Scarlet Street (1945)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

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

Release Date:

28 December 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Painter | Femme Fatale | Beautiful Woman | Street In Title | Attempted Suicide

Cast

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

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG | West Germany:12 (nf) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #11276) | Australia:PG

Company:

Fritz Lang Productions

Trivia:

Is the first of two remakes Fritz Lang made of Jean Renoir's films. While "La Chienne" (1931) inspired "Scarlet Street" (1945), "La Bête Humaine" (1938) inspired "Human Desire" (1954). Notoriously, Renoir disliked both.

Goofs:

Continuity: Near the end of the movie, when Chris is in the hotel room with the blinking neon light, the time between when the neon light flashes on changes from shot to shot. It varies anywhere from just under a second to just over 2 seconds, depending on the shot.

Quotes:

Johnny Prince: And then you gave me a dirty look.
Kitty March: I didn't give you a dirty look!
Johnny Prince: Listen, any girl that waits two hours in the rain for a guy is gonna give him a dirty look.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in One of the Hollywood Ten (2000)

Soundtrack:

Melancholy Baby

The penultimate film noir

I am of the firm belief that Orson Welles's Touch Of Evil is the ultimate film noir, but this little gem comes in at a very, very close second.

The Lang direction and visual style is apparent on every frame, and the performance of Edward G. Robinson is among his best, and often strangely neglected.

For me, the essence of noir films has as much to do with the bleak outlook on human existence as it does the visual sense, and at the very beginning of this film, we see (IMHO) the single, most perfect noir moment: Chris Cross (Robinson) is given a dinner, a nice little send off for a nice little man. On his way out, a friend asks if Chris is going to ride the train home, as is his normal pattern. Chris has something on his mind though, and chooses to walk instead.

That one single moment, that one choice... and because of that, this man will lose his home, his wife, his career and the very thing that makes him want to continue, his art.

One moment, one choice, and an entire life is destroyed.

THAT is noir!