'The Count of Monte Cristo' is a wonderful adaptation, revenge and regret, beautifully portrayed by Donat. I do agree about the two houses, neatly done, but fallen on hard times and making the best of it.

As in Walker Evans' photograph.

[As noted and linked in the caption. - tterrace]

Despite the apparent poverty of the houses and the neighborhood, I am impressed with the interesting and odd circular design-work on the upper porches.

The billboards are actually part of the porches on these two houses, not on a fence in front of the porch. You can tell by the porch columns - they're visible running down the billboard, and their bases stick out below it. Finally, the right-most poster is mounted on the side of the house. Desperate times.

[I suspect this was a block of renters and absentee landlords (or condemned houses and squatters), and that in derelict neighborhoods the handbills are plastered wherever you can get away with it. - Dave]

The poster fits pretty well with the plot! Radio show farce, with fake hillbillies (from NYC) decked out in beards and long guns, caught up in mountain folk feuds.

The billboard for Kentucky Moonshine just doesn't cut it.
I'll wait for "Thunder Road".

Those houses were quite respectable when constructed but, obviously, the Great Depression has lowered all boats. Apparently, in lieu of (or perhaps in addition to) taking in boarders, the owners have turned their front fences into income-producing billboards.

Robert Lewis Stevenson! Freddy Bartholomew! A cast of 5,000! At the Fox! Stars and clouds on the ceiling!