Masterfully directed by Fritz Lang, Scarlet Street is a bleak film in which an ordinary man succumbs first to vice and then to murder. Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson) is a lonely man married to a nagging wife. Painting is the only thing that brings him joy. Cross meets Kitty (Joan Bennett) who, believing him to be a famous painter, begins an affair with him. Encouraged by her lover, con man Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea) Kitty persuades Cross to embezzle money from his employer in order to pay for her lavish apartment. ...
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Masterfully directed by Fritz Lang, Scarlet Street is a bleak film in which an ordinary man succumbs first to vice and then to murder. Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson) is a lonely man married to a nagging wife. Painting is the only thing that brings him joy. Cross meets Kitty (Joan Bennett) who, believing him to be a famous painter, begins an affair with him. Encouraged by her lover, con man Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea) Kitty persuades Cross to embezzle money from his employer in order to pay for her lavish apartment. In that apartment, happy for the first time in his life, Cross paints Kitty's picture. Johnny then pretends that Kitty painted to portrait, which has won great critical acclaim. Finally realizing he has been manipulated, Cross kills Kitty, loses his job, and because his name has been stolen by Kitty, is unable to paint. He suffers a mental breakdown as the film ends, haunted by guilt. Kitty and Johnny are two of the most amoral and casual villains in the history of film noir, both like predatory animals completely without conscience. Milton Krasner's photography is excellent in its use of stark black-and-white to convey psychological states. Fritz Lang is unparalleled in his ability to convey the desperation of hapless, naïve victims in a cruelly realistic world. Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
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Seller's Description:
Dan Duryea, Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson. Very good. 2012 Run time: 101. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Dan Duryea, Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson. Very good. 2012 Run time: 101. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Dan Duryea, Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson. Very good. 2012 Run time: 101. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Directed by Fritz Lang, "Scarlet Street" resulted in a scandal when it was released in 1945. Censors in New York State, Milwaukee, and Atlanta banned the film. The Atlanta censor explained: the censorship of the film was justified by "the sordid life it portrayed, the treatment of illicit love, the failure of the characters to receive orthodox punishment from the police, and because the picture would tend to weaken a respect for the law," Scarlet Street was "licentious, profane, obscure and contrary to the good order of the community." (quotation from WIKI) It is always interesting to see responses from not-so-distant times that seem different from one's own. But even with the broad changes in standards, it is difficult to see a basis for the responses "Scarlet Street" engendered in some quarters.
This is a dark film noir which explores the slow build-up to wrongdoing and the resulting guilt. It features three famous actors: Edward G. Robinson as the main character Christopher Cross, Joan Bennett as Kitty Marsh, and Dan Duryea as Johnny Prince. Cross is lonely aging man trapped in a loveless marriage to a shrewish wife. He has worked as a cashier for a large New York firm for 25 years and finds meaning in his life as an amateur painter.He chances upon a young woman, Kitty, being beaten on the street during a rainy night. He becomes enamored with her and wants to begin a relationship with this beautiful much-younger woman. It develops that Kitty likely is a prostitute (this could not be stated explicitly in a 1945 film) and that her attacker was Johnny, her pimp and also, as Kitty hopes, her fiancé. Kitty and Johnny believe Cross is a well-known artist, and they scheme together to entangle his emotions and to bilk him out of his money. Cross is hopelessly and foolishly in love. When he discovers that he is being duped, he kills Kitty with an ice pick and Johnny takes the fall and is sentenced to death. Cross deteriorates emotionally and mentally and is alone and plagued with guilt for the rest of his days.
There is no sex in the film which focuses on the deterioration through passion of a basically good but lonely man, and his subsequent guilt. The film begins slowly but gradually picks up force. The acting tends to be stilted with the exception of Duryea's portrayal of the scheming, active and sinister Johnny. The film creates a strong feeling of unease as Cross is increasingly duped and meets his downfall. I liked the noir photography of the rainy, "scarlet" streets of New York and of the angular, modernist-style apartment which the gullible Cross rents for Kitty.
The film has received a mix of reviews and critical responses since its 1945 release. I thought it was a good if slow film noir which explores the darkness of human emotion and behavior. The movie will appeal to admirers of film noir.
Robin Friedman
Bill23
Oct 14, 2010
film noir
This is a great movie. The combination of Fritz Lang and Edward G. Robinson is wonderful. The theme is timeless. I would highly recommend this film.
Bill
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