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Scarlet Street
2008-01-15 12:06:58
“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!
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