Street Angel **** (1928, Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Natalie Kingston) – Classic Movie Review 7537

Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell make the ideal star couple for director Frank Borzage, here directing them for the third time in this compellingly romantic, if somewhat mawkish 1928 early sound film Street Angel, which was begun as a silent and contains non-speaking sequences with music and sound effects.

The story concerns a Naples street girl called Angela (Gaynor) escaping from the police and joining a circus, where she is spotted by the poor wandering artist Gino (Farrell), who sees her as his ideal Madonna and asks her to model for him.

Gaynor wins the first ever best actress Oscar (shared for her work on 7th Heaven and Sunrise) as she suffers exotically and extravagantly in this quite gorgeously made movie. Ernest Palmer was Oscar nominated for Best Cinematography and Harry Oliver for Best Art Direction. It is a very good looking old movie.

Based on the play Cristilinda by Monckton Hoffe, Street Angel is an underrated achievement.

Also in the cast are Henry Armetta, Guido Trento, Alberto Rabagliati, Gino Conti, Louis Liggett, Milton Dickinson, Helena Herman, Natalie Kingston, Dave Kashner and Jennie Bruno.

At 22, Gaynor (1906–1984) was the youngest leading actress to win an Oscar until 1986, when at 21 years, 218 days old Marlee Matlin received the Best Actress Oscar for Children of  a Lesser God.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7537

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