The House on 56th Street ** (1933, Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez, Gene Raymond, John Halliday, Margaret Lindsay) – Classic Movie Review 11,465

From the trailer of The House on 56th Street (1933).

Director Robert Florey’s 1933 Warner Bros American pre-Code melodrama film The House on 56th Street stars Kay Francis as Peggy Martin Van Tyle aka Peggy Stone, a wronged woman sent to prison for 20 years for a murder she did not commit. She was a showgirl and mistress to Lyndon Fiske (John Halliday), but married Monte Van Tyle (Gene Raymond), who was killed in action. Peggy is revisited by Fiske wants her back and, when Peggy refuses his advances, his gun accidentally goes off, killing him.

Now, 20 years later, after finally being released, she finds that her husband is dead, and that her daughter Eleanor (Margaret Lindsay) has been told that Peggy is also dead. Then Peggy meets gambler Bill Blaine (Ricardo Cortez) and they get work in the gambling house on 56th street, owned by politician Mr Bonelli (William ‘Stage’ Boyd). Fatefully, Eleanor comes to visit them.

An extravagantly plotted, slightly stagey story is quite nicely written, with a good star role for Francis, played well, with Lindsay and Cortez also excellent. Also The House on 56th Street is well photographed (by Ernest Haller), well made and well produced. It packs a lot into a fast-moving, crisply edited 69 minutes. It’s only a movie, of course, and an antique one, but credibility is low.

The cast are Kay Francis as Peggy Martin Van Tyle aka Peggy Stone, Ricardo Cortez as Bill Blaine, Gene Raymond as Monte Van Tyle, John Halliday as Lyndon Fiske, Margaret Lindsay as Eleanor Van Tyle Burgess Frank McHugh as Chester Hunt, William ‘Stage’ Boyd as Mr Bonelli, Hardie Albright as Henry Burgess, Sheila Terry as Dolly, Phillip Reed as Freddy, Walter Walker as Dr Wyman, and Nella Walker as Eleanor Van Tyle.

The film cost $211,000 and earned $410,000 in the US and Canada and $284,000 elsewhere for a total of $694,000, so it must have been profitable.

Robert Florey (14 September 1900 – 16 May 1979) was born as Robert Fuchs in Paris, and moved to the US in 1921. His best known films are The Cocoanuts (1929), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) and Daughter of Shanghai (1937).

Kay Francis [Katherine Edwina Gibbs] (January 13, 1905 – August 26, 1968) achieved her greatest success from 1930 to 1936 at Warner Bros. In 1938 she wrote in her diary: ‘When I die, I want to be cremated so that no sign of my existence is left on this earth. I can’t wait to be forgotten.’ According to her will, her ashes were disposed of ‘how the undertaker sees fit.’ She wanted no services or grave marker. She left more than $1 million to The Seeing Eye, a New Jersey organization that trains guide dogs for the blind.

The House on 56th Street is directed by Robert Florey, runs 69 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Austin Parker and Sheridan Gibney, based on a story by Joseph Santley, is shot by Ernest Haller, and was released as the Christmas treat on December 23, 1933.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,465

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