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.
Review of Street Scene
