Scott LeBrun You know you're in for a good time when the opening shots of this noir thriller are amazing helicopter shots high above NYC, showing you the city in all of its glory. And "Side Street" can go down in history books as a very fine NYC movie. Director Anthony Mann and story author / screenwriter Sydney Boehm make the city just as much of a character as any of the human actors in this gripping and believable tale.It's a tale with which many ordinary people can identify. Farley Granger plays Joe Norson, married to the lovely Ellen (Cathy O'Donnell) who has a baby on the way. Joe doesn't have many prospects, and works as a part time postman while they live with her parents. So it's understandable when, one day, he gives in to temptation and steals money from the office of shady lawyer Victor Backett (Edmon Ryan). The trouble is, he only wants a few hundred dollars, but makes off with $30,000 instead, and the money is tied to recently committed crimes. While the conscience-stricken Joe tries to return the money, and the criminals represented by Backett threaten him, an NYC police detective (Paul Kelly) works the case."Side Street" has the beautiful, moody lighting required of this genre (cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg), while telling this entertaining story in fine fashion and refraining from being completely predictable. The pacing is effective, too, as there are no digressions distracting from the central theme. There's time for both poignancy and humor, and we get a right on the money assessment of human nature at the end. Joe is no hero, but he's certainly no career criminal, and it's entirely possible to sympathize with him and root for him.Granger is appealing as our protagonist, and O'Donnell is absolutely adorable as his wife. Great character players such as Ryan and Kelly are supplemented by other solid actors: a stunning Jean Hagen, as a singer, Paul Harvey, Charles McGraw, Edwin Max, Harry Bellaver, and Whit Bissell (always nice to see him in anything) as a bank teller.Recommended viewing for any fan of film noir.Eight out of 10.

gordonl56 SIDE STREET – 1949 Side Street is one of the lesser seen Anthony Mann film noir productions. Don't let that stop you from taking in this excellent noir. It has all the usual Mann ingredients at play, with a cracker-jack story, violence a plenty, and a superb look.Farley Granger is a just returned veteran working odd jobs to make ends meet. Granger and his pregnant wife, Cathy O'Donnell, are living with his parents till he can earn enough to get a place of their own. Needless to say this grates on the young man.He stumbles into a situation where he can grab a few hundred in cash from an office he make deliveries to. This of course starts a rather unpleasant series of events that involve, blackmail, murder etc. Even when he tries to do the right thing, it just digs him further into the mess.The cast in this one are all excellent with James Craig, Edmon Ryan and Harry Bellaver as the villains. The cops are played by Paul Kelly, King Donovan and noir favourite, Charles McGraw. The distaff side is well represented by some good work from Cathy O'Donnell, Adele Jergens and Jean Hagen.Veteran cinematographer, Joseph Ruttenburg really shines here and makes excellent use of the New York locations. The four time nominated, and two time Oscar winner, only dabbled in noir, but each one was a top effort. These include GASLIGHT and THE BRIBE.The story and screenplay was from the one time Oscar nominated, Sydney Boehm. Boehm was another film noir veteran having supplied stories or screenplays for, HIGH WALL, THE UNDERCOVER MAN, MYSTERY STREET, UNION STATION, ROUGE COP, BLACK TUESDAY, VIOLENT Saturday and of course, THE BIG HEAT.No need to mention director Mann's noir pedigree. Suffice it to say that all noir fans have 2 or 3 of his films on their top 10 list.This one is well worth the 82 minute time investment.

JLRMovieReviews Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell, upon the success of They Live by Night, were paired together again in this quick and taut film noir. Postman Farley delivers mail to a office building and, when delivering to one office in particular, sees money lying around and getting accidentally dropped on the floor (more money than he's seen in one place.) On his modest income and with dreams to fulfill and his wife and future baby to support, he gets it in his head to break in later and steal the money. Little does he realize, until he gets it home, that the hundreds of dollars he thought it was, was really $30,000.00. Due to his conscience bothering him and thinking it wise not to have it in the apartment, he asks a friend, who's a bartender, to hold it for him. Then, things get sticky.Farley Granger is an adequate actor and nice to look at, and his character is very likable. So the viewer is interested in what happens to him. His kissing scenes with Cathy are appropriately passionate for the newlyweds. Character and 'b' picture actor Charles McGraw is a minor villain, but James Craig is on hand as the "main bad guy," who plays it somewhat convincingly. But somehow I get the feeling he was too nice a guy in real life, to really project nastiness, as what may be called for in such a role. By the way, he too is incredibly easy on the eyes.Director Anthony Mann effectively sweeps the viewer into Farley's world by creating the mood and heating up the intensity, and you'll walk away from this very satisfied and very entertained. But, a lot of that comes from a character introduced about an hour into it. A good actor, a professional actor with some acting chops, you can spot from the moment you set eyes on them, because they know how to walk, how to say their lines in such a way to make them their own, and is in control of everything at all times. I say actor to include all people, but the subject in question is Jean Hagen, who plays James Craig's girlfriend. The moment you see her she captures you. You know she knows what she's doing. She's got it all in control. This movie may not have a reputation as an essential to film noir. I don't know. But it should. If for no other reason, than director Mann's way of telling a story and Jean Hagen's performance, which has to be one of her best in films. "Side Street" tells a story of a path taken in life, may be right, may be wrong, but it's a detour that leads to one of life's lessons.

ccthemovieman-1 This is a pretty good film noir that, happily, was released recently on DVD, giving us fans of this genre another movie to enjoy. It had one of the best noir directors, too: Anthony Mann, who always makes sure we get some great visuals. This is no exception, with good angles, shadows and light and a great big-city feel of New York.Along the way, we get a not-untypical noirish tale of an basically-good guy who makes a dumb move and pays for his sins even after his conscience gets the best of him and he tries to atone. This winds up to be a story of a man chasing the real crooks, while the crooks and the police chase him! They still make films with these kind of plots and they are almost always interesting.Farley Granger does a fine job in the lead as the dupe, "Joe Norson," who is too weak to pass up easy money and pays for it. Cathy O'Donnell is his wife and gets second billing but she really doesn't have that big a role. A bunch of other actors really share "supporting cast" status as Granger rules the roost here, lines-wise. For me, it was strange seeing James Craig as the "heavy." I mainly know him from totally opposite, All-American characters in films like "The Human Comedy" and "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes." Here, he's a viscous thug.The city of New York might be the real second star of this film. There are many shots of it and its skyscrapers, from above and street level looking up. I love those old cars, too!