Street Scene
Source: Österreichisches Filmmuseum
George Humbert, Beulah Bondi (front), Matt McHugh, Eleanor Wesselhoeft
Street Scene by King Vidor
USA 1931, Retrospective
Source: Österreichisches Filmmuseum
Greta Granstedt, Allen Fox
Street Scene by King Vidor
USA 1931, Retrospective
Source: Österreichisches Filmmuseum
Ann Kostant, Max Montor, David Landau, John Qualen, Beulah Bondi, Matt McHugh, Eleanor Wesselhoeft
Street Scene by King Vidor
USA 1931, Retrospective
Source: Österreichisches Filmmuseum
King Vidor
Street Scene by King Vidor
USA 1931, Retrospective
Source: Sammlung Cinémathèque suisse. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
During a hot summer in New York, the stoop and the sidewalk in front of a tenement becomes the stage for the building’s residents. The women gather to gossip, joined by the men returning home from work. Political opinions are exchanged and anti-Semitic sentiments rise to the surface. Two couples emerge from the polyphony – Anna Maurrant is an attractive woman married to the somewhat brutish Frank, and their daughter Rose and her shy secret admirer Sam. Rose’s boss is sexually harassing her, mother Anna is sleeping with the milkman. When her husband discovers them, tragedy unfolds … The film’s set encompassed an entire street including an El station, and King Vidor used a constantly moving camera to compose a metropolitan symphony of the spoken word. The director worked with composer Alfred Newman to plan the music cues, which punctuate and enhance the dialogue. In 1953, Vidor said of the collaboration, “Because Newman spent much time on the set during the making of the film, he could intersperse the dialogue with musical phraseology that had the effect of intensifying each line. In some climaxes the music would almost echo the actor’s voice”.
With
- Sylvia Sidney
- William Collier Jr.
- Estelle Taylor
- Beulah Bondi
- David Landau
- Matt McHugh
- Russell Hopton
- Greta Granstedt
- Eleanor Wesselhoeft
- Allen Fox
- John Qualen
Crew
| Director | King Vidor |
| Screenplay | Elmer Rice |
| Story | Elmer Rice Street Scene (1929) |
| Cinematography | George Barnes |
| Editing | Hugh Bennett |
| Music | Alfred Newman |
| Sound | Charles Noyes |
| Art Director | Richard Day |
| Assistant Director | H. Bruce Humberstone |
| Producer | Samuel Goldwyn |
Produced by
Feature Productions, Inc.
Additional information
Print: 35mm preservation print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Santa Clarita, CA. Funding provided by the AFI/NEA.