Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

JohnHowardReid Francis Lederer (Karel Novak), Ginger Rogers (Sylvia Dennis), Arthur Hohl (Pander), Jimmy Butler (Frank Dennis), J. Farrell MacDonald (Murph), Lillian Harmer (Mrs Schultz, the landlady), Helen Ware (Miss Anthrop), Eily Malyon (Miss Evans), Donald Meek (minister), Sidney Toler (police sergeant), Oscar Apfel (judge), Reginald Barlow, Wade Boteler, Frank Sheridan (customs inspectors), Spencer Charters (license clerk), Andy Clyde (liquor store owner), James Donlan (cab manager), Paul Hurst (Joe, a policeman), Harold Goodwin (doctor at police station), Jack Pennick (cab driver), Edward Le Saint (customs official), Irving Bacon (counterman), Dick Curtis, Max Wagner, Richard Alexander, Billy Dooley (men at East River), Christian Rub (joyful immigrant on ship).Director: STEPHEN ROBERTS. Screenplay: Jane Murfin, Edward Kaufman. Story: Don Hartman, Norman Krasna. Photography: Nicholas Musuraca. Film editor: Jack Hively. Art directors: Van Nest Polglase and Charles M. Kirk. Make-up: Mel Berns. Special effects: Vernon L. Walker. Miniatures: Don Jahraus. Music director: Al Colombo. Research: Elizabeth McGaffey. Stills: John Miehle. Assistant director: Dewey Starkey. Sound recording: John E. Tribby. Producer: Pandro S. Berman.Copyright 11 January 1935 by RKO Radio Pictures. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 17 January 1935 (ran only one week). U.S. release: 18 January 1935. Australian release: 27 March 1935. 78 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A fairy tale about an illegal immigrant (Lederer), a kind- heart-ed chorus girl (Rogers) and her orphaned kid brother (Butler).COMMENT: A flag-waving romance that strains credulity to breaking point and then finally snaps altogether in a slapstick-style climax that fades out not on the principals, but on minor character player Donald Meek who has just entered the picture at this point! Francis Lederer makes a somewhat weak hero, but Ginger Rogers looks great (despite some unattractive costumes and odd eyebrow make-up). A goodly supply of our favorite support actors also help out. And, breaking the Hollywood mold, Jimmy Butler presents as quite a personable kid.

Jimmy L. ROMANCE IN MANHATTAN (1935) is an immigrant story. Karel Novak (Francis Lederer) comes to America -- "The Land of Opportunity" -- with dreams of becoming a millionaire. He intends to work hard and has already learned to speak English. Right off the boat, he seems an ideal candidate for entry into the country. But the money he's saved is no longer enough to satisfy the immigration fee, which has risen from fifty to two hundred dollars. And so Karel must be sent back to Czechoslovakia, where he may never save enough money for a return trip to the States. Desperate, Karel escapes his deportation and tries to live the American Dream as an illegal alien in New York City.Francis Lederer is supremely likable as Karel Novak, charming and optimistic, though naïve. Karel sees America as the land of his dreams, a place that could well be Heaven. He gets giddy with excitement just seeing the Manhattan skyline lit up at night. Unfortunately Karel enters an America that is mired in a Depression, and millionaires -- and jobs, for that matter -- are hard to come by.Ginger Rogers plays Sylvia, a chorus girl who lives with her little brother, a paper boy when he's not in school (or vice versa). The two earn what they can and take care of each other in these tough times. Sylvia comes to Karel's aid when he's penniless and homeless and soon he's like a member of the family. Sylvia's brother gets Karel a job selling newspapers and Sylvia lets him sleep on the roof of their apartment building. After a while Karel gets a job driving a taxi and starts saving up money to square things with the immigration office. But when Sylvia loses her job, Karel dips into his savings to help out and soon he's back where he started.In the meantime Karel and Sylvia fall in love. And really who can blame them? But Karel's status as an illegal immigrant is going to come back to haunt him and he knows it. And while Karel's struggling with that, Sylvia's trying to keep her brother from being taken away from her and placed in an orphan asylum.ROMANCE IN MANHATTAN is a winner and I don't know how it's slipped under the radar. Francis Lederer and Ginger Rogers are a lovable pair and the film's got Depression-era drama around every corner. Our poor heroes are handed tough break after tough break, just trying to make a go of the "American Dream", but they take each blow on the chin, determined to get by somehow. Karel, the eternal optimist, faces adversity with a smile. It's a cute love story wrapped inside a social drama, and a pleasant watch the whole way through.The question posed at the climax of the film is whether Karel Novak, being a hard-working and respectable young man, deserves any breaks from the immigration office. Sure, he's in the country illegally, but can something be worked out for the poor guy? It's an ethical problem that can be seen as black and white or as shades of gray. The film makes its decision on the matter and I won't spoil it.

bkoganbing Francis Lederer and Ginger Rogers star in this pleasant romantic comedy about an illegal Czech immigrant and a chorus girl who solve each other's problems during the Great Depression.Poor Lederer I feel sorry for him because I pictured my own grandparents in the same situation. He's spent every last cent on a ticket to America and then finds that the entry fee is now $200.00 instead of $50.00. I'd probably do what he did, jump ship before it sailed back and enter illegally.Still if Lederer hadn't met Rogers outside the theater she was working at and she hadn't felt sorry for him he would still have been in a fix. She's barely making ends meet supporting herself and her little brother Jimmy Butler. Then her show closes.Not to worry it all works out in the end I don't think you have to strain the gray cells too much to figure out how it is done.During the film Lederer mentions how sick he was during the voyage. My maternal grandmother arrived here before World War I and she was in steerage and was also constantly seasick. The voyage so traumatized her that you could not get her into a rowboat after that. I know exactly how Lederer was feeling.Some friendly beat cops J. Farrell MacDonald and his sergeant Sidney Toler solve all their problems and take care of a shyster lawyer played by Arthur Hohl who was looking to cash in on Lederer's problems.Immigration issues in today's America make this film have a returned relevancy. And it's a nice romantic comedy.

rsoonsa This delightful work details the struggle of a Czech illegal immigrant, Karel Novak (Francis Lederer), to remain in the United States during the Depression, with a sparkling script limning the cultural impact of New York City upon the newcomer. Stephen Roberts directs with his customary skill in one of his final films (he died shortly after at the age of 40) and avoids both the hyperbolic and hypocritical, particularly significant when we are given the insincerity which marks the current immigration debate with its rough moral equivalence. The Bohemian-born Lederer's strong performance is quite probably his best, with an excellent and witty scenario providing the cast, which includes many of RKO's many contract players, an opportunity to create characterizations that are well-defined. Ginger Rogers nicely portrays Lederer's love interest and there is excellent acting from Sidney Toler and J. Farrell MacDonald as two of a contingent of New York's Finest (all Irish, of course) whose assistance is crucial to the process of bringing the complicated events to a suitable climax. Superlative editing by Jack Hively must be recognized as must the top-flight camera-work of Nick Musuraca, each contributing mightily to a film which should be better known.