''Street Scene'' is a 1931 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

produced by

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (; born Szmuel Gelbfisz; ; July 1879 (most likely; claimed to be August 27, 1882) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer and pioneer in the American film industry, who produce ...

and directed by

King Vidor King Wallis Vidor ( ; February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, ...

. With a screenplay by

Elmer Rice Elmer Rice (born Elmer Leopold Reizenstein, September 28, 1892 – May 8, 1967) was an American playwright. He is best known for his plays '' The Adding Machine'' (1923) and his Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of New York tenement life, '' Street Sce ...

adapted from his

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning play of the same name, ''Street Scene'' takes place on a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

street from one evening until the following afternoon. Except for one scene which takes place inside a taxi, Vidor shot the entire film on a single set depicting half a city block of house fronts. The film stars Estelle Taylor, David Landau,

Sylvia Sidney Sylvia Sidney (born Sophia Kosow; August 8, 1910 – July 1, 1999) was an American stage, screen, and film actress whose career spanned 70 years. She rose to prominence in dozens of leading roles in the 1930s. She was nominated for the Academy ...

, William Collier Jr., and Beulah Bondi (her screen debut). The music score is by Alfred Newman, his first complete film score. Newman composed the eponymous title theme, in the style of

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

's '' Rhapsody in Blue''. The theme has been used in other movies, including '' Cry of the City'', '' Kiss of Death'', '' I Wake Up Screaming'', '' Where the Sidewalk Ends'', '' The Dark Corner'', '' Gentleman's Agreement'' and as the

overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") is a music instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which ...

to ''

How to Marry a Millionaire ''How to Marry a Millionaire'' is a 1953 American romantic comedy film directed by Jean Negulesco and written and produced by Nunnally Johnson. The screenplay was based on the plays ''The Greeks Had a Word for It'' (1930) by Zoe Akins and '' ...

''. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career.

Plot

On a hot summer afternoon on the front stoop of a

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

tenement building, Emma Jones gossips with other neighbors about the affair that Mrs. Anna Maurrant and the milkman Steve Sankey are having. When the rude and unfriendly Mr. Frank Maurrant arrives, they change the subject. Meanwhile, their teenage daughter Rose Maurrant is being sexually pressured by her married boss, Mr. Bert Easter. However, Rose very much likes her kind young Jewish neighbor Sam, who has a serious crush on her. The next morning, Frank Maurrant tells his wife that he is traveling to Stamford on business. Mrs. Maurrant meets the gentle Sankey in her apartment, but out of the blue Frank comes back home. He realizes his wife is upstairs with Sankey, and runs upstairs. We hear shots and see the two men struggling as Sankey tries to escape through the window. Maurrant runs out with a gun. He has killed Sankey and fatally wounded his wife. Maurrant is apprehended and is led away by police. He apologizes to his daughter Rose, who will now have to take care of herself and her young brother without either parent. Rose's boss offers once again to set her up in her own apartment, but she refuses. Then she sees Sam, and tells him she wants to leave the city. Sam pleads with her to let him go with her, but she tells him it will be better for the two of them to have a couple of years apart before they consider becoming a couple. Rose walks off down the street by herself.

Cast

The cast is listed here in the order shown in the credits: *

as Rose Maurrant * William Collier Jr. as Sam Kaplan * Estelle Taylor as Mrs. Anna Maurrant * Beulah Bondi as Emma Jones * David Landau as Frank Maurrant * Matt McHugh as Vincent Jones *

Russell Hopton Harry Russell Hopton (February 18, 1900 – April 7, 1945) was an American film actor and director. Biography Hopton was born in New York City, New York. He appeared in 110 films between 1926 and 1945, often playing streetwise characters f ...

as Steve Sankey * Greta Grandstedt as Mae Jones *Eleanor Wesselhoeft as Marguerite "Greta" Fiorentino *Allan Fox as Dick McGann * Nora Cecil as Alice Simpson (welfare worker) *Margaret Robertson in a minor role * Walter James as Marshal James Henry *Max Montor as Abe Kaplan * Walter Miller as Bert Easter (Rose's boss) *T.H. Manning as George Jones *Conway Washburne as Danny Buchanan * John M. Qualen as Karl Olsen *Ann Kostant as Shirley Kaplan *Adele Watson as Olga Olsen *Lambert Rogers as Willie Maurrant *George Humbert as Filippo Fiorentino *Helen Lovett as Laura Hildebrand *Richard Powell as Officer Harry Murphy *Jane Mercer in a minor role *Monti Carter as Monti Carter *Harry Wallace as Fred Cullen

References

External links

* * * * {{Samuel Goldwyn 1931 films 1931 drama films Films about adultery in the United States American black-and-white films American drama films American films based on plays 1930s English-language films Films about race and ethnicity Films directed by King Vidor Films scored by Alfred Newman Films set in Manhattan Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Samuel Goldwyn Productions films Films about uxoricide United Artists films 1930s American films English-language drama films