Vanity Street

This zippy little pre-code from Columbia is stark and primitive in many ways, but offers many pre-code pleasures; gruff cop Charles Bickford lives a lonely, spartan life and when he comes across a starving young woman in trouble offers her a chocolate milkshake (with two eggs!) and a place to sleep--the young woman, played sympathetically by winsome Helen Chandler, ultimately manages to find her way into a current Follies show, and has the opportunity to move up the dating ladder--but still yearns for the good natured police Daddy who fails to see what she has to offer. Meanwhile, various salacious relationships are hinted at, one a gigolo blackmail of an older woman, and another involving blonde sexpot Mayo Methot (later half of the "battling Bogarts"), who plays a hard-boiled fallen star form the Follies ( who dominates every scene she' s in by sheer force of will--this dame spells trouble with a capital "T"! ) Not really too much mystery here, but a fast-paced pre-code available in crisp new transfer and an entertaining way to spend a nostalgic afternoon at the movies