Anjo de New York

As other reviewers stated, this Columbia pre-code has some of Preston Sturges characteristic touches. But I especially enjoyed the dance hall matron and mentor "Aunt" Minnie, who is a salty, bawdy Jewish tough girl who curses in Yiddish,"mamzer"- bastard and steals every scene. The movie has its dull spots due probably to the unheralded director. It also suffers from Columbia's cheap budget. Although it does give us little luxe in one of the funniest scenes in an expensive dress shop . The owner/salesman makes no secret of his gay orientation as he says as he squeezes Nancy Carrols body,"Don't think of me as a man, think of me as an artiste!"

Nancy figures it out and minces, "Okay Dear!"

Nancy Carrol is pretty good in the leading role but the male actors are dull as dishwater. There are some interesting sociological/historical bits worth noting. A lot is made of Nancy's low class Brooklyn accent(she says apperntment and Greenpernt instead of appointment and Greenpoint). Archie Bunker spoke similarly. That pronunciation has practically vanished from New York of today. New Yorkers still have distinctive accents but some of the distinctions have disappeared over the years.

Also worth noting is the sexual attitudes. Nancy works in a dance hall but it is made clear that she is not a prostitute and she is told by her mother to try to refuse money if it offered to her. Her lazy brother calls her a tramp as soon as she moves in with her lover, without being married and she is soon punished with a dead baby for her sins. The sexual revolution of the 1960's changed attitudes and behaviors. But this movie is worth seeing for 1930's peak into the sexual attitudes of the day.

"Child of Manhattan" (1933) stars Nancy Carroll who is in nearly every scene of the film. Her co-star is John Boles, and then there is a lesser co-star who, believe it or not, is Charles "Buck" Jones - yes, the Western "B" movie star. Of course his Westerns are basically "A" films in the early years of his prominence at Columbia, but they're made for the audience that preferred the oaters to the "womens'" pictures or romantic "mush". "Child of Manhattan" is drama, romance, melodrama, social register, social commentary on mores, etc. It's 70 minutes of stirring the stew in the pot, and it certainly isn't any great shakes, but it's a fun watch. The ending is too sudden, even though we can figure it will end that way. By the way, no way it would end this way; okay, maybe one in twenty-five...maybe. Carroll is a dancer in a dime-a-dance joint, a business in a building owned by Boles' family. He's unaware it's even there, or his, but he goes to see it. His mother thinks it's disreputable. Boles and Carroll find each other. In the past, Western-type Jones had fallen for Carroll and even asked her to marry him. She's so far refused. Suddenly she finds herself pregnant with Boles' and her baby. She marries Boles. But she doesn't want to strap her husband into what she assumes is an unwanted marriage. SO - - - she goes to Mexico to get a divorce. Enter Luis Alberni as a lawyer. He's the very, very light-weight comedy, too. I won't divulge what happens from here on out. You can surely figure it out in your head. Just look at the cast...

Decent little meller, without much meller. Much more romance. There's the large dollop of social commentary. Even some Depression material (very little!). I liked it enough to give it a 6 out of 10 score on the movie love/hate gradation scale. Carroll herself is very good in this. Boles does things by rote. Buck Jones is Buck Jones is Buck Jones. I enjoyed watching him do something like this. It's the kind of part that just a year later (and even a couple of years earlier) would have been played by Ralph Bellamy. There, now I've given away a lot of what I didn't say before. Along for the ride in this are Jessie Ralph, Clara Blandick, Jane Darwell, Warburton Gamble, and even, if you look hard enough, Betty Grable. Nat Pendleton and Matthew Betz are prominent in one or two little scenes, too.

Don't let the wedlock baby fool you. This is a version of the fairy-tale Cinderella story popular with Depression era audiences of the time. It comforts folks with the idea that rags- to-riches lightning may strike them if they just get noticed by a benevolent rich person, in this case John Boles with the rather double-edge name of "Vanderkill". What's suggested is that rescue from desperate economic conditions lies with joining established wealth instead of joining with other desperate folks to improve the common economic condition. I don't know how the screenplay compares with Sturges' stage play, but what's there on the screen looks processed in typical Hollywood fashion.

I realize this kind of perspective is unwelcome to most viewers who simply want to be entertained in engaging fashion. Certainly Nancy Caroll does that with a winning performance as the down-trodden girl. Her sheer spunk in the early scenes carries the movie, at the same time I couldn't help thinking how much her big eyes, high cheek bones and flattened hair-do resemble the popular Betty Boop character of the time. Too bad the rest of the cast doesn't come up to her level, especially Buck Jones' Panama Kelly whose unbelievably gallant nature helps produce the fairy tale outcome. Note also, how actual Depression era conditions are not allowed to intrude on the enclosed world of the lovers. To be fair, that may simply have resulted from a tight budget. But if so, the constraints help produce what appears to be the desired overall effect.

Whatever the movie's internal qualities, the relevance of the underlying message to that historical period needs to be pointed out. Because no matter how much we may wish otherwise, history has a nasty habit of repeating itself.

Enjoyed this story of a girl named Madeleine McGonegal, played by Nancy Carroll, who was a girl who worked in a dance hall where the purchase of a ticket allowed you to dance with a girl of your choosing. This dance hall is owned by a very wealthy man named Paul Vanderkill, (John Boles) who once a week visits his establishment to see that things are running according to his rules of conduct. Boles meets up with a dance hall girl named Madeleine McGonegal and is interested in her down to earth personality and her being so outspoken and honest about herself. Madeleine does not realize John Boles is her big boss and that he is very wealthy and gets worried when he starts buying all kinds of expensive gifts. As the story progresses, Madeleine expects a baby and that is when the entire story changes and the drama begins and takes a new change in their marriage. Great acting by Nancy Carroll and John Boles and you will see Betty Grable, (Lucy) giving a great supporting role. Enjoy

I saw this movie this morning by accident. I love 30s movies for the clothes, the beauty of which hit me during the "first" mini era. I was a teenager and I had never seen such gorgeous clothes.

The movie is predictable, but Nancy Carroll is adorable and I can see what her appeal was. With that pretty face and hair, she would have absolutely no chance of getting any job as an actress today, in this world of gaunt, giraffe-like women-men. Too bad we don't have any visual differences among the "leading actresses of today", all those interchangeable bland flat-haired blondes.

Those clothes are wonderful. Too bad we'll never see their like again -- after all, how can anyone be attractive wearing anything other a mini or jeans?

Hey, wasn't Buck Jones handsome! I won't contrast him with our "leading men" today. I leave that up to you.