Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Sergeant Madden (1939)
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A Sternberg rarity these days, but little cause for excitement since it's one of MGM's insufferably smug family entertainments. Beery (his usual mugging toned down somewhat) plays a roguish New York cop, much given to adopting strays on his beat, but let down when his natural son (Curtis) follows him into the force, gives way to his overweening ambition, and drifts into crime. Stoically, Beery sets out to take him in; but never mind, his ploddingly honest adopted son (Brown) is there to take over dad's mantle. Sternberg, abetted by John Seitz's fine camerawork, lends the film vestiges of his UFA look, but can do nothing about the gross mawkishness.Author: TM
Cast & crew
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Producer: J Walter Ruben
Cast: Wallace Beery, Tom Brown, Alan Curtis, Laraine Day, Fay Holden, Marc Lawrence, David Gorcey, Horace McMahon full cast
Duration: 82 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now