Street Scene

Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-Winning Drama

As the mid-July sun sets on one of the summer's hottest days, small groups of people gather to discuss the newest neighborhood scandal. Standing in front of a rusty brownstone in Manhattan's West Sixties, they gossip about all the tenants of the building, but especially Mrs. Maurrant (Estelle Taylor), who has been seeing the local milkman behind her husband's back. When Mr. Maurrant (David Landau) takes a trip out of town, the two lovers have a tragic meeting when her husband doubles back to catch them together. The confrontation will change everyone's life forever, especially the Maurrants' beautiful young daughter Rose (Sylvia Sidney, in one of her first starring roles), who is left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

Presented by Samuel Goldwyn and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Elmer Rice, who also wrote the screenplay, director King Vidor (Duel in the Sun, Our Daily Bread) has fashioned a raw, harrowing and powerful film with striking camera work by Academy Award-winning cinematographer George Barnes (Rebecca) and musical direction by nine-time Oscar winner Alfred Newman (Camelot, The King and I).