Easy Money Charlie makes a dishonest living duping swells out of their pocket change but when the girl he shielded from her past has her future threatened, a hero is revealed. Rich in colorful details of New York’s Bowery district this unassuming little gem from hit-maker Herbert Brenon also marks the debut of Louise Brooks.
The only surviving original material for Herbert Brenon’s The Street of Forgotten Men is a 35mm nitrate negative preserved at the Library of Congress. This negative was duplicated for preservation in 1969 but not before the second reel had deteriorated completely. Since that time, decomposition of the negative has continued, leaving the duplicate as the only surviving source for portions of the film. For this restoration, the usable portions of the nitrate negative were combined with sections from the 1969 preservation copy. The missing second reel has been reconstructed using film stills as well as text and dialogue based on a copy of the original script, preserved by the New York Public Library.
