City Streets (1931)

Powerful

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This film was slower and calmer than I expected from a gangster flick, especially one that was pre-Code, but it was very good nonetheless. The importance and pull of this film comes from the cinematography techniques and allusions. I found myself noticing creative usage of angles, one that especially comes to mind is when you see characters talking to someone out of the shot (which I had not seen in a movie from this era before). Scenes faded and transitioned well, not jarringly, which other films from this time have a tendency have a tendency to do. And using inner monologue to display what someone is thinking, so innovative! Overall, a fine movie with innovative techniques used.

Every time I think I've seen my favorite of Gary Coopers' performances, I find yet another movie where he plays a stand-out character. City Streets is no exception. Maybe the earliest of his films I've seen thus far; there's a cockiness and confidence in his performance that is a bit grittier than one might expect coming from watching a handful of his newer movies. Examples that come to mind are "Meet John Doe," and "Great Balls of Fire," which both came out in 1941 (10 years after City Streets,). The confidence he carries in his role as "The Kid," is louder and more apparent than in these later films. But both the more quiet sense of assurance and the louder work as they need to in the roles he's given. The actress who plays his love interest, Sylvia Sidney or "Nan," also gives a very strong performance as a young woman who must save face and have nerves of steel to deal with the Gangster world she's been dragged into. Even in her few moments of weakness, she makes an effort to change the situation around her for the better. Every actor in this movie is so immersed in the reality of what they could lose (save for "Blackie" and "Pop", who aren't shaken my much of anything,) that you can immediately feel the weight of the world that these characters are tangled in together. Highly recommended!

This was an extremely stylish film. The cinematography, while a bit amateurish and constrained by today's standards, does a good job of establishing a dreary yet slick feeling. Gary Cooper is very captivating as "The Kid," and the rest of the cast does an admirable job as well. I would say that some of the outdoor scenes weren't very well lit, which did detract from my enjoyment somewhat as I think it wasn't a style choice so much as poor shot composition. At other times, especially indoors or in nighttime scenes, the lighting is much better. Another complaint I have was that the ending was a bit abrupt and bland. Other than that, I enjoyed watching it.

City Streets is a wonderful film, beautiful to watch and surprisingly "modern" for a film of its era.It's a film that transcends its genre: I pretty much never watch gangster movies as I dislike the theme/violence, but this was very enjoyable. I watched it twice, back to back, as I liked it so much. What particularly struck me was the prominence of female roles: as well as the luminous Sylvia Sidney, the other female supporting actresses also get good screen time and lines. Unlike modern gangster movies where protagonists tend to be all male with a token female, this is very much the story of Nan, more so than the Kid. Watching it I was struck how gendered many movies are these days in terms of being solely targeted to women or men. City Streets, like many other early films, has more universal appeal.Some reviewers have mentioned the film being dark (in tone/colour). I watched it online and didn't find this a problem.I would highly recommend this to others who aren't major movie buffs but are interested in vintage cinema. It's very accessible and enjoyable in its own right as a movie: not just as an old-fashioned curiosity.