Sidewalks of New York

 

(1931)
Directed by Zion Myers, Jules White
Written by George Landy and Paul Gerard Smith, Dialogue by Robert E. Hopkins, Eric Hatch and Willard Mack
Starring Buster Keaton, Anita Page, Cliff Edwards, Frank Rowan, Syd Saylor, Norman Phillips, Jr
IMDB Entry

Sometimes a success leads to long-term failure, usually because the actor becomes typecast and can't move on. Sidewalks of New York is an example of this where its success was the beginning of the end of a brilliant career.

Harmon (Buster Keaton) is a slumlord who is hated by the residents of his buildings. When his assistant Poggie (Cliff Edwards) tries to collect rent, the boys of the neighborhood drive him away. Harmon goes to see and is attacked by one of the boys, Clipper (Norman Phillips, Jr). His sister Margie comes to his defense and Harmon is instantly smitten. He wants to have Clipper prosecuted, but, after seeing Margie again in the courtroom, drops all charges. A cop tells Harmon that the boys aren't really bad but need an outlet for their energy. To impress Margie, Harmon builds a gym and tries to get the boys interested, including getting into the ring with a local boxer, Mulvaney (Syd Saylor). Clipper falls in with a bad crowd, and the hoodlum Butch (Frank Rowan) uses him to take part in robberies.

Keaton was beginning to feel the pinch of the studio system.  After a couple of flops, he had signed with MGM, against the advice of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd and practically everyone who knew him.*  Keaton was no longer in control of production; he called the decision the worst of his life.  Once sound came in, things got worse. MGM didn't let him do stunts -- the bread-and-butter of his career -- and dictated to him what movies he would do. Sidewalks of New York was his second sound film, Keaton hated the film and tried mightily to get out of the assignment. But MGM thought it was good and Keaton gave up, held his nose, and did it.

And it turned out the executives were right.  Sidewalks of New York was Keaton's biggest success. It made it impossible for him to object to scripts, since he was (in the executives' eyes) so wrong that they didn't have to listen to him.  He had to do what he was told.

So how good was the movie? It wasn't a disaster; the story moved nicely and there were some good gags. Keaton was fine handling the slapstick parts; the pratfalls are good, But it was nowhere up to the heights of his career.

The movie was directed by the team of Zion Myers and Jules White, who had previous success with comedy shorts. White, of course, later directed many of the Three Stooges shorts and the movie often seems to be more one of their films than Keaton's. One scene where Harmon is being sworn in as a witness in court was even reused by the Stooges.

The movie also features Cliff Edwards, who was paired as a team with Keaton. Edwards came up in vaudeville as a ukelele act and is best known today as the voice of Jiminy Cricket. He was a close friend of Keaton, but not good enough to stand out.

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*Except for his wife Natalie Talmadge, sister of Norma and Constance Talmadge, two of MGM's biggest stars.  Norma was married to Keaton's business partner Joseph Schenck, brother of Nicholas Schenck, head of MGM. A bit of nepotism, isn't it?