Uptown New York (DVD)

Beautiful Patricia Smith is devastated when her lover Max Silver chooses to follow his family's request and marry a woman of wealthier background in order to pursue medical training in Vienna. As the esteemed doctor rises to prominence, gumball machine salesman Eddie Doyle falls in love with the brokenhearted blonde and proposes marriage. When the ex-beau returns to the States, however, he seeks to rekindle the romance. Pat is faced with having to choose between her married lost love and the rough-edged but amiable entrepreneur.

Jack Oakie went on to comic immortality (and an Oscar nomination) as Benzini Napaloni in Chaplin's The Great Dictator. Co-star Leon Waycoff soon changed his name to Leon Ames and achieved fame in Meet Me in St. Louis and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Director Victor Schertzinger eventually helmed several Bob Hope-Bing Crosby "Road" comedies, and cinematographer Norbert Brodine later photographed the legendary film noirs The House on 92nd Street, Kiss of Death, and Boomerang! as well as films by Howard Hawks, Henry Hathaway, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

• drama