Scarlet Street
Synopsis
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.
Share
Rating
Details
Language: English
Year of production: 1945
Length: 1 hr 43 min
Country: United States
Suggested by:
Baxter Martin
Directors:
Actors:
Joan Bennett
Dan Duryea
Margaret Lindsay
Jess Barker
Rosalind Ivan
Arthur Loft
POST YOUR REVIEW REVIEWS FOR: Scarlet Street
Baxter Martin
created on:
2008-01-15 12:06:58
Scarlet Street
“Scarlet Street” (1945, Fritz Lang)
Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett reteam with Fritz Lang in 1945’s Scarlet Street to create a noir-ish Greenwich Village complete with chirascuro, the love wounded anti-hero, a would-be hooker, and a slick playboy part-time pimp. The latter description goes to the great character actor Dan Duryea (also in Lang’s previous film with the aforementioned duo in The Woman in the Window). There are many scenes that shine for their intimate detail in setting, text, and shot. The lighting is so awesome you can feel the intensity of the scene. Lang didn’t leave much undetailed! The story revolves around the three characters of Criss Cross, Lazy Legs, and Johnny. Guess who’s who. I always get a kick that Lang chooses the bad boy of so many movies past (notably Little Ceasar) to be a man who in one scene is shot in a woman’s ruffled apron with a kitchen knife (from cutting liver) pointed at his terrific nag of wife who rushes into the kitchen to confront him, again. Dan Duryea can play the ultimate scumbag with such ease, you’d think he really was one in real life.
Fritz Lang made 24 American films in 21 years and Scarlet Street was his 12th. It would also be Joan Bennett’s fourth of five turns under Lang. Scarlet Street is a great example of a well-crafted studio made film noir. Lang claimed that this film contained the first murder of an innocent person!