City Streets

1931

Action / Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Romance

8
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 85% · 5 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 85% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.0/10 10 2075 2.1K

bootlegger gangster pre-code

Plot summary

A mobster's daughter leads her boyfriend from the circus into bootlegging.

Director

Rouben Mamoulian Photo
Rouben Mamoulian

Top cast

Betty Sinclair Photo
Betty Sinclair as Pansy
Willard Robertson Photo
Willard Robertson as Detective
Paulette Goddard Photo
Paulette Goddard as Nightclub Patron
Bill Elliott Photo
Bill Elliott as Nightclub Patron
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
758.83 MB
988*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 23 min
Seeds ...
1.38 GB
1472*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 23 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by AlsExGal 7 / 10

Gary Cooper with a gat? Smile when you say that!

This is an odd film for several reasons. For one it is a gangster film made at Paramount, home of the sophisticated continental comedies and dramas. Also, you have Gary Cooper in a modern dress role but with that Montana twang on full display.Gary Cooper plays "The Kid", a sharp shooter at a circus. His best girl is Nan Cooley (Sylvia Sydney). I can't say why they are going together, because Nan seems to dislike all of "The Kid's" outlooks and plans for the future. Nan's dad is a gangster played by an oddly cast Guy Kibbee (Pop), who is usually associated with being the comic relief over at Warner Brothers.Nan helps "Pop" out whenever he wants to get rid of a getaway car or dispose of a weapon, but then one night her ruse doesn't work and she winds up being sent up the river for possession of a gun used in a murder done by dear old dad. And apparently "pop" only makes weak attempts to get her out of jail, although while she is inside he does use the opportunity to recruit the kid into the beer racket because of his handiness with a weapon.Nan gets out and for some reason now sees The Kid as irresistible - a real about face in her attitude with no reason given. However she is very upset that dear old dad has her beau in with the rackets. Oh, and "The Big Fellow" (Paul Lukas), apparent head of the rackets, wants to throw over his current long time girlfriend and replace her with Nan, regardless of what Nan and the Kid think about it. Complications ensue.The story is really conventional gangster lore - nothing to write home about. What makes it interesting is Mamoulian's direction and shots. He likes to linger on faces or even a stuffed bird. He's not really an "action packed" kind of director. There is great atmosphere with the prohibition era night spots taken over by the rowdy gangsters and shadows on the dark streets.What makes it fun are some of the inconsistencies. The urban shots are done so that you feel like you are in a big city of the Northeast US. People in coats, talk of the cold, etc. But then the final chase scene comes and you see palm trees, canyons - it is obvious you are in southern California. And what is Cooper's character's real name? Everybody just calls him "Kid". That is who he is billed as.I'd say watch it and just have fun with it. It certainly is different from a Warner Brothers gangster picture of the same era.
Reviewed by samhill5215 8 / 10

Strangely effective

The first thing that stuck me as I was watching this gem was the lack of a sound track. Other than the club scene where a band is jamming there is no music at all. The introduction of sound in film was so recent that technique hadn't been fully developed yet. But the strange thing is that the dialog was enough to fill that void. It actually didn't even appear as a shortcoming. And another strange thing: the bad guys were played by actors who always play honorable characters, Paul Lukas and Guy Kibbee, and boy are they despicable. Very good at it too, especially Kibbee. I never thought of that jovial, ebullient character actor as able to bring it off but he does, and well. As for Lukas he is evil incarnate. There's plenty of other reasons to watch this one. The story is gripping. The camera work was way ahead of its time. Character development is superior. And I could go on and on. If there was ever a film deserving to be digitized this one is it.
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