Scarlet Street
Amazon.co.uk Review
In a way, Scarlet Street is a remake. It’s taken from a French novel, La Chienne (literally, “The Bitch”) that was first filmed by Jean Renoir in 1931. Renoir brought to the sordid tale all the colour and vitality of Montmartre; Fritz Lang’s version shows us a far harsher and bleaker world. The film replays the triangle set-up from Lang’s previous picture, The Woman in the Window, with the same three actors. Once again, Edward G Robinson plays a respectable middle-aged citizen snared by the charms of Joan Bennett’s streetwalker, with Dan Duryea as her low-life pimp. But this time around, all three characters have moved several notches down the ethical scale. Robinson, who in the earlier film played a college professor who kills by accident, here becomes a downtrodden clerk with a nagging, shrewish wife and unfilled ambitions as an artist, a man who murders in a jealous rage. Bennett is a mercenary vamp, none too bright, and Duryea brutal and heartless. The plot closes around the three of them like a steel trap. This is Lang at his most dispassionate. Scarlet Street is a tour de force of noir filmmaking, brilliant but ice-cold.
When it was made the film hit censorship problems, since at the time it was unacceptable to show a murder going unpunished. Lang went out of his way to show the killer plunged into the mental hell of his own guilt, but for some authorities this still wasn’t enough, and the film was banned in New York State for being “immoral, indecent and corrupt”. Not that this did its box-office returns any harm at all.
On the DVD: sparse pickings. There’s an interactive menu that zips past too fast to be of much use. The full-length commentary by Russell Cawthorne adds the occasional insight, but it’s repetitive and not always reliable. (He gets actors’ names wrong, for a start.) The box claims the print’s been “fully restored and digitally remastered”, but you’d never guess. –Philip Kemp
‘Scarlet Street’ is one of the most powerful, yet at times understated of Fritz Lang’s films. The principal male lead, Edward G Robinson, is a downtrodden bank clerk, in a job going nowhere, trapped in a loveless marriage. After a celebratory meal with his work colleagues, wherein he is presented with an engraved watch for his years of long service, Robinson interrupts a violent argument between a young couple. From then on, he is sucked into a netherworld leading ultimately to murder and his own despair and dissolution. This is a masterly portrayal, with fine supporting performances from Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea as the conspirators in Robinson’s downfall. Duryea was a very interesting actor; although never a ‘A’ list lead, he brings a swagger and loathsome, smugly manipulative quality to his portrayal of the smalltime huckster Johnny Prince. Joan Bennett is louche and languid, but more than willing to string Robinson along for all it’s worth. More twists than a barrel full of pretzels, ‘Scarlet Street’ is bleak, sad, and drenched in the blackest of black humour. Robinson certainly doesn’t deserve his fate, or does he? Whatever, ‘Scarlet Street’ is a safe home for your entertainment Euros, that repays repeated viewings.
Rating: 4 / 5
When Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson), a meek, middle-aged cashier, ran one rainy night to the aid of Kitty March (Joan Bennett) who was being beaten by her boy friend, Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea), he had no idea how his life would be changed. It’s probably also fair to say that Robinson, Bennett, Duryea and director Fritz Lang had no idea at the time that they were making one of the great noirs, a movie so good, in fact, that in my view it transcends the noir genre.
Cross is married to a shrew. He does the dishes wearing a frilly apron. He’s taken for granted by just about everyone he knows. After 25 years with the bank, he has just been given a gold watch. And he paints. He loves to paint; it’s the only thing that gives him happiness. When he meets Kitty and walks her home, he sees a beautiful young woman who is friendly. He arranges to meet her again. One afternoon he tells her about his love of painting. “Nobody ever taught me how to draw,” he says. “I just put a line around what I feel when I look at things. It’s like falling in love, I guess.” Kitty looks at him sympathetically. When he looks down at his plate, though, she can’t keep a little twist of amusement from her lips. He doesn’t know that in him she sees a middle-aged figure of pathetic fun. She and Johnny begin to take Chris for every penny he can make or steal. When Johnny sells his paintings and the paintings become famous, Kitty takes the credit and Johnny takes the money. Johnny may beat up Kitty but she loves him. Cross finally realizes not just how he has been used by the pair, but how Kitty has held him in contempt as a little man whose feelings are laughable. One night she screams at him, “How can a man be so dumb? I’ve been waiting to laugh in your face ever since I met you. You’re old and ugly and I’m sick of you.” The ending is violent. Kitty and Johnny both pay a price. And Chris…his ending is sad, poignant and will last as long as he lives.
Of all the movies Lang made in Hollywood, this is the one where, I think, all the components came together in a completely satisfying way. Partly, this is because of the story and the script. The tale isn’t just about a meek man’s descent, it also is about three individuals using each other in a strange mixture of love, contempt and amoral selfishness. It also often is wry and jaundiced. When Kitty uses Chris’ words almost verbatim to describe to an art critic how she feels about painting, “like falling in love, I guess,” we know she could not care less about art and is, in fact, amused by her own clever use of Chris’ feelings. The effect is funny in a sick sort of way.
Most importantly, I think, is that Lang was blessed by having all first-class lead actors. Duryea made a career out of playing sleaze, but he was never better than here. Joan Bennett, in my view, is one of Hollywood’s underrated actors, probably because she was so good-looking. Compare her performance here with her performance as Wendy Van Kettering, smart, lovely, sympathetic in Vogues of 1938 and with the warm, understanding mother of the bride, Ellie Banks, in Father of the Bride. Here, Bennett convinces us that Kitty is captured by Johnny and his rough love, that Kitty hasn’t a moral bone in her body, that Kitty is happy to be a slob, shallow and sexy. Kitty says “Jeepers” when she wants to emphasize something. She eats grapes and spits the pits on the rug. She tosses a cigarette end onto the dirty dishes that fill the sink. She has great legs and a lazy drawl. As for Edward G. Robinson, he is the heart of the movie. His meekness draws our sympathy as well our impatience. When he finally becomes violent it is startling and satisfying. The end of the movie may be sad, but it also is ironic and strong. Chris loved Kitty, and he’ll be forever hearing in his mind, “Jeepers, I love you, Johnny.”
The DVD transfer is very good on the Kino Region 1 disc. This is the remastered version from Kino. The only extra of importance is an audio commentary by David Kalat, author of a book, The Strange Case of Dr. Mabuse. Please note that this is a public domain film, so buyer beware; check out if possible mention of the transfer quality if you buy another version.
Rating: 5 / 5