Street Scene (1931)
Sponsored by First American Title & Rio Seco Winery

Hollywood and Vines Event
Tuesday, March 11 Palm Theatre
Pre-Screening Reception: 6:00-7:15 pm at SLOIFF Headquarters, 861 Palm St.
Screening: 7:30 pm at the Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St.

Meet John Adams, King Vidor's grandson who will introduce the film.

Street Scene, another critical milestone for Vidor, is a pictorial conception of Elmer Rice’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, whose entire story takes place on the street in front of a foreboding old New York brownstone during the Depression, between one evening and the following afternoon.

The individual fates of eight neighboring Manhattan families intertwine during this brief period, with special emphasis given to the Maurrant family — the philandering mother (Estelle Taylor), the drink-sodden husband (David Landau) and long-suffering daughter, Rose (Sylvia Sidney). Realizing that it would be a mistake to tamper with the simple form and mood of the original play by transposing any of the action or scenes to the interior of the house or other settings, Vidor created action and movement in his scenes by instead moving the camera.

He explained, “if the setting couldn’t change, the camera could…down, up, across, from high, from low, …the street, the sidewalk, the façade of the building would be our arena in which all the drama could happen.” Because of Vidor’s innovative style of filming, using multiple camera angles and crane shots, the picture was considered quite contemporary for its time. Drama. USA. 1 hr. 19 m.

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