Don't look for Farley Granger

I've mentioned in the past that I'm always up for trying early talkies, even if many of them aren't all that good even by the standards of early sound pictures. One that showed up some time back on TCM was a 1929 movie called Side Street that's really more interesting for who is in the cast.

The first thing to note is that the three main characters are played by the three Moore brothers, who had all been silent film stars; here they're playing brothers as well. They're the sons in the Irish-American O'Farrell family. Jimmy (Tom Moore) is a police detective who has a girlfriend Kathleen whom he's looking to propose to and might just be able to now that he's getting a promotion on the force. John (Matt Moore) is a doctor working in the emergency department. He's been helped through medical school by the third brother, Dennis (Owen Moore). Dennis is in "business" that requires him to do a fair bit of traveling. It should be obvious what this "business" entails, but more on that later.

Kathleen gets invited to one of those swanky penthouse parties by hre friend Bunny who is going with her boyfriend. The party is being held in an apartment owned by Muller, who is the head of a notorious gang of bootleggers. At the party, she meets Silk, who is Muller's henchman and a guy who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. He claims to be the guy behind Muller's organization, and that the organization arranged for the murder in a case Jimmy is investigating. This is all important to the plot, but just as interesting is the dance number one of the guests stages. Classic movie fans should have no difficulty recognizing George Raft in a very early, uncredited role.

The party gets broken up by a fight. Some days later, Jimmy brings Kathleen and her father over for Thanksgiving, with the other two brothers showing up. Kathleen realizes she's already met Dennis before: he was at the Muller party, and his business is in fact being Muller himself! The fight at the party also has the police investigating, which is how John (called in to provide medical care) and Jimmy (investigating) both figure out what their brother is really doing. However, both of them know that it would break their mother's heart to discover the real truth about her beloved son. So how does the movie give us at least a semi-happy ending?

As I implied at the beginning, Side Street isn't the greatest movie, although I don't think it's as bad as some other reviewers may have you believe. Still, it's another one where the plot feels like we've been down this side street a dozen times before. The Moore brothers also all seem better suited to silent films. It's George Raft as a dancer (which he was in real life before becoming an actor full time) who steals the show with his one scene.