose Maurrant is sexually harassed by her boss Mr. Bert Easter; however, she likes her Jewish neighbor Sam 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.

---

Plot Keywords:

neighbor | summer | tenement | milkman | melting pot | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 September 1931 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Engel der Strasse

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$584,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The, Feature Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Debut of John Qualen.

---

Quotes

Emma Jones: The trouble with a bath is by the time you're through you're just as hot!

---

Connections

Version of Street Scene (1979)

---

Soundtracks

"Prelude, Opus 28, #4"
Written by Frédéric Chopin
played as a piano/violin duet by unseen performers inside house

User Reviews

Classic Early Masterpiece of Urban Living!

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.