Child of Manhattan

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

"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.

I admit I obtained this film because I wanted to see John Boles' performance (he's always been a heart throb of mine) but it was Nancy Carroll's superb and sensitive performance of a common dance hall girl from Brooklyn with a heart of gold which kept me watching, especially considering the poor quality of the print I obtained.

With this multi-faceted performance Nancy proved she was capable of much more than silly flapper roles. Her character is not self-serving in the least, while John Boles' character Paul is indecipherable. After admitting he is totally in love with the dance hall girl he then states he doesn't want to marry her. An unexpected pregnancy forces his hand and he does the honorable thing by marrying her, but the marriage is a secret one. We are to assume it was to protect his older daughter, but since we never see this daughter we don't have much sympathy for Paul's concerns.

The audience receives a typical happy Hollywood ending in Child of Manhattan but somehow it doesn't quite fit the sum total of the film.

Watch Child Of Manhattan (if you can find it) to see Nancy Carroll at her best.

Update: TCM has recently broadcast this film in a lovely print. That's the one to see.

Here's an interesting old movie, one of the earliest examples of a formula that would later define a whole genre, more a whole industry. Man meets girl and immediately falls in love. There is an event followed by a misunderstanding that send them apart. They rejoin at the end. Later this ending would require a public avowal, something missing here.

This is also an example of somethings that did not stick. Deep in the depression, many movies featured the ultra rich - people who just seemed to have money for no reason. Because this was before comical prudery changed films starting with the Code, we have the situation that guy knocks up the girl.

But I found it interesting for yet another reason. Movies from this era were far more willing to question gender roles than now is the case. Oh, today we worry about professions and opportunity. I'm talking about what it means to be a woman or man. In this film, we have our girl, with appealing innocence. She is the child of Manhattan, with clear immigrant, lower class heritage. Both she and the rich guy are noble people, but she far more. The film is about her decisions.

Sturges has taken the time to introduce four older women. They are shoehorned in and have nothing at all to do with the story; they are there only to show strong women, sometimes frustrated strength. There is the older woman at the dance hall where our girl works, who is much loved as she takes care of her girls. We have the aunt of our rich guy who is shown as a forceful nut job.

Then we have the girl's mother. We learn a lot about her past and values. She turns her daughter out on the street when she gets pregnant by her then boyfriend. This woman slaps her adult kids, hard. We spend the final third of the movie with the girl's aunt, something of a world traveller, a poor person's playgirl. She drinks too much but always seems to be on top of things.

Four strong women form the situation-of-womanhood in which we interpret our girl's life. Nothing like that today in mainstream films.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

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.