East Side, West Side
About East Side, West Side
A barge accident kills John Breen’s mother and stepfather, and the Lipvitch family pulls him away from East Side toughs. He stays in New York, boxes, and is taken up by the millionaire Van Horn, who is the father who had rejected his mother. Becka Lipvitch gives him up when Pug Malone says a marriage would hurt his future, and John leaves the ring for engineering and an engagement to Van Horn’s ward, Josephine. On the way back from Europe Van Horn drowns when the ship sinks. Josephine and Rantoul are saved and marry.
Cast & crew
More about East Side, West Side
Allan Dwan wrote the scenario and directed, from Felix Riesenberg’s 1927 novel. William Fox produced. George Webber photographed it. Fox released it on 9 October 1927. George O’Brien plays John, Virginia Valli plays Becka, and June Collyer plays Josephine. It is silent, with English intertitles.
Themes
Making
Dwan shot extensively on New York locations rather than building the East Side only on a Fox stage. The liner sequence is the production’s large set piece.
Look
George Webber shot New York streets and the sinking liner, staged as a loose version of the Titanic.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles.
Preservation
Preserved at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Notes
- J. Farrell MacDonald plays Pug Malone. Dore Davidson is Channon Lipvitch. John Miltern is Gerrit Rantoul. Holmes Herbert is in the supporting cast.
- The shipwreck is loosely based on the Titanic.
- O’Brien also led Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans in 1927.
- Fox remade the story in 1931 as Skyline, with Thomas Meighan and Hardie Albright.
- The Museum of Modern Art in New York preserves a print.
Scenes
- The barge accident kills John’s mother and stepfather.
- Becka steps aside after Pug Malone’s warning.
- Van Horn’s ship sinks on the return from Europe.
Influenced by
- Felix Riesenberg’s novel East Side, West Side (1927)
Influenced
- Skyline (1931), the Fox remake
