The documentary chronicles the rehabilitation of a young, emotionally disturbed African-American boy; it contains a commentary written by James Agee, and narrated by Gary Merrill.
[1] In his 1949 review, Bosley Crowther characterized the film succinctly:[1]Out of the tortured experiences of a 10-year-old Harlem Negro boy, cruelly rejected by his loved ones but rescued by the people of the Wiltwyck School, a new group of local film-makers has fashioned a genuine masterpiece in the way of a documentary drama.The still photographer Helen Levitt was one of the film's cinematographers and writers, along with the painter Janice Loeb, who also produced.
The neoclassical composer Ulysses Kay wrote the score for the film.
The film's principal cinematographer, Richard Bagley, also photographed the critically acclaimed New York semidocumentary feature On the Bowery.
Along with Street Angel, it is one of two English-language films to receive Oscar nominations in separate years.