(King Vidor, US 1931, 80 min., 35mm)
Upon its release, Street Scene was criticized for its realism, with one reviewer noting that “It’s too fiercely true to life — the sort of life that’s found in the tenements”. Indeed, Street Scene captures the unbiased reality of the intersections of those skirting poverty in Great Depression-era New York City, in the particularly raw way that only pre-codes were able to achieve. Vidor’s candid portrayal of tenement inhabitants entrenched in the heat and harshness of its time is based on a controversial play by Elmer Rice. The film chronicles a full day on a stoop in Hell’s Kitchen, where neighborhood faces and chatter abound. Among them is Rose Maurrant (Sylvia Sidney), who is under pressure to marry her boss, when her affections lie with her young and kind neighbor, Sam (William Collier Jr.). Simultaneously, her parents face their own marital problems, and as the day unfolds against the gritty city setting, the lives of the Maurrant family unravel as well.
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