Street of Chance (1942 film)

For the 1930 film, see Street of Chance (1930 film).

Street of Chance
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jack Hively
Screenplay by	Garrett Fort
Produced by	Sol C. Siegel
Starring	Burgess Meredith Claire Trevor Louise Platt
Cinematography	Theodor Sparkuhl
Edited by	Arthur P. Schmidt
Music by	David Buttolph
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	October 3, 1942 (1942-10-03) (United States)
Running time	74 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Street of Chance is a 1942 film noir starring Burgess Meredith as a man who finds he's been suffering from amnesia and Claire Trevor as a woman who protects him from the police, who suspect him of murder.

The story was based on Cornell Woolrich's novel The Black Curtain. It was later dramatized three times on the CBS Radio series Suspense.

Plot

Frank Thompson (Burgess Meredith), awakens in the middle of the street, after wreckage falling from a building in New York City hits him in the head. Frank soon discovers that his apartment has been rented out for a year and his wife Virginia has been living on her own elsewhere.

Frank confronts Virginia (Louise Platt), who is shocked to see the husband who disappeared without explanation a year earlier. As Frank slowly pieces together his old life, it turns out he is running from a murder he cannot remember committing, and only an old, paralyzed woman can clear him.

Cast

• Burgess Meredith as Frank Thompson aka Danny Nearing
• Claire Trevor as Ruth Dillon
• Louise Platt as Virginia Thompson
• Sheldon Leonard as Detective Joe Marruci
• Frieda Inescort as Alma Diedrich
• Jerome Cowan as Bill Diedrich
• Adeline De Walt Reynolds as Grandma Diedrich
• Louise Platt as Virginia Thompson
• Arthur Loft as Sheriff Lew Stebbins

Reception

Critical response

Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the film and wrote, "Jack Hively efficiently directs an early film noir that establishes a number of conventions that helped define noir ... Though the murderer was too obvious by the halfway point, the film still had many disturbing moments that kept me interested."

External links

• Street of Chance at IMDb
• Street of Chance at AllMovie
• Street of Chance at the TCM Movie Database
• Street of Chance introduction on YouTube by Eddie Muller at Noir City Seattle

Streaming audio

• The Black Curtain on Suspense: December 2, 1943. Radio drama of the novel on which the film is based.
• The Black Curtain on Suspense: January 3, 1948. Radio drama of the novel on which the film is based.