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Street Angel

Director: Frank Borzage
Year: 1928
Runtime: 1 hr 42 min
Source: Youtube

Street Angel is, first and foremost, a wonderfully resonant little romance film.  I use the word 'little' not because it's a short film, but because the plot is minimalist, even for the era.  The silent film forced directors to economize when it came to plot details, so as not to overload the screen with titles.  There have been excellent films on this list that don't compromise, and succeed at telling deep stories by virtue of epic vision (and length).  But Street Angel is an example of simple, effective, story design, where each scene serves a fundamental purpose, and nothing feels out of place.  Every thing built towards an extraordinarily effective climax with a poignant message about love, that I'm hesitant to share, except to say that it speaks volumes about perception and how we strive to be the people we appear to those we love.  I found it endearing, and hope to see it again with my wife.

Since this is my first Borzage film, I don't want to extrapolate too much about the director's intentions here.  Although relatively unknown today, Borzage was a star director in 1928 - his previous film 7th Heaven picked up 3 Oscars in the very first Academy Awards.  Street Angel is actually a lesser-known follow up, with the same two leads.  One of those leads is the incredible Janet Gaynor, who threaded a very thin needle with her amazing performance in Sunrise, still my favorite silent film.  It's certainly great to see her again - she was a versatile actress, worth remembering today.

Anyone who's been in a long-term relationship can appreciate Street Angel.  It certainly makes me eager to see more from Borzage.
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