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.

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Plot Keywords:

neighbor | summer | tenement | milkman | melting pot | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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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

Film debut of Beulah Bondi.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Version of Street Scene (1979)

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Soundtracks

"Frühlingslied (Spring Song), Op. 62, No. 6"
(1842) (uncredited)
Written by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Hummed by Estelle Taylor

User Reviews

A wonderful antique

It shows its age, and that's part of its charm. It's filled with old-fashioned ethnic stereotypes, but that makes it even more fascinating. This movie is a time machine; hop into it and you'll see a gritty and realistic picture of working-class New York City life in the early 1930s. It's pre-Code, so the language is blunt and the sexuality more open. The plot isn't Shakespeare, but it grabs onto you anyway, and the characters are so attractive and watchable that you become part of their neighborhood. A piece of cinematic and social history that is well worth your 80 minutes of time.