Dawn Powell was sort of the poor man's Dorothy Parker, a wisecracking writer with unusually astute observations about New York, boy-girl troubles, and, especially, the behind-the-eight-ball position of the 1920s and 1930s Everywoman. All those qualities are present in her play "Walking Down Broadway," but they're filtered and standardized in this adaptation, begun by Erich von Stroheim and completed by others. A Fox pre-Production Code product, it does have unusual raciness, its hero and heroine a sweet young couple who face a premarital blessed event and don't get struck by lightning for it. But Powell's insights are compromised by 1) unwelcome comic relief, 2) Zasu Pitts getting second billing but in a small and mostly extraneous part, a character who makes no sense, and 3) a really phony, movie-invented Act Three climax. For all that, James Dunn and Boots Mallory are sympathetic in the leads, and the Minna Gombell character -- a wise, five-times-married good-time girl -- does get off a couple of good ones that have the authentic Dawn Powell ring.
Review of Hello, Sister!
