The House on 56th Street (1933)

Director:

Robert Florey

Writers:

Joseph Santley (story)
Austin Parker (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 December 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

This movie opens in 1905, when showgirl and daughter of a deceased gambler Peggy Martin falls in love...

Plot Keywords:

Gambling | Politician | Mistress | WWI | Manslaughter

Cast

Kay Francis	...	Peggy Martin Van Tyle / Peggy Stone
Ricardo Cortez	...	Bill Blaine
Gene Raymond	...	Monte Van Tyle (misspelled Monty Van Tyle in opening credits)
John Halliday	...	Lyndon Fiske
Margaret Lindsay	...	Eleanor Van Tyle Burgess
Frank McHugh	...	Chester Hunt
William 'Stage' Boyd	...	Mr. Bonelli (as William Boyd)
Hardie Albright	...	Henry Burgess
Sheila Terry	...	Dolly, a Sextet Girl
Phillip Reed	...	Freddy
Philip Faversham	...	Gordon
Walter Walker	...	Dr. Wyman
Nella Walker	...	Eleanor Van Tyle
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Curtis (scenes deleted)
Theodore Newton	...	Freddie (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1934) | Finland:K-16 (1939) | USA:Approved (PCA #2643-R, 3 September 1936 for re-release)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Return of Carol Deane (1938)

Soundtrack:

Fascination

Dated, But Decent Melodramatic Soap Opera

The House On 56th Street is a Stella Dallas like melodramatic soap opera that Kay Francis did for Warner Brothers before Bette Davis made a specialty of them for that studio. This pre-Code film is laced with irony for Kay.

Kay's a Floradora girl from the Ragtime Era who has all the men chasing her in 1905. She's the kept woman of ragtime rake John Halliday, but young Gene Raymond sweeps her off her feet and they marry and have a daughter. He takes her back to the family digs on East 56th Street in New York City and fancy digs they are.

Halliday gets some bad news from his doctor that he's only got months to live and he wants to live them with Francis, whatever the scandal. Francis tries to prevent him from committing suicide, but when Halliday does in the struggle for the pistol, she goes up for manslaughter and gets 20 years.

Fast forward to the Roaring Twenties and Kay's now free and living anonymously and making a living as a gambling lady with Ricardo Cortez and William 'Stage' Boyd. She gets an opportunity however to impart one really big favor on grownup daughter Margaret Lindsay and it's a beaut.

Although Bette Davis would later do these kind of parts, I mention Stella Dallas because The House On 56th Street also involves a mother separating herself from her daughter for her own good. Francis's role which she does a fine job with seems to fit Barbara Stanwyck even better.

Favorite scene here is the gambling scene on board a ship where Francis takes Cortez to the cleaners even though he's cheating. It reminded me a lot of the climax in Rounders with Matt Damon and John Malkovich.

Though The House On 56th Street is dated, it's still an effective film. Note the sense of irony in Francis's final line in the film.