Side Street

Despite the negativity of other reviews, I enjoyed everything in this movie except the disgusting old reprobate drunks. I give all movies from 1929 a break because of the intense pressure that all of the participants were under. This was a difficult time for many reasons but they did the best they could and I do not mind extraneous sounds and not so hidden microphones. Acting styles were in a state of transition and just getting any sound at all on film was an amazing feat. A wonderful treat to see all three Moore brothers together and of course George Raft was a fine hoofer. Wish I could have been there to see this in that wonderful year!

Though released at a time when all-talking pictures were the norm (Sept 1929), the recording and static camera technique mar an otherwise fascinating glimpse of the Moore brothers together.

Tom, Matt and Owen Moore play the three sons of Mr. and Mrs. O'Farrell, an oh-so-Irish couple living modestly in Manhattan. The O'Farrells express pride in their apparently successful sons as they prepare for a family get-together. This opening reel is an unmoving camera shot with ma and pa discussing each child and is rough going as Frank Sheridan (pa) and Emma Dunn (ma) speak with such thick brogue that the dialog is difficult to follow. This left my eyes wandering to the chandelier and the big black microphone clearly visible there. Placed far above the actors, the echoes it captured render many lines unintelligible.

As the sons arrive, the film's pace picks up. Jimmy (Tom Moore) is a uniformed cop, fresh to the force and following his father's policeman footsteps. John (Matt Moore) appears as ambulance surgeon, humble and soft-spoken. Last to show is the slick Dennis (Owen Moore), unknown to all as living a secret life as Mueller, the town's biggest gangster. The family scenes are good, and the picture improves consistently from this point on. I won't spoil a familiar plot, but Jimmy the cop makes detective and is assigned to investigate (brother) Mueller's gang. The Moore brother scenes are naturalistic and satisfying.

But, as the camera set-ups increase, so do the sound goofs. During one scene, you will hear things being moved around off-camera. Another unbilled performer is one of those big exhaust fans so prevalent before air conditioning. Clearly heard above the dialog, and with two scenes, it should have received a screen credit!

This is, however, the only chance to see Tom, Matt and Owen together on-screen, and that is worth the film's cinematic shortcomings. Tom and Matt would appear together in 1930's Costello Case and Woman Racket, but they would all fade into obscurity as the sound era took hold and brought fresh faces from Eastern theater stages. Tom, who would live until 1955, disappeared from the screen by 1938, and his talkie zenith is 1934's Return Of Chandu. Matt starred in 1933's Deluge, but would be more accessible in Rain (1932) as Dr. MacPhail. He ecked out a living in film as an uncredited character actor until his death in 1960. Most famous of the three was the hard-drinking Owen Moore. Owen married Mary Pickford secretly in 1911, their stormy marriage ending in 1920. Owen was slim, dark and didn't look like his other brothers. His casting as the gangster here is perfect, and his performance is very good. Owen is terrific in 1930's Outside The Law as Fingers O'Dell. It's a shame his life and career were cut short by drinking, he died in 1939.

Ironically, Owen's gangster-partner Silk Ruffo is played by Arthur Housman who made his career playing inebriated characters. And here his role is stone cold sober.

Enjoy this early talker from RKO which survives only in its 16mm TV distribution print.

SIDE STREET (RKO Radio, 1929), written and directed by Malcolm St. Clair, is an early talkie starring natural Irish brothers playing fictional Irish siblings. Starring the Moore Brothers (not the Marx Brothers) featuring Tom, Owen and Matt, it's a dramatic story filmed like a stage play set in apartments with limited intercut street scenes and no underscoring, not even during the opening and closing credits. In spite of these handicaps for anyone accustomed for more improved methods found through the development in latter sound movies, SIDE STREET is something to consider for what it has to offer: all dialogue, a dancing sequence performed by the uncredited future star actor by the name of George Raft.

Set in New York City, the plot development begins in the apartment of the O'Farrell family: Mr. O'Farrell (Frank Sheridan), retired police officer with wife, Nora (Emma Dunn), devoted mother of three grown sons: Jimmy (Tom Moore), a policeman; John (Matt Moore), educated in medical school with the help of his older brother, Dennis (Owen Moore), a piano player and businessman by profession. With Jimmy discussing with his father about gangland killings headed by mobster Barney Muller, a shooting occurs during their dinner gathering outside their building. Jim Burke, a friend of the family is identified and believed to be the murder victim by the Muller mob. Engaged to Kathleen Doyle (Kathryn Perry), Jimmy finally gets his promotion to plainclothesman detective with his first assignment being the investigation on the Muller case. As Kathleen returns home with her friend Bunny (Mildred Harris), they are invited by Max Kimball (Charles Byer) to attend a Park Avenue cocktail party. While here, Kathleen not only meets up with the notorious Barney Muller, so does John arriving on ambulance duty to take in Pinky (Dan Wolheim), an injured guest with skull fracture to the hospital. For reasons of their own, both decide to keep Muller's identity a secret from Jimmy.

Other members in the cast include Arthur Housman, Walter McNamara, Al Hill, Heinie Conklin and Raymond Turner. Aside from the story coming to life with the presence of then unknown George Raft (as Georgie Ames), there's nice vocalization by June Clyde (as Judy) with chorus girls dancing to "Take a Look at Her Now." Aside from George Raft's solo dancing in the best George Raft style, he does have some spoken dialogue in the story as well set during the cocktail party sequence. How fortunate SIDE STREET has survived intact all these years or else it would have never been known that George Raft ever appeared in this virtually unknown production.

With the careers of the three Moore brothers dating back to the earliest days of the silent era, their transition to talkies were well established, but by 1929 they were no longer popular individual leading men as they were back decades ago.

Probably due to primitive production style of spoken dialogue echoes and lack of marquee names by today's standards have limited SIDE STREET from ever being televised. Regardless of its age, SIDE STREET does have some interesting touches found in early talkies, namely an individual scene where two brothers are conversing while the other is on telephone in the background, hearing all three voices talking over one another, making it evident that talkies are here to stay.

Never distributed on video cassette nor DVD format, SIDE STREET did have some limited cable television broadcasts over the years: American Movie Classics (1988-1991) and Turner Classic Movies. Story material might have proved beneficial had SIDE STREET been remade as a second feature in the late thirties possibly casting Preston Foster in the lead, with better film-making technology and pacing that would have improved over its original. As it stands now, this is the one and only. (**1/2)

This is one of RKO's first films. It's also the only pairing of all three Moore brothers. It also features nightclub dancer George Raft in one of his first attempts to break into films (after this he didn't appear again until 1931 when he was "discovered.") Sadly, this film is all curiosity value and nothing else. The Moore brothers are mostly terrible (Owen, playing the gangster, being the only one with any talent for handling dialogue). Raft is actually better and livelier than the Moore boys even though his part is slim. There is also no music score whatsoever, outside of the nightclub sequence with Raft, thus what little dramatic force the film has is left dry by the silent soundtrack. The story is the typical brothers-gone-separate-ways stuff (one is a cop involved in murder case that leads to other brother who is gangster) with the only difference being that there is a third brother (a doctor) in the middle. But the Doctor's part isn't very interesting, so it doesn't distract from the clichés, unfortunately. Sound killed the Moore brothers' careers and this film easily shows us why.

Three sons of Irish immigrants live and work in New Your City. They are blond doctor Matt Moore (as John O'Farrell), jovial policeman Tom Moore (as Jimmy O'Farrell) and mysteriously well-dressed Owen Moore (as Denny O'Farrell). The trio gather for dinner with their parents. Nobody suspects gift-bearing brother Owen is wealthy due to engaging in criminal activities. They think he's just a businessman who travels. Owen's real-life wife Kathryn Perry (as Ton's fiancée) and her brother-in-law John have eye-opening moments. You won't have trouble figuring out what happens between Owen and his brothers...

Written and directed by Malcolm St. Clair, this was his first real "all-talking" picture and the veteran filmmaker is clearly restricted by the microphone...

The main attraction, at the time, was seeing the three Moore brothers perform in a sound film, together. However, by 1929, this couldn't have been much of a lure. Their great appeal isn't exactly clear in "Side Street", so looking back is recommended. The brothers were present early on, and became much bigger stars when Owen was discovered to have married Mary Pickford. She was the gold standard. The more recent generations of film-goers will enjoy watching George Raft in a small, but very impressive role. A future "gangster" genre film star, Mr. Raft was quite a dancer; he and June Clyde make good impressions.

**** Side Street (9/8/29) Malcolm St. Clair ~ Owen Moore, Tom Moore, Matt Moore, Katherine Perry