Scarlet Street (1945)

“Paint me, Chris! They’ll be masterpieces.” Kitty March

This is one of the gems of the film noir genre, which makes it doubly sad that it has slipped into the public domain, as so many great films have. Scarlet Street is available on bargain priced DVDs, for about six bucks, or collections, which run about $10. I’ve seen it in both forms and both are made from the same print, so you don’t get anything more by buying it as a single DVD as opposed to getting it as a part of the Film Noir Ten Pack or the Suspense 20 Pack. The movie exhibits some deterioration, but it still makes a big impression and you‘ll want to see it again once you realize what you‘ve been missing.

Scarlet Street is a story of love and deception leading to murder and insanity. It’s a classic, directed by Fritz Lang (Cloak and Dagger, Clash By Night) and starring the highly underrated Edward G. Robinson (Double Indemnity, The Stranger, Soylent Green) as the mousy little man Christopher Cross. Cross has just completed twenty-five years with the same company and the boss has feted him and given him a fine gold watch, before slipping out for a tryst with his beautiful blonde mistress. As he’s leaving, the boss lights three cigars with a single match, indicating bad juju is coming.

The party breaks up and Chris walks back to the subway, but on the way he sees a man mugging a young lady. He rushes to her rescue and knocks the purse snatcher down with his umbrella, then runs for the police. When they return, the mugger has fled, the lady says “he went that away,” and the cop takes off. She persuades Chris to leave the scene so they don’t get involved in the investigation, newspaper, etc. The lady is half his age, named Kitty March (Joan Bennett), and beautiful. He walks her home and persuades her to have a cup of coffee at the bar down below her flat, which she promptly changes to a rum Collins, and the deception begins.

She tells him she is an actress, actually a prostitute, he tells her he’s an artist, actually a cashier. He writes her letters and they begin to see each other, little does he know that the guy who was mugging her is her boyfriend, Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea), whom she is crazy about. The ne’er-do-well hatches a plot to pluck the golden goose he thinks Chris is, using Kitty as bait. The plot goes along fine for a while, but suddenly unravels with dire consequences for all. That’s all I’m telling; you have to see the rest yourself.

The movie has a great story, by Georges de La Fouchardière, showing how lies can get you into trouble - little by little they get more serious and then it seems impossible to get out of the mess you started. Even though the two scoundrels start out ahead of Robinson, they too become enmeshed in their own deception and must pay. The dialog is wonderful with many quotable exchanges.

Fritz Lang’s direction is masterful, with many wonderful camera setups and angles put down on film by cinematographer Milton Krasner. The scoring by Hans J. Salter does endless variations on Ernie Burnett’s “Melancholy Baby,“ perfectly complementing the scenes.

The acting is impeccable with Edward G. Robinson putting on a bravura performance as the timorous little man who is afraid of his wife (Rosalind Ivan) and wears a woman’s apron when doing housework that she won’t do. He is transformed and looks younger when he thinks the young lady loves him. A sterling performer in everything I’ve seen him in, if I had to pick one performance as his best, this would be the one. Joan Bennett is equally effective as the femme fatale who charms Chris deeper and deeper into trouble at the urging of her no-good boyfriend, Dan Duryea, who is also indelible in his performance as weasel par excellance. There are a few supporting cast members - Jess Barker, Vladimir Sokoloff, and Arthur Loft - and they do their jobs well, but the action mainly revolves around the lady and the two men, with Robinson doing the heavy lifting.

If you want to see a great mystery/crime/film noir, and don’t mind black and white, you’ve found your movie.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening