Movie Review: Street Angel

The original movie poster from Wikipedia 

I am taking class through Coursera right now about film history. We watch movies that reflect a change in Hollywood.  This one was called Street Angel.  It was made in 1928--so it is a silent movie. However, it was made at the beginning of the world of talkies so it actually had the music come with it because it was synced to it.  The professor warned us that it was an emotional movie...and he wasn't kidding.

The movie starts with a girl whose mother is dying. She needs money for her mom's prescriptions, and she just can't get it.  So she decides to try to be a prostitute.  However, she is not having any luck getting a guy to pick her up.  So she tries to steal money from someone instead, but she gets caught and sentenced to a year in prison.  She runs away and goes back to her mom, who has actually now died.  She joins a circus troupe and lives for at least a little while away from the police.  She meets a boy and they fall in love--despite her fighting it.  They move back to her original city, and she lives in fear of the police for a long time. I won't spoil the end...but you should really watch it to find out if they get to stay together.

A great still from imdb.com

The best parts of this movie: the acting is incredible--the expressions that they can portray really is a lost art in Hollywood today. And it is really well written.  I don't think I have anything to really say that they could have done differently...I am really use to the faster paced of today's Hollywood movies.  It is only about an hour and 45 minute movie but it felt a lot longer than that.