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21 out of 22 people found the following review useful: Based on a play by Preston Sturges, still a diamond in the rough, 5 October 2006 Author: wmorrow59 from Westchester County, NY
It isn't easy to track down this movie, but it's worth the effort if you're a Preston Sturges fan and would like to see what his work looked like when he was still in the process of finding his voice. Sturges first made his name as a writer with his smash hit Broadway comedy "Strictly Dishonorable" in 1929. After that, unfortunately, he produced three flops in a row before leaving New York for Hollywood, where he regained his bearings and ultimately became a master of sophisticated farce comedy-- but for the movies, not the stage. "Child of Manhattan" was the second of Sturges' three Broadway failures, though according to the various books about the author it wasn't really such a terrible flop: it ran for 87 performances, which wasn't so bad in those days, but the reviews were poor and the stage run didn't make back its investment. After the show closed the play's primary financial backer sold the material to Columbia Pictures, but for convoluted reasons Sturges didn't earn a penny from the movie version. Still, watching the results today we can see that the experience wasn't a total loss for the author, for it's clear that he used this somewhat rickety vehicle to explore themes he would develop more fully later on. His fans will recognize and enjoy the comic passages in the dialog, which suggest a workshop version of Sturges' great screenplays of the '40s, delivered by embryonic versions of the sort of eccentric characters he would later polish to perfection."Child of Manhattan" tells the story of Madeleine McGonegal (Nancy Carroll), a taxi dancer who works at a dime-a-dance club called Loveland which happens to occupy land owned by one of New York's wealthiest men, Paul Vanderkill (John Boles). Vanderkill is a middle-aged widower and an absentee landlord where the club is concerned, but one evening he visits to see if the place is as wicked as its reputation suggests. He meets Madeleine and finds her strangely innocent and charming, despite the tawdry setting. He romances her, buys her expensive clothes, then sets her up in an apartment as his mistress. You know you're watching a Pre-Code movie when an extramarital sexual relationship is presented as straightforwardly as it is here. Vanderkill buys his new girlfriend lavish gifts in a sequence that must have represented a Depression era wish fulfillment fantasy, and which contrasts sharply with Madeleine's harsh encounters with her shanty Irish family, who bluntly express their disapproval of her new mode of life.When Madeleine gets pregnant she's apologetic (which I found confusing, frankly-- why was it considered HER fault?) and it's briefly implied that Paul might arrange to have the pregnancy terminated, but instead he offers marriage on condition that it remain a secret. The plot takes several more twists from that point forward, but suffice it to say that although the tone of the story grows darker Sturges manages to perk things along with amusing character turns by familiar supporting players Jesse Ralph, Luis Alberni, and Tyler Brooke. Brooke is especially funny in a scene that is the film's comic highlight, Paul and Madeleine's trip to a fancy clothier's on Fifth Avenue called Madame Dulcey's. Brooke, who plays the proprietor of the shop, leaves no doubt about his sexual orientation as he waxes eloquent on the "too too divine" outfits he has in stock, outdoing himself with a description of a $12,000 chinchilla coat as "silver-grey, rippling like a river in the midst of early morn --and so virginal!" (Like I say, it's Pre-Code.) Nancy Carroll gives an excellent performance as Madeleine, both comic and poignant at once, reaching an especially impressive dramatic peak during a hospital sequence. It's a memorable turn, and makes me wonder why her career slowly fizzled out after brief stardom in the early '30s. Leading man John Boles is handsome but wooden as ever; it's too bad Warner Baxter or Warren William couldn't have played Vanderkill. The most surprising casting choice is that of Nancy's spurned suitor, an Oklahoma native blessed with the unlikely name of Panama Canal Kelly. This role is played by cowboy star Buck Jones with requisite sincerity, but his dialog is full of awkward, pseudo-homespun sayings that would make any genuine Okie wince.In this early effort Sturges explores the balance of power in man-woman relationships as he would later, with more sophistication and polish, in "The Lady Eve," "The Palm Beach Story," and "Unfaithfully Yours." Fans of those films will want to seek this one out, for although it's not entirely successful this movie is surprisingly enjoyable in its own right, considerably boosted by a sparkling performance by the unjustly forgotten Nancy Carroll.
16 out of 18 people found the following review useful: Worth it for Nancy Carroll's Performance, 25 October 2003 Author: overseer-3 from Florida
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.
13 out of 14 people found the following review useful: "It is a Pleasure, Delightful, Charming", 18 April 2007 Author: HarlowMGM from United States
CHILD OF MANHATTAN is a Columbia Studios precode starring Nancy Carroll and John Boles. When millionaire Boles' aunt Clara Blandick is horrified to learn one of the family properties is being leased to "a dance hall with naked girls" Boles promises to check the establishment out. There he discovers it's a low-class "dime a dance" hall but is immediately smitten with one of the girls employed there, earthy but sweet Carroll. Boles is charmed by her lack of pretensions and touched by her concern for him when she thinks he is unemployed. Nancy Carroll eventually learns Boles is "the" Paul Vanderkill, one of New York's richest men. They fall genuinely in love but nevertheless in a man and mistress relationship, in part because of Boles' concern for his (never seen) teen-aged daughter (presumably much as he admires Carroll, she is not the kind of woman he wants his young daughter to emulate). Carroll eventually finds herself expecting which leads to a secret marriage and, ultimately, tragedy. In true Hollywood tragedy fashion, there is a happy ending.CHILD OF MANHATTAN is a fast-moving low-key melodrama based on a play by the then unknown Preston Sturges (who surely is the source for the many delightful and at times quite racy comic quips that occasionally dot the screenplay). Nancy Carroll, still quite young but already with her major career behind her as a Paramount star and one of the biggest draws in the first years of "talkies", is quite good as the somewhat incredible bimbo with a heart of gold. John Boles is as dashing and romantic as always, his sideburns tinted white to suggest a man of middle-age (in his first scene he wears a quite contemporary haircut with thick hair at the top and very thin along the bottom) yet his character too is a bit unbelievable (although he projects a romantic charisma that could probably lead just about anyone down the primrose path). Cowboy star Buck Jones makes a rare appearance in a non-western as one of Carroll's less successful suitors and there are excellent cameos by character actresses Clara Blandick as Boles' aunt, Jane Darwell as Carroll's Irish mother, and most especially Jessie Ralph as the ladies room attendant at the dance hall who is a surrogate aunt to Carroll. Luis Alberni is fun as Carroll's Mexican divorce lawyer who is always murmuring my review title when meeting new people. 15-year-old Betty Grable has a bit (surprisingly billed) as Carroll's young sister in one brief scene. CHILD OF MANHATTAN is no classic but worth the 69 minutes if you are intrigued by precodes.
8 out of 8 people found the following review useful: far from classic pre-code has its moments, 21 April 2007 Author: marc (beautyboy@aol.com) from New York NY
As other reviewers stated, this Columbia pre-code has some of Preston Sturges characteristic touches. But I especially enjoyed the dance hall matron and mentor "Aunt" Minnie, who is a salty, bawdy Jewish tough girl who curses in Yiddish,"mamzer"- bastard and steals every scene. The movie has its dull spots due probably to the unheralded director. It also suffers from Columbia's cheap budget. Although it does give us little luxe in one of the funniest scenes in an expensive dress shop . The owner/salesman makes no secret of his gay orientation as he says as he squeezes Nancy Carrols body,"Don't think of me as a man, think of me as an artiste!"Nancy figures it out and minces, "Okay Dear!"Nancy Carrol is pretty good in the leading role but the male actors are dull as dishwater. There are some interesting sociological/historical bits worth noting. A lot is made of Nancy's low class Brooklyn accent(she says apperntment and Greenpernt instead of appointment and Greenpoint). Archie Bunker spoke similarly. That pronunciation has practically vanished from New York of today. New Yorkers still have distinctive accents but some of the distinctions have disappeared over the years.Also worth noting is the sexual attitudes. Nancy works in a dance hall but it is made clear that she is not a prostitute and she is told by her mother to try to refuse money if it offered to her. Her lazy brother calls her a tramp as soon as she moves in with her lover, without being married and she is soon punished with a dead baby for her sins. The sexual revolution of the 1960's changed attitudes and behaviors. But this movie is worth seeing for 1930's peak into the sexual attitudes of the day.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: A Different Perspective, 19 September 2008 Author: dougdoepke from Claremont, USA
Don't let the wedlock baby fool you. This is a version of the fairy-tale Cinderella story popular with Depression era audiences of the time. It comforts folks with the idea that rags- to-riches lightning may strike them if they just get noticed by a benevolent rich person, in this case John Boles with the rather double-edge name of "Vanderkill". What's suggested is that rescue from desperate economic conditions lies with joining established wealth instead of joining with other desperate folks to improve the common economic condition. I don't know how the screenplay compares with Sturges' stage play, but what's there on the screen looks processed in typical Hollywood fashion.I realize this kind of perspective is unwelcome to most viewers who simply want to be entertained in engaging fashion. Certainly Nancy Caroll does that with a winning performance as the down-trodden girl. Her sheer spunk in the early scenes carries the movie, at the same time I couldn't help thinking how much her big eyes, high cheek bones and flattened hair-do resemble the popular Betty Boop character of the time. Too bad the rest of the cast doesn't come up to her level, especially Buck Jones' Panama Kelly whose unbelievably gallant nature helps produce the fairy tale outcome. Note also, how actual Depression era conditions are not allowed to intrude on the enclosed world of the lovers. To be fair, that may simply have resulted from a tight budget. But if so, the constraints help produce what appears to be the desired overall effect.Whatever the movie's internal qualities, the relevance of the underlying message to that historical period needs to be pointed out. Because no matter how much we may wish otherwise, history has a nasty habit of repeating itself.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Nancy Carroll and gorgeous clothes, 16 September 2008 Author: oneillrobyn from United States
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.
2 out of 3 people found the following review useful: A bit old fashioned and formulaic, but it still works quite well, 18 December 2007 Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
This is an old fashioned Pre-Code film--the sort of movie that managed both to offend many in its day due to the sometimes racy subject matter yet also followed a very old and predictable formula. While all this makes it sound as if I didn't like the film, this certainly is not the case. It's just that many modern viewers may both be surprised at the candor of the film when it comes to topics like illegitimate births as well as how predictable and melodramatic it all became. This is true to the style of the day and for its time, this was a pretty good movie.A rich guy (John Boles) visits a dance hall at the request of his stuffy aunt. The family owns the property and wants the tenants thrown out because the place is evil. She thinks this might be a "den of iniquity" and Boles good naturedly agrees to check it out--though it's obvious he's just humoring her. Once there, he sees it's just a normal dance hall--no "hoochie koochie" girls or strippers. However, he is also surprised to find that he's very smitten with one of the ladies who works there. They begin dating and it's obvious they care about each other. However, in a scene that is mostly alluded to, he and the girl (Nancy Carroll) apparently have sex and she becomes pregnant (either that, or it's another virgin birth--it is a tad sketchy). They marry but she can't help but think that Boles only married her out of obligation. When the baby dies shortly after birth, Carroll imagines that it's for the best and runs off to Mexico to divorce Boles. She thinks she's not good enough for him and he'd be much happier in the long run with a rich society dame--especially since no one seems to know about their marriage.Where the film goes from there isn't all that surprising, but I'd rather not spoil it. Despite some predictability, I still liked the film and this style film was common in the day it was made--so it shouldn't be penalized for this. A good script, good acting and deft direction make this a very nice time-passer and is worth a look.
5 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Entertaining Classic 1933 Film, 19 April 2007 Author: whpratt1 from United States
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
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