1933 was a good year for Nancy. The year before, Paramount had almost given up on her but with "Hot Saturday" and "Under-Cover Man" both critics and the public re-discovered her and Columbia was more determined to borrow her for a story perfectly suited to her talents, Preston Sturges' Broadway success "Child of Manhattan". Nancy's characterization was wonderful and made people recall the old Nancy of "The Dance of Life" and "The Devil's Holiday". When Paramount realised how successful "Child of Manhattan" was they decided to find better stories for her, unfortunately "The Woman Accused" was not the movie to give her lasting success and Nancy continued to be better served at other studios.Visiting "Loveland" a "not too elegant dime a dance hall", is Paul Vanderkill (John Boles) on a curiosity tour of his property. He meets Madeleine McGonegal (Carroll) one of many dance hostesses but whose freshness and charm set her apart from the other girls. There is an instant attraction, even though she has recently rejected Panama Kelly (Buck Jones) who is soon to seek his fortune in Mexico.Even though her cynical mother warns her, Madeleine continues to see Paul and is soon established in a beautiful penthouse. When she learns that she is soon to give birth Paul, reluctantly it seems to her, offers to marry her, insisting though on secrecy so as not to hurt his grown up daughter from a former marriage. When the child dies shortly after birth Madeleine, believing that Paul only married her for the sake of the child flees to Mexico for a quickie divorce. Unbeknownst to her, the Mexican agent (Luis Alberni) she employed, visits Paul and gets a huge settlement for her. Furious at the trick that has been played on Paul she arranges to marry Panama Kelly with whom she has just become reacquainted and who has never stopped loving her. The terms of the settlement stipulate that if she ever marries again the money will be cancelled. It is obvious who Nancy will end up with.As usual John Boles is stuffy and wooden but his sincerity pulls him through. Buck Jones was good as Panama Kelly who would have been far better suited to her as a husband than blue blood Paul. Jessie Ralph in her first movie was praised by the critics of the day, who commented that it wouldn't be her last. She played a motherly figure from Madeleine's dance hall days. Betty Grable had a strange part that belied her billing - she played Madeleine's sister who was seen vaguely in the background and also had a crying scene, but no words!! Another odd thing - in all the books and articles I have read about Nancy Carroll, one picture is always used, a picture of Nancy in a sparkling evening gown with balloons and a cup. The scene must have been deleted from the movie because the only time a cup is mentioned is when Paul and Madeleine are presented with a cup because Paul bought the most tickets. As Silver Screen said "Nancy Carroll as the little New York girl who says "jernt" and "apperntment" has the best role she has had in a long time".

Don't let the wedlock baby fool you. This is a version of the fairy-tale Cinderella story popular with Depression era audiences of the time. It comforts folks with the idea that rags- to-riches lightning may strike them if they just get noticed by a benevolent rich person, in this case John Boles with the rather double-edge name of "Vanderkill". What's suggested is that rescue from desperate economic conditions lies with joining established wealth instead of joining with other desperate folks to improve the common economic condition. I don't know how the screenplay compares with Sturges' stage play, but what's there on the screen looks processed in typical Hollywood fashion.I realize this kind of perspective is unwelcome to most viewers who simply want to be entertained in engaging fashion. Certainly Nancy Caroll does that with a winning performance as the down-trodden girl. Her sheer spunk in the early scenes carries the movie, at the same time I couldn't help thinking how much her big eyes, high cheek bones and flattened hair-do resemble the popular Betty Boop character of the time. Too bad the rest of the cast doesn't come up to her level, especially Buck Jones' Panama Kelly whose unbelievably gallant nature helps produce the fairy tale outcome. Note also, how actual Depression era conditions are not allowed to intrude on the enclosed world of the lovers. To be fair, that may simply have resulted from a tight budget. But if so, the constraints help produce what appears to be the desired overall effect.Whatever the movie's internal qualities, the relevance of the underlying message to that historical period needs to be pointed out. Because no matter how much we may wish otherwise, history has a nasty habit of repeating itself.

As other reviewers stated, this Columbia pre-code has some of Preston Sturges characteristic touches. But I especially enjoyed the dance hall matron and mentor "Aunt" Minnie, who is a salty, bawdy Jewish tough girl who curses in Yiddish,"mamzer"- bastard and steals every scene. The movie has its dull spots due probably to the unheralded director. It also suffers from Columbia's cheap budget. Although it does give us little luxe in one of the funniest scenes in an expensive dress shop . The owner/salesman makes no secret of his gay orientation as he says as he squeezes Nancy Carrols body,"Don't think of me as a man, think of me as an artiste!"Nancy figures it out and minces, "Okay Dear!"Nancy Carrol is pretty good in the leading role but the male actors are dull as dishwater. There are some interesting sociological/historical bits worth noting. A lot is made of Nancy's low class Brooklyn accent(she says apperntment and Greenpernt instead of appointment and Greenpoint). Archie Bunker spoke similarly. That pronunciation has practically vanished from New York of today. New Yorkers still have distinctive accents but some of the distinctions have disappeared over the years.Also worth noting is the sexual attitudes. Nancy works in a dance hall but it is made clear that she is not a prostitute and she is told by her mother to try to refuse money if it offered to her. Her lazy brother calls her a tramp as soon as she moves in with her lover, without being married and she is soon punished with a dead baby for her sins. The sexual revolution of the 1960's changed attitudes and behaviors. But this movie is worth seeing for 1930's peak into the sexual attitudes of the day.

CHILD OF MANHATTAN is a Columbia Studios precode starring Nancy Carroll and John Boles. When millionaire Boles' aunt Clara Blandick is horrified to learn one of the family properties is being leased to "a dance hall with naked girls" Boles promises to check the establishment out. There he discovers it's a low-class "dime a dance" hall but is immediately smitten with one of the girls employed there, earthy but sweet Carroll. Boles is charmed by her lack of pretensions and touched by her concern for him when she thinks he is unemployed. Nancy Carroll eventually learns Boles is "the" Paul Vanderkill, one of New York's richest men. They fall genuinely in love but nevertheless in a man and mistress relationship, in part because of Boles' concern for his (never seen) teen-aged daughter (presumably much as he admires Carroll, she is not the kind of woman he wants his young daughter to emulate). Carroll eventually finds herself expecting which leads to a secret marriage and, ultimately, tragedy. In true Hollywood tragedy fashion, there is a happy ending.CHILD OF MANHATTAN is a fast-moving low-key melodrama based on a play by the then unknown Preston Sturges (who surely is the source for the many delightful and at times quite racy comic quips that occasionally dot the screenplay). Nancy Carroll, still quite young but already with her major career behind her as a Paramount star and one of the biggest draws in the first years of "talkies", is quite good as the somewhat incredible bimbo with a heart of gold. John Boles is as dashing and romantic as always, his sideburns tinted white to suggest a man of middle-age (in his first scene he wears a quite contemporary haircut with thick hair at the top and very thin along the bottom) yet his character too is a bit unbelievable (although he projects a romantic charisma that could probably lead just about anyone down the primrose path). Cowboy star Buck Jones makes a rare appearance in a non-western as one of Carroll's less successful suitors and there are excellent cameos by character actresses Clara Blandick as Boles' aunt, Jane Darwell as Carroll's Irish mother, and most especially Jessie Ralph as the ladies room attendant at the dance hall who is a surrogate aunt to Carroll. Luis Alberni is fun as Carroll's Mexican divorce lawyer who is always murmuring my review title when meeting new people. 15-year-old Betty Grable has a bit (surprisingly billed) as Carroll's young sister in one brief scene. CHILD OF MANHATTAN is no classic but worth the 69 minutes if you are intrigued by precodes.