The Big Street
| The Big Street | |
|---|---|
RKO Radio Pictures | |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures (US) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Big Street is a 1942 American drama film starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, based on the 1940 short story "Little Pinks" by Damon Runyon, who also produced it. It was directed by Irving Reis[2][3] from a screenplay by Leonard Spigelgass.
The Big Street was a nickname for Broadway,[4] where this movie's plot starts, and where all of Runyon's stories take place.
Plot
The film focuses on busboy Augustus Pinkerton II, known as Little Pinks, and his relationship with a pretty but cold-hearted singer, Gloria Lyons, who is crippled in a fall after her boyfriend, New York City nightclub owner Case Ables, knocks her down a flight of stairs in a fit of jealousy. Left penniless by the expenses she incurs during a long convalescence, Gloria is forced to rely on the kindness of Pinks, who invites her to stay with him in his apartment.
When Pinks' friend Violette Shumberg marries Nicely Nicely Johnson and the couple moves to Florida, Gloria orders Pinks to take her there to recuperate, and he pushes her to Miami in her wheelchair. There she reunites with an old lover, Decatur, who loses interest in her when he discovers she is an invalid. Angry, she lashes out at Pinks, who leaves her and finds work as a busboy in a club owned by Case, only to return when Violette tells him Gloria is ill.
Despondent, Gloria confesses she longs to spend one last night in a gown bedecked with jewels. When Pinks sees socialite Mimi Venus wearing one, he breaks into her home, where he overhears her being blackmailed by one of Case's thugs, who is threatening to publicize her infidelity unless she gives him her jewelry. Pinks disguises himself and retrieves the gems from the thief, then tells Case he will report him to the police unless he agrees to host a party with Gloria as the guest of honor.
On the night of the party, the police arrest Pinks, whose
Cast
- Henry Fonda as Little Pinks
- Lucille Ball as Gloria Lyons
- Barton MacLane as Case Ables
- Eugene Pallette as Nicely Nicely Johnson
- Agnes Moorehead as Violette Shumberg
- Marion Martin as Mimi Venus
- George Cleveland as Colonel Samuel Venus
- William T. Orr as Decatur Reed
- Ray Collins as the Professor
- Sam Levene as the Horsethief
- Vera Gordon as Mrs. Lefkowitz
Production
Damon Runyon originally wanted to cast
Filming did not go smoothly for the actress. Director Irving Reis was a novice, and co-star
The vocals for "Who Knows?" by Harry Revel and Mort Greene, performed by Gloria in Case's Manhattan club, were provided by Martha Mears. The character later reprises the song with Ozzie Nelson and his orchestra in the Miami nightspot.
The character of Nicely Nicely Johnson appears in the Broadway musical
Twenty-six years later, Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball made one more movie together, Yours, Mine and Ours (1968), this time with Ball receiving top billing above Fonda in the wake of her triumphantly successful 1950s I Love Lucy comedic television series.
Critical reception
The film critic for The New York Times called the film "smartly paced and colorful" and "crisply directed" but thought "in deviating occasionally from the plot's general comedy lines, the film over-dramatizes some none too plausible situations with an effect which is sometimes maudlin." He noted that Henry Fonda made "an acutely sympathetic hero opposite Miss Ball's able portrayal of the singer."[6]
Variety wrote that screenwriter Spigelgass did "a neat job of transferring the spirit of the piece to the screen, studding it with typical Runyon humor," and felt that Ball "[came] through with high laurels" and Henry Fonda was "at his best."[7]
Time Out London wrote that it "captures much of [Runyon's] low-life spirit and colorful vernacular, but occasionally spoils it all by wallowing in unnecessary sentimentality," and added, "Ball, in a rare straight role, is stunning."[8]
Home media
References
- ^ "The Big Street: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
- ^ Variety film review; August 5, 1942, page 27.
- ^ Harrison's Reports film review; August 8, 1942, page 128.
- ^ 1920s Fashion & Music, The Lurid History of Broadway in the 1920s; The term 'The Big Street' is used twice in this reference; In both of them it refers to 'The Broadway'.
- ^ a b The Big Street at Turner Classic Movies
- ^ New York Times review
- ^ Variety review
- ^ Time Out London review Archived February 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
