Scarlet Street (1945)

When a man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, her venal fiancé persuades her to con him out of some of the fortune she thinks he has.

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Georges de La Fouchardière (novel), André Mouézy-Éon (novel),

Stars:

Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Edward G. Robinson	...	Christopher Cross
Joan Bennett	...	Katharine 'Kitty' March
Dan Duryea	...	Johnny Prince
Margaret Lindsay	...	Millie Ray
Rosalind Ivan	...	Adele Cross
Jess Barker	...	David Janeway
Charles Kemper	...	Patch-eye Higgins
Anita Sharp-Bolster	...	Mrs. Michaels (as Anita Bolster)
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Charles Pringle
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	Pop LeJon
Arthur Loft	...	Dellarowe
Russell Hicks	...	J.J. Hogarth

Storyline

Chris Cross, 25 years a cashier, has a gold watch and little else. That rainy night, he rescues delectable Kitty from her abusive boyfriend Johnny. Smitten, amateur painter Chris lets Kitty think he's a wealthy artist. At Johnny's urging, she lets Chris establish her in an apartment (with his shrewish wife's money). There, Chris paints masterpieces; but Johnny sells them under Kitty's name, with disastrous and ironic results.

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Plot Keywords:

painter | gold watch | party | reference to paul cezanne | bird imitation | 

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Taglines:

The GREAT STARS and DIRECTOR of "Woman in the Window"

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Genres:

Drama | Film-Noir

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 December 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

Almas Perversas

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fritz Lang Productions, Diana Production Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Is the first of two remakes Fritz Lang made of Jean Renoir's films. While La Chienne inspired "Scarlet Street" (1945), La Bête Humaine inspired Human Desire. Notoriously, Renoir disliked both.

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Goofs

The story takes place in 1934, but all of Margaret Lindsay's and Joan Bennett's clothes, shoes and hairstyles are strictly in the 1945 mode, which had considerably changed during the intervening eleven years. The featured taxicab is of late 1930s vintage, about three years too new.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bank Employees: [singing] For he's a jolly good fellow. For he's a jolly good fellow. For he's a jolly good fellow... which nobody can deny. Which nobody can deny. Which nobody can deny. Which nobody can deny.
[repeat chorus]

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Connections

Remake of La Chienne (1931)

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Soundtracks

"Melancholy Baby"
by Ernie Burnett and George A. Norton

User Reviews

A defining film of classic Noir

Chris Cross is a bank cashier who has just been given a gold watch by his boss for years of faithful service. Chris has three gifts, which are highly sought and cannot be bought: honesty, integrity and talent. The first two earned him the gold watch but the third is something he keeps to himself. He's a "Sunday" painter who paints from the inside out as a means of escaping his colorless life and loveless marriage. Chris is a man who loves beauty but has none himself, and so he fantasizes about some pretty girl that might see beyond his exterior to the man inside. And so one late rainy night chance places a beautiful damsel in distress in this path, and after saving the girl from the villain, he falls desperately in love and to his amazement, the girl loves him back. But things are not what they seem, and in a short while, Chris will trade in the three gifts he does possess for something he can never have. One of the defining films of Classic Film Noir.