Cross Streets

Somber little film from poverty row about how a man's life takes an unexpected turn for the worse after his girlfriend decides not to wait for him to establish himself as a physician. Instead, she runs off with a wealthy man, leaving Adam Blythe (Johnny Mack Brown), the man most likely to succeed, devastated.

His life spirals downward as he turns to drink and kills a patient during an operation. His life continues to disintegrate until he almost saves himself by saving a dog in a small town. Nearly 20 years have passed before he runs into an old college chum who tries to save him.

Attending a reunion, the chum builds up Blythe as a successful physician to runs a clinic in Germany. The chum almost gets Blythe established in the new medical clinic he's endowing on campus.

But Blythe has the misfortune to meet a beautiful young woman (Anita Louise) who reminds him of that long-ago girlfriend. Of course she's the daughter and threatens to marry Blythe in a rebellious moment. But the old girlfriend (Claire Windsor) is unhappy in her marriage and fancies running off with Blythe. The selfish woman threatens to expose Blythe as her daughter's father if he dares try to marry her. Blythe's bad luck continues to the surprising ending.

At a major studio this material could have made for a major motion picture. Here it's a stark tale told on a low budget. But that doesn't keep it from being a moving film with solid performances by Johnny Mack Brown and Anita Louise. Kenneth Thomson plays the old chum, Josef Swickard the old professor, Edith Fellows and Tommy Bupp are the small-town children, and Mary Gordon is the old lady.

Contrary to the listing here, this film is not lost.