Directed by Mervyn LeRoyStarring George Sidney, Joe Smith and Charles Dale
Produced by Warner Brothers
The Heart of New York is about an inventor named Mendel who uses every cent he can scrounge together to feed his wild ideas. He is threatened with eviction and may even lose his family because of his compulsion to create and build.
Things look dire until one of his inventions, a dishwasher, actually works. It works perfectly. After a life of dreaming Mendel has it made.
And I am certain there are lessons here about the dangers of fame and fortune. Lessons about the value of family over money. Lessons about how to properly wash dishes.
I can only assume all of the above happens because I spent all 73 excruciating minutes of this film hating every character.
The setting for The Heart of New York is a Jewish neighborhood. And every character here is aggressively, unmistakeably Jewish in the most trope-filled possible ways. Every person who walks into the frame talks like Jackie Mason. Even the women. Some may talk faster. Some, slower. But the entire affair sounds like the annual convention of Dr. Zoidberg impersonators.
Now imagine over an hour of that and only that. Now you get the picture.
This would be okay if the characters' ethnicity and religion were integral to the plot. At least it would give the stereotypical portrayals something resembling a purpose. Sadly that's not the case. In fact, near as I can tell, it's only there to be mocked. Which degrades it from annoying to incomprehensibly ugly.
I could talk about the direction (or lack of it) in the film. I could talk about the relatively good production design that gives Mendel's neighborhood the feeling of a real, tactile place.
But why? Then you may seek this out and I don't want to do that to you. So I'll simply leave you with this:
The Heart of New York is a film that will make you wonder whether or not you can place a cotton swab into your ear far enough to pull it out the other side.
1/2 out of *****
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