Sylvia Sidney Movies

A murder trial provides the setting of this drama that presents, via flashback, three very different versions and motives of the killing. According to the prosecution, the deceased's sexy (and very much married) mistress is behind the murder. The defense asserts that the woman's lover killed himself because she would not give into his demands. Unfortunately, neither side is correct. Fortunately, the real culprit confesses in court at the very last minute. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Street Scene was purchased for the screen by producer Samuel Goldwyn in 1931. The entire story takes place on the street in front of a foreboding old New York brownstone, between one evening and the next afternoon. The individual fates of eight neighboring Manhattan families intertwine during this brief stretch of time. Special emphasis is given the Maurrant family: the philandering mother (Estelle Taylor), the drink-sodden husband (David Landau) and long-suffering daughter Rose (Sylvia Sidney). When the husband catches the wife "in the act" with bill-collector Russell Hopton, the resulting tragedy is not shown, but reflecting in the wildly varying reactions of neighbors and passersby. Though resisting the temptation to "open up" the play, director King Vidor nonetheless injects his cinematic know-how into the proceedings, by utilizing an entirely different camera setup or angle for each individual "take." The cast of Street Scene includes several carry-overs from the Broadway original, including David Landau, Max Montor, Matt McHugh (brother of Frank), John Qualen, George Humbert, Tom H. Manning, and Anna Konstant (Sidebar: Shirley Kaplan, the role played by Ms. Konstant, was portrayed in the London production of Street Scene by Greer Garson). Unavailable for TV for many years due to legal tangles, Street Scene was freed up for the small screen when it lapsed into public domain in the early 1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rakish college student Hal (Norman Foster) is in love with sorority girl Peggy (Claudia Dell), but she only has eyes for Hal's roommate Dan (Philips Holmes). Hoping to get Dan out of the way, Hal enlists the aid of campus vamp Patricia (Sylvia Sidney). She manipulates Dan into a hot necking session, resulting in an unscheduled pregnancy. Dan is tossed off the campus, whereupon Peggy pulls off a few dirty tricks of her own, culminating in a shotgun wedding between Hal and Patricia. Finally Dan shows up to do the Honorable Thing by admitting that Patricia's child is his -- not that this is of any help to Hal, who is now persona non grata with everyone concerned. The New York Times reviewer was right on target when he summed up Confessions of a Co-Ed thusly: "The students devote their whole time to discussing affairs of the heart, never for an instant revealing any inclination for work." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Joan Blondell, borrowed for the occasion from Warner Bros., earned top-billing in this delightful Hollywood parable, but the real star is of course Stuart Erwin as the irrepressible grocery clerk Merton Gill. Paramount screenwriters Saul Mintz, Walter De Leon and Arthur Kober based their witty scenario on Henry Leon Wilson's 1922 novel Merton of the Movies, the 1923 Broadway play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, and the 1924 Famous Players silent version starring Glenn Hunter. By 1932, the story was indeed well-known: Aspiring to become a famous screen cowboy, small-town delivery boy Merton Gill arrives in Hollywood, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and complete with a diploma from the National Correspondence Academy of Acting. Crashing the gates of Majestic Pictures (read: Paramount), Merton manages to fumble his one line bit in the latest Buck Benson (Dink Templeton) western and is fired on the spot. Unwilling to leave the studio, the hapless thespian survives on leftover scraps from the extra's lunch boxes until discovered by comedy starlet "Flip" Montague (Blondell), who takes pity on him and arranges a meeting with Jeff Baird (Sam Hardy), head of the slapstick comedy unit. Bestowed a new name, Whoop Ryder, Merton is starred in what he assumes to be a serious western melodrama but what in reality is yet another burlesque featuring cross-eyed low comic Ben Turpin. Although a big hit with preview audiences, a humiliated Merton is ready to return to the grocery business when "Flip" persuades him to stay by telling him that he is "darn near perfect." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

This adaptation of the Puccini opera jettisons all the music and retains only David Belasco's timeworn libretto. American actress Sylvia Sidney plays Japanese maiden Cio-Cio San, while Cary Grant is the dashing American navy lieutenant Pinkerton. The girl and the officer have a brief affair, resulting in a child. Cio-Cio San blissfully awaits the return of Pinkerton, who arrives back in Japan with his American wife in tow. The heartbroken Japanese girl bids farewell to her callous lover, then commits hara-kiri. The absence of Puccini's brilliant music makes the plot contrivances of Madame Butterfly seem creakier than ever, though Sylvia Sidney--in real life a New York Jewish girl-- is moderately convincing as the Oriental heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This turn-of-the-century tragedy chronicles the sorrowful travails of a woman who endures a series of devastating losses. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A European princess heads for New York in order to see if the U. S. will back her country's bond issue. Unfortunately, she is afflicted with the mumps and ordered to bed. This is an ill turn for the banker planning to issue the bonds for if the princess reneges upon her public engagements, the deal could fall through and he will lose a huge commission. Thinking quickly, he starts looking for a look-alike. He soon discovers an impoverished actress who fits the bill. Trouble brews when a prominent and somewhat xenophobic newspaper publisher gets wind of the entire scam. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A wealthy young heir rebels when his snooty parents refuse to allow him to marry a lovely young secretary. Deciding to teach them a lesson, he goes West where he falls in love and marries the daughter of a Native American chief. He brings her home to meet his parents, who are naturally appalled, and vengeance is his. Unfortunately their marital bliss is disturbed when a woman shoots her married lover and the Indian girl is blamed for the crime. The husband then goes to the police and confesses the crime to protect her. Fortunately, the astute police put the couple together in a room bugged with a concealed microphone. They then learn that both are innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Oskar Homolka plays a London movie-theatre owner who maintains a secret life as a paid terrorist. Homolka's wife Sylvia Sidney doesn't suspect Homolka of any wrongdoing, but she's picked up enough second-hand information about her husband's activities to arouse the interest of government agent (John Loder). Posing as a grocer, Loder moves next door to the Homolkas, befriending Sidney and her precocious young brother Desmond Tester. Sensing that he's being watched, Homolka sends Tester out to deliver a reel of film. The reel contains a time bomb, but Homolka is certain that the boy will deliver his package on time and will be safely away by the time the bomb explodes. Thus begins one of Hitchcock's most electrifying suspense sequences, as the unsuspecting boy is delayed en route to his destination. Sabotage was based on Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent; the film was retitled A Woman Alone in the US. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Paramount's first outdoor Technicolor feature, Trail of the Lonesome Pine was the third film version of John Fox Jr.'s novel. Inspired by the Hatfield-McCoy feud, the story is set in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. Outsider Fred MacMurray arrives to clear the path for a new railroad. Mountain girl Sylvia Sidney falls in love with MacMurray, which incurs the enmity of Sidney's boyfriend Henry Fonda. It also plunks MacMurray in the middle of a long-standing feud between Sidney's family and another mountain clan. Hostilities alternately erupt and simmer until Sidney's youngest brother (Spanky McFarland) is killed by a feud-inspired dynamite blast. This tragic incident brings virtually everyone to their senses, and the feud is finally buried. Better in its individual setpieces than as a unified whole, Trail of the Lonesome Pine is still a worthwhile experience, especially when a pristine three-strip Technicolor print is available. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Adapted by Lillian Hellman from Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play, Dead End concerns itself with several denizens of New York's East River district. Here the elite and the slum-dwellers rub shoulders due to the close proximity of the riverfront tenements with the East Side luxury hotels. Slum girl Drina Gordon (Sylvia Sidney) tries to prevent her younger brother Tommy (Billy Halop) from wasting his life as a member of the local street gang. Tommy and the other kids idolize Baby Face Martin (Humphrey Bogart), a onetime East- sider who has hit the "big time" as a notorious gangster. Dodging the cops, Martin makes a sentimental journey to the neighborhood to visit his mother (Marjorie Main) and his old girlfriend Francie (Clare Trevor). But Martin's mother coldly tells him to get lost, while Francie reveals herself to be a consumptive prostitute. Despite his depressed state, Martin is still admired by the local kids; this displeases sign painter Dave Connell (Joel McCrea), who hopes to escape the slums via his romance with wealthy Kay Burton (Wendy Barrie). Attempting to kidnap a rich boy who'd earlier been beaten up by the street kids, Martin is prevented from making the snatch by Dave, who shoots Martin down. Receiving a large reward, Dave decides to give the money to Drina so that she can afford a lawyer to defend her brother Tommy, who has wrongfully been accused of masterminding the beating of the rich kid. His outlook on life altered by this unselfish act, Dave gives up his mercenary romance with Kay Burton, choosing instead the poverty-stricken Drina. The film introduces the Dead End Kids--Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Gabe Dell, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsley and Bobby Jordan--all of whom were veterans of the Broadway version of Dead End and would be metamorphosed into the East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi