The story is cliched and a bit vague (good guy and good girl get corrupted and sucked into the criminal world around them), but director Rouben Mamoulian isn't very interested in the story; this is really an art movie that follows the surface guidelines of a gangster movie. Pictorially striking and well-acted (especially by Guy Kibbee, whom I've never seen playing such a sleazeball before), it could be classified as an early attempt at avant-garde cinema, decades before avant-garde cinema was in vogue. **1/2 out of 4.

Every time I think I've seen my favorite of Gary Coopers' performances, I find yet another movie where he plays a stand-out character. City Streets is no exception. Maybe the earliest of his films I've seen thus far; there's a cockiness and confidence in his performance that is a bit grittier than one might expect coming from watching a handful of his newer movies. Examples that come to mind are "Meet John Doe," and "Great Balls of Fire," which both came out in 1941 (10 years after City Streets,). The confidence he carries in his role as "The Kid," is louder and more apparent than in these later films. But both the more quiet sense of assurance and the louder work as they need to in the roles he's given. The actress who plays his love interest, Sylvia Sidney or "Nan," also gives a very strong performance as a young woman who must save face and have nerves of steel to deal with the Gangster world she's been dragged into. Even in her few moments of weakness, she makes an effort to change the situation around her for the better. Every actor in this movie is so immersed in the reality of what they could lose (save for "Blackie" and "Pop", who aren't shaken my much of anything,) that you can immediately feel the weight of the world that these characters are tangled in together. Highly recommended!

I like watching movies about gang fighting and Mafia. But this movie I feel like director wants to tell us a story about love among gang fighting. But I cannot tell it is a love story or a gang fighting story. It does not have a emphasize side. That's the main cause for me to unlike this movie. But it does have few interesting points to attract me during watching time. 1) At the beginning of this movie, camera focuses on the wheels of those big trucks. These big wheels view and night time street together give us a heavy starting for this movie. 2) The first guy's death, Director does not use any direct killing or bloody shots to say that guy is dead. Only a hat floated on the river. It implies that owner of this hat was dead. 3) Two young lovers playing on the beach. At the starting of this part, it was a beautiful view. It had sunshine and sea. The kid and Nan was happy with each other. But after a conversation about future. They had disagreement. They argued with each other and tried to convince each other. Then the kid walked away from Nan. But as soon as Nan realized how she loved this man, she ran to him. They hugged and kissed just like the argument never happened. 4) While Nan's father and his friend waiting for the elevator, they were having a conversation. But director use a special way to show this. He uses the shadow on the wall as real person to talk. So I can tell they were talking to each other but can't see their face both on the screen. It was a actor and other actor's shadow.

I thought this movie was well done and the acting was great, especially Nan (Sylvia Sidney) and The Kid (Gary Cooper). I didn't expect the love story aspect between Nan and The Kid to play such role in the story. One of my favorite parts done by the film makers was the scene where they showed Nan jail cell window and the seasons changing to express how long she was in there for, even though Pop told her he would get her out shortly. I thought it was interesting how there were so many murders throughout the movie but you don't actually see any of them happen directly. The camera angle from when Agnes shoots big fella doesn't allow you to see him get shot but you still know she did it. At the end of the movie there is a close up on The Kids face as he is driving and it really expresses how he has become a more powerful and respected person from joining the mob.