ONE THIRD OF A NATION (1939) Sylvia Sidney, Leif Erickson & Myron McCormick | Drama | B&W

One Third of a Nation... is a 1939 American drama film directed by Dudley Murphy and written by Oliver H.P. Garrett and Dudley Murphy. The film stars Sylvia Sidney, Leif Erickson, Myron McCormick, Hiram Sherman, the future director Sidney Lumet and Muriel Hutchison. The film was released on February 10, 1939, by Paramount Pictures.Show more

SYNOPSIS
A fire in a run-down tenement building injures young Joey Rogers. Wealthy passerby Peter Cortlant rushes the boy and his attractive older sister Mary to the hospital and pays the medical expenses for the poverty-stricken family. Only later does Peter learn that the firetrap tenement is one of his own vast real estate holdings. Faced with his own unwitting complicity in the deaths and injuries resultant from the fire and with his growing attachment to Mary, Peter decides to tear down his tenements and erect decent affordable housing. But his family is aghast at his plan and plots to wreck it.

When a fire breaks out in a run-down tenement in New York City, a young boy named Joey Rogers (Sidney Lumet) attempts to flee using a fire escape. It collapses due to ill repair, and Joey is severely injured. Joey's much older sister, Mary (Sylvia Sidney), rushes him to the hospital with the help of wealthy Peter Cortlant (Leif Erickson), who pays for Joey's medical bills on the spot. Cortlant is told by his business manager (Percy Waram) that he owns the building where the fire occurred.

The local district attorney investigates the fire, and tells Mary that the tenement's age means it was exempt from modern building safety codes. Since no tenants complained about the building before the fire, no crime has been committed. When Cortlant visits the tenement, he is warned to stay away from Mary by Mary's boyfriend, Sam (Myron McCormick).

Mary is upset when she learns that Cortlant owned her building. She removes Joey from the hospital. Crippled and suffering from delusions that the building is talking to him, Joey vows revenge on the tenement. Mary meets with Cortlant, and convinces him to turn his decrepit tenements into public housing and rebuild them. Appalled at the cost, Cortlant's sister, Ethel (Muriel Hutchison), tries to blackmail Cortlant into stopping the project by telling the press that he's having an affair with Mary.

CAST & CREW
Sylvia Sidney as Mary Rogers
Leif Erickson as Peter Cortlant
Myron McCormick as Sam Moon
Hiram Sherman as Donald Hinchley
Sidney Lumet as Joey Rogers
Muriel Hutchison as Ethel Cortlant
Percy Waram as Arthur Mather
Otto Hulett as Assistant District Attorney
Horace Sinclair as John
Iris Adrian as Myrtle
Charles Dingle as Mr. Rogers
Edmonia Nolley as Mrs. Rogers
Hugh Cameron as Mr. Cassidy
Julia Fassett as Mrs. Cassidy
Baruch Lumet as Mr. Rosen
Byron Russell as Insp. Castle
Robert George as Building Inspector
Wayne Nunn as Insp. Waller
Max Hirsch as Mr. Cohen
Miriam Goldina as Mrs. Cohen
Bea Hendricks as Min
William Pote as Jim

Directed by Dudley Murphy
Screenplay by Oliver H.P. Garrett, Dudley Murphy
Based on One-Third of a Nation 1937 play by Arthur Arent
Produced by Harold Orlob
Cinematography William Miller
Edited by Duncan Mansfield
Music by Nathaniel Shilkret
Production company Dudley Murphy Productions
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date February 10, 1939
Running time 79 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget under $200,000 or $165,000

NOTES
It was the last feature film shot at Astoria Studios in New York until its reopening in the 1970s.