Review #1,389: 'Street Angel' (1928)

By the late 20s, director Frank Borzage was really starting to find his rhythm. He was always prolific and his films were largely successful, but his unique brand of romanticism was starting to take inspiration from German Expression and, in particular, the work of F.W. Murnau. The late 20s saw him direct 7th Heaven, Street Angel and Lucky Star - all huge successes, and all starring the glamorous pair of actors Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. These movies helped establish Borzage as a champion of the lower classes, where he would find "human souls made great by love and adversity." Street Angel was of his finest and most unjustly forgotten pictures, and while it boasts a Naples setting described as "laughter-loving, careless, sordid," Borzage is keen to highlight how a decent and honest person can be left humiliated and shunned by society for a moment of sheer desperation born out of poverty.

The film introduces our heroine Angela (Ganyor) as she is receiving some devastating news from the local doctor: her desperately sick mother will die without urgent medical treatment, only Angela is so poor that she can't afford the medicine required to make her mother better. With seemingly no other option, Angela takes to the streets to solicit men, and when that doesn't work, she looks to thievery. She is caught red-handed, and is charged not only for attempted theft, but also for prostitution, becoming the 'street angel' of the title. The court sentences her to a year of hard labour, but knowing her mother is alone and dying, Angel manages to escape custody. On her return home, she finds her mother already dead, draping her lifeless arms around her in a desperate plea for affection. With the police now hunting her, Angela joins up with a travelling circus, who welcome the beautiful lady with open arms, despite her recent run-ins with the law.

Time with the circus folk toughens Angela up. She vows to go on fighting, and turns her back on the idea of love. If you've ever seen a romantic movie then you'll know where the story is going, and soon enough a young artist named Gino (Farrell) has his head turned by the charming tightrope walker. They fall in love, but an accident means the couple must return to Naples, a city which threatens to expose Angela's past and send her back to jail. The story is predictable enough, but Borzage finds real poetry in this tale of two lovers brought together by fate. Murnau's Sunrise had been released just a year before, and Borzage had clearly taken notice. From a purely visual standpoint, Street Angel is one of the most innovative movies of its time. The camera feels constantly in motion as it navigates Angel's treacherous path with a looming sense of unease, and settles down to savour the small beautiful moments of Angela and Gino's romance. It all leads to a breathtaking final scene that takes place in a world of deceptive shadows and fog, a moment which may bring our lead characters together again for the final time. It's the work of cinematographers Paul Ivano and Ernest Palmer, and it's one of the most splendid sights in silent cinema.


Directed by: Frank Borzage
Starring: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Natalie Kingston, Henry Armetta
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #46: 'City Girl' (1930)

F.W. Murnau’s penultimate film, City Girl was made just a year before his tragic death. It tells the rather simple story of a waitress named Kate (Mary Duncan) who, tired of her hectic schedule and overbearing boss, dreams of a simpler life. In steps farmer’s son Lem (Charles Farrell) who is in the city in order to sell his father’s product. The two fall in love, and Kate agrees to move to the country with Lem to live the farmer’s life. Only after arriving, she realises that a farmer’s life isn’t as peaceful as she imagined, and she has to face Lem’s irate father.

Made as the silent era was sadly coming to an end, it was originally made as a hybrid, with long silent moments with the odd audible piece of dialogue. Apparently audiences could not take to its style and it bombed financially, but it has been recently re-discovered and restored in its complete silent form. And thank God it was, as although it comes nowhere near to the dizzying heights of Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans (1927), the influential brilliance of Nosferatu (1922), and the biting social commentary of The Last Laugh (1924), it’s a fine example of Murnau’s ability as a filmmaker.

It cleverly juxtaposes the naivety of the two leads who both sample a very different life, only to discover that it is every bit as stressful and brutal as their former lives. It’s hardly groundbreaking, but Murnau handles the film with such a poetic elegance and intimacy rarely captured by other filmmakers. It makes it all the more tragic that most of his earlier films are now lost, including a version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1920), and also that Murnau lost his life a year later after making his final film Tabu: A Story Of The South Seas (1931), to which he didn’t make the premiere.


Directed by: F.W. Murnau
Starring: Charles Farrell, Mary Duncan, David Torrence
Country: USA 

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie