La poupée brisée

I saw this film in the late '60's on our local TV station. It was not unusual to catch B movies starring our television personalities back in the day. What a film! I cried at the end. What shines through is the portrayal of the class levels within American society then. Lucille Ball's dame certainly internalized the idea that she was above the class of Henry Fonda's Pinky even while she subsisted on the food he brought home for her after she was no longer a gangster's moll. Henry Fonda's Pinky was a true codependent, picking her up from the floor, keeping her alive, even moving her from cold, icy New York City to the east coast Eden of Miami (shades of Midnight Cowboy!)with nary a thank you from this ungrateful woman. Through a plot device, Pinky and the busboys don tuxedos at the end so she condescends to be carried up the stairs by one of their own, enabling her self deceit that she is an upper class lady. Someone wrote it was too much of a downer to have been successful when released and couldn't be made today as the bit players do not exist to round out the cast. Rise above the limitations of both eras and enjoy this film.

Years before Damon Runyon got Broadway and screen immortality with Guys and Dolls, one of his short stories was adapted for the silver screen concerning the unrequited love of a bus boy for a Broadway entertainer. That story was The Big Street and the title is named for the street that Runyon chronicled, Broadway.

Though The Big Street got good reviews for its stars Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, the subject matter was way too much of a downer for mass audience appeal. The plot as it is tells the story of Little Pinks who is madly in love with this nightclub entertainer who being the mistress of gangster Barton MacLane, can't see him for beans and wouldn't look up from the table to try.

That all changes when MacLane slaps her so hard she falls down a flight of stairs and becomes paralyzed. All abandon her then and in truth she didn't exactly near and endear herself to too many. That is except for Fonda and the Broadway characters he lines up to give her a helping hand.

A movie like The Big Street could not be made today because we don't have the rich assortment of character players to entertain us. The people Damon Runyon created were made for such performers as Sam Levene, Ray Collins, Millard Mitchell, etc. And of course the two best performers who steal the film from the leads when they're on are Agnes Moorehead and Eugene Palette. Moorehead didn't do too much comedy and her gift for it would not be tapped again until she was Endora in Bewitched.

Lady for a Day and Guys and Dolls enjoyed much greater success because they were done in a comic vein. My guess is that is what people expect when they see Damon Runyon on a theater program credit.

Still The Big Street is nicely-nicely done as Eugene Palette and Stubby Kaye would say.

For fans of Lucy, Ball's role here takes real getting used to. "Her Highness" character is shrewish and generally not very likable. Ball does, however, get to show some very real chops outside her usual comedic range. As a result, I've got a new appreciation of her as an actress as well as a comedienne.

The movie itself is undermined by a weak central focus. Neither Ball's Her Highness nor Fonda's servile bus boy is easy to identify with. Thus, it's hard to sympathize with the overbearing HH even after she's crippled. Nor is Little Pink's (Fonda) utterly selfless devotion understandable given the imperious way she treats him. As a result, the movie's core flounders. A charitable view might take the movie as a fairy tale where the unlikely bus boy, a prince in his sudden formal wear, rescues the crippled princess if only for a moment.

Of course, being a Damon Runyon creation, there's the usual number of street-smart Broadway mugs. So the margins shine with such colorful types as Palette, Levene, Collins, et al. Also, catch dragon lady Agnes Moorehead in a rare sympathetic role (Shumberg); plus premier eccentric Hans Conreid as the grumpy headwaiter. And for folks interested in 50's TV, there's Wm. T. Orr as handsome socialite Decatur Reed. This is the same Orr who produced many of the popular hour-long TV shows of the late 50's, such as Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, Lawman, et al. I've seen his name for years, never thinking he might show up on screen.

All in all, the only reason to catch this 80-minute pastiche is for Lucy's surprising performance and the colorful peripheral characters. Otherwise, it's pretty forgettable, especially for fans of Fonda.

Damon Runyon's short story "Little Pinks" is turned by RKO into a solid acting showcase for Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, also utilizing a troupe of colorful supporting players to their best advantage. Supper-club singer in New York City is crippled in a fall--and promptly loses her free ticket into high society. The only person who still cares for her is a smitten, well-meaning busboy; he hitchhikes all the way to Miami with the wheelchair-bound chanteuse, where they cross paths again with the well-heeled gangster who caused her unfortunate accident. The melodrama inherent in the main plot is suffused (and some may say strengthened) by the comedic overtures of the character turns, most especially by Eugene Palette and Agnes Moorehead as a couple who love to eat and argue. Ball, floundering at RKO in 1942, was quickly snapped up by MGM after this performance, and its clear why: her narcissistic songbird is self-centered and often ridiculously delusional, but your heart goes out to her anyhow. *** from ****

Anyone who has the slightest desire to learn more about the incredible talent of Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda owes it to themselves to see this marvelous movie. Over the years, these two stars built up such powerful images of themselves as star characters, and most of the public came to know them as a result of the cumulative impressions which they made on our individual consciousness. Your strong impression of Lucille Ball is as a comedian, correct? You seldom if ever think of her as a dramatic actress. Can you imagine Lucille Ball playing a role of a vain self-centered and arrogant harridan who seems to live for the sole purpose of tormenting the lowly busboy who is her one true friend in all the world? Few people can imagine Lucy in such a role, but if you watch this movie, you will see it happen. It is also totally believable because, even though Lucy worked primarily as a comedian, she was a great dramatic actress when she chose to accept a role of that type. As for Henry Fonda, who could even conceive of casting this great actor as a busboy? It was early in his career and he is playing a role of the type that he would never have to play again, but he pulls it off. You wonder at times why he is taking so much abuse from this woman. But the answer is incredibly simple. He deeply loves the woman, and his love comes shining through. If you want to see two great stars at work in the early days of their careers, check out this movie.