Back Street (1932)
1932 · Feature film · 85 min · dir. John M. Stahl
A story that will grip you with its powerful emotional appeal written by one of America's foremost novelists... A picture with an amazing cast of star players
- Drama
Synopsis
Back Street is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by John M. Stahl and starring Irene Dunne and John Boles. Based on the best-selling novel of the same title by Fannie Hurst, it tells the story of a woman who spends her life as the secret mistress of a wealthy married man. The devotion and love of the woman to the married man determines that she will be the “back streets” of him in the whole life; a story of a love that was not destined. This was the first of three film versions of…
Synopsis from Wikipedia
Details
- Director
- John M. Stahl
- Writer
- Fannie Hurst
- Composer
- David Broekman
- Cinematography
- Karl Freund
- Studio
- Universal Pictures
- Released
- 1932-08-04
- Running time
- 85 minutes
Cast & crew
John M. Stahl Director
Jack Chefe
Maude Turner Gordon
William Bakewell
Virginia Pearson
Grace Hayle
George Meeker
Doris Lloyd
Russell Hopton
Reviews on the Internet Archive
★★★★★ · Genuine Love is Never Wrong · Peter George962 · 2022-05-17
This is one of the most touching films I have ever viewed. All of the performances were well executed, especially the leads. The acting was consistently honest and totally unpretentious throughout. I'm not sure what makes it noir except for the perennial slap in the opening scene. It was definitely not racy to me. One thing I really appreciated was the consistent sound levels. There was no irritating need to constantly adjust it as in just about every film in this genre and others. I also liked the scene sequencing that skipped the trite newsreel history reviews to show the passage of time.…
This is not an example of film noir. · dw99 · 2025-07-22
Film noir didn't exist until WWII, for one thing; for another, certain prerequisites must be met -- for ex., a sense of unease and evil, uncertainty about who is trustworthy -- in order for a film to be classified thus. "Back Street" is a romantic drama, not a tense crime drama filled with foreboding.
