Review of City Streets (1931) by Bernard A — 18 Feb 2011

When you think of 30's gangster films and the actors who starred in them...Gary Cooper would probably be the last actor you would think of. With his hayseed screen persona and slow delivery, Coop just doesn't lend himself to one's idea of the tough gangster. Cooper may have been too handsome for his own good because I just do not see the evilness that one can perceive, say behind James Cagney's snarling mug in THE PUBLIC ENEMY or Edward G. Robinson's scowl in LITTLE CAESAR. Cooper too fails miserably at the punch - here giving an awkward looking roundhouse swing (akin to a baseball pitch - with the requisite leg-lift, for goodness sakes) that you would never catch former boxer Cagney doing.

But all kidding aside, the young Gary Cooper is adequate in CITY STREETS, a story penned by Dashiell Hammett - which works more as a kind of "morality tale". I don't think Cooper's character was meant to be a gangster anyway. Cooper here plays "The Kid" - the cash-strapped boyfriend to Nan (Sylvia Sidney). Nan was raised by her step-father, "Pop" Cooley (Guy Kibbee), a seemingly jovial underling to succesful beer racketeer "Big Fellow" Mascal (Paul Lukas). Nan is conditioned to the ways of a racketeer by her step-dad, who would go so far as to reward her for keeping secrets - something which will come in handy when "Pop" later becomes prime suspect in a shooting.

"The Kid" is employed at the local carnival shooting gallery, but is himself very proficient with the pistols - and pleased to show off his marksmanship to potential customers - a talent not lost on Nan. She tries to persuade "The Kid" to quit the carnival and join up with her "Pop"... but "The Kid" wants no part of the dark side. He is proud of making an honest living:

Nan: "We can't even afford to get married.".

The Kid: "If you love me, you'd marry me anyway.".

Nan, disappointed: "Yeah...and live in a tent.".

The Kid: "Why not?!?".

Nan: "I don't like tents...".

The Kid: "It isn't the tents. It's me...".

* MILD SPOILERS TO FOLLOW *.

The above romantic scene was nicely shot at a moonlit beach by cinematographer Lee Garmes who takes full advantage of the use of light and shadows in this film...but, I think this is merely a warm-up for Garmes, who would use the same techniques to much better results in SCARFACE (1932). Director Rouben Mamoulian eschews the showing of graphic violence here - opting instead for off-camera killings...something that may disappoint some viewers - especially the climactic scenes, which comes off as possibly too non-confrontational for modern audience (referred to as hokey, or out-dated by some reviewers I've read). But I think it's very well in keeping with Dashiell Hammett's story of a couple trying to break free of the circle of violence created by the racketeers in this story. I too laughed at first, but "old fashioned" as it may seem - "The Kid" being able to disarm his adversaries without the use of violence is actually refreshing, now that I think about it...and plays very well with the morality of the story...and shows us that the ends doesn't necessarily have to justify the use of the "means" (if ya get what I mean...heh heh) and thus Mamoulian shows us the soaring birds to symbolize true freedom. Hmmmm...there are actually other "bird" references sprinkled throughout this film but I'll let you discover them for yourself.

Of special note and interest to trivia buffs is the use of voice-over narration in this film. Filmmakers were still experimenting with sound at the time and Rouben Mamoulian and actress Sylvia Sidney would be credited with the first use of this story-telling technique here...

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