A young girl endears herself to her caretakers after her father is murdered by mobsters.A young girl endears herself to her caretakers after her father is murdered by mobsters.A young girl endears herself to her caretakers after her father is murdered by mobsters.
Jack La Rue
- Doré
- (as Jack LaRue)
J. Carrol Naish
- Bert
- (as J. Carroll Naish)
Joe Sawyer
- Doré's Henchman
- (as Joseph Sauers)
Max Barwyn
- Waiter with Message
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSybil Jason stated in her autobiography that director Michael Curtiz filmed some scenes at a real Hollywood orphanage, and (in the interest of realism) cast real orphans as extras. Among them, Jason remembered, was a young Marilyn Monroe, long before her first "recognized" role. This has not yet been confirmed by film historians and Monroe biographers.
- GoofsAt 00:14:42 when Steve and Mortimer go up the stairs to talk to the waiter the boom mic shadow moves on the upper wall above the waiter.
- SoundtracksI'm a Little Big Shot Now
(1935) (uncredited)
Music by Allie Wrubel
Lyrics by Mort Dixon
Played during the opening credits and as background music often
Sung and danced to by Sybil Jason
Reprised by Sybil Jason and Glenda Farrell
Featured review
A lost masterpiece
Five-year-old Sybil Jason, or "The Countess', with her wonderful clear English diction, is orphaned, and teams up with two cheap four-flushers, the con men Steve (Robert Armstrong) and Mortimer (Edward Everett Horton) on Broadway in depression New York.
What a masterful performance Sybil gave! A true work of acting genius. We first see her in the "Ritz" with her father, Steve and Mortimer eating a palatial dinner neither her gambling indebted father, nor the broke four flushers can afford. Abandoned by her father, Sybil ends up at the con men's cheap hotel. Later, lost on the street in Broadway with three black children, she performs masterful song, dance and imitation routines that can only be compared to the VERY BEST of Shirley Temple and Mitzi Green. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes in cinema history, Steve abandons her at an orphanage where, sobbing, she carries a suitcase nearly as big as herself down the walkway and collapses on the stairs to the front door. Beyond that, you'll have to see the rest of the movie.
Sybil runs the gamut of emotions in her acting, always with her special girlish English accent. Her voice rings like a perfectly tuned bell. With her big brown eyes, she alternates masterfully between a little girl's joy, pain, laughter, longing, affection and fear.
The movie itself is extremely well done. Not your usual depression era child mush-fest, the movie works on many levels -- beyond the little lost orphan story, it is a masterful, tough gangster film, a love story, and a glittering, multi-faceted cinematographic gem of depression era Broadway street scenes.
Favorite line --
The Countess: "I'll be good. I won't say a word. I'll just sit in the corner and eat a lollipop"
Let's hope that the classic movie cable channels dig up some more of Sybil's lost films.
What a masterful performance Sybil gave! A true work of acting genius. We first see her in the "Ritz" with her father, Steve and Mortimer eating a palatial dinner neither her gambling indebted father, nor the broke four flushers can afford. Abandoned by her father, Sybil ends up at the con men's cheap hotel. Later, lost on the street in Broadway with three black children, she performs masterful song, dance and imitation routines that can only be compared to the VERY BEST of Shirley Temple and Mitzi Green. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes in cinema history, Steve abandons her at an orphanage where, sobbing, she carries a suitcase nearly as big as herself down the walkway and collapses on the stairs to the front door. Beyond that, you'll have to see the rest of the movie.
Sybil runs the gamut of emotions in her acting, always with her special girlish English accent. Her voice rings like a perfectly tuned bell. With her big brown eyes, she alternates masterfully between a little girl's joy, pain, laughter, longing, affection and fear.
The movie itself is extremely well done. Not your usual depression era child mush-fest, the movie works on many levels -- beyond the little lost orphan story, it is a masterful, tough gangster film, a love story, and a glittering, multi-faceted cinematographic gem of depression era Broadway street scenes.
Favorite line --
The Countess: "I'll be good. I won't say a word. I'll just sit in the corner and eat a lollipop"
Let's hope that the classic movie cable channels dig up some more of Sybil's lost films.
helpful•162
- ancient-andean
- Jun 15, 2001
Details
- Runtime1 hour 18 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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