Post by petrolino on Dec 30, 2017 2:42:14 GMT
'Scarlet Street' is a bleak crime drama based on a novel by Georges De La Fouchardiere that was previously filmed by Jean Renoir as 'La Chienne' (1931). Bank cashier Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson) receives awards, rewards and commendations for his service to bank manager J.J. Hogarth (Russell Hicks) and his institution. While returning home one night, Chris intervenes to stop small-time hood Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea) from delivering a vicious beating to Kitty March (Joan Bennett) in plain view on the sidewalk. This moment marks the beginning of a twisted odyssey for Chris that sees him grow closer to Kitty and fulfil his lifelong dream of being recognised as a respected artist. Chris still has one problem however, which is that he needs to find money and he needs to find some fast ...
It's hard to write about a thrilling mystery like 'Scarlet Street' without mentioning some of the many surprises in store, which I'm cautious of. Needless to say, I find it compelling, convincing and surprising. Edward G. Robinson is terrific in the lead role, from the first moment you see Chris at a board meeting you know he's the smallest guy in the room and the movie's worth seeing just to see the pinny apron he wears in the kitchen. Joan Bennett portrays a character as complex as herself, one who seems to mirror her changing image and dynamic flow as one second she seems genuine and vulnerable, the next minute she's frothing at the mouth with vitriol; the moment where Kitty taps her fingers at having an extra second of her life wasted is truly shocking. Dan Duryea plays the kind of pathetic low-life weasel he's peerless at playing, a real slimeball who exploits women through aggression because he never even learnt to dress himself properly.
This chilling examination of two lost souls is a cold, bitter, life-wrecking noir from master filmmaker Fritz Lang. It has scorching photography by Milton Krasner who captures every minor deception with glee because it all adds up to something greater. Lang has Krasner shoot Bennett with sheer erotic abandon as she sets her stall as a seducer. The performances are perfectly pitched right down the line and there are many small, affecting moments; I love the brief shot where Kitty realigns her jaw in front of Chris. The music for the movie is composed by Hans Salter. If you enjoy a good film noir, check it out!
"I bet you sell your pictures in Europe. France, or some place like that. You can tell I don't know much about painting. I bet you get as much for your pictures in France as those Frenchmen get right here in New York ... and you're never appreciated in your own country."
Joan Bennett & Edward G. Robinson in 'Scarlet Street' :
'The Woman In The Window' :
It's hard to write about a thrilling mystery like 'Scarlet Street' without mentioning some of the many surprises in store, which I'm cautious of. Needless to say, I find it compelling, convincing and surprising. Edward G. Robinson is terrific in the lead role, from the first moment you see Chris at a board meeting you know he's the smallest guy in the room and the movie's worth seeing just to see the pinny apron he wears in the kitchen. Joan Bennett portrays a character as complex as herself, one who seems to mirror her changing image and dynamic flow as one second she seems genuine and vulnerable, the next minute she's frothing at the mouth with vitriol; the moment where Kitty taps her fingers at having an extra second of her life wasted is truly shocking. Dan Duryea plays the kind of pathetic low-life weasel he's peerless at playing, a real slimeball who exploits women through aggression because he never even learnt to dress himself properly.
"An actor of great range and sensibility who, from the outset of his film career, was typecast as a gangster. One might say that just as John Wayne was the quintessential western hero, Edward G. Robinson was the ultimate movie gangster. With his short stature, bulldog face, and idiosyncratic speech, Robinson was an unlikely box-office draw, but he displayed a combination of vulnerability and unpredictability that mesmerized movie audiences. He appeared in films in a 50-year span, having his greatest impact and popularity during the 1930s and 1940s. Despite his many dynamic performances, Robinson was never nominated for an Oscar."
- Barbara Siegel & Scott Siegel, The Encyclopedia Of Hollywood
"In contrast to Constance Bennett’s image of ‘ageless elegance’, which did not change throughout her acting career, Joan Bennett’s persona underwent three shifts, which roughly correspond to the decades of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s: that of ‘ingénue’, ‘femme fatale’ and ‘mother’. It is for her femme fatale roles in her 1940s ‘noir’ films that Joan is best known today. Fan magazines at the time were quick in attempting to exploit the sibling relationship and suggest a rivalry between the sisters, with headlines such as “Joan Grabs the Bennett Spotlight: Sister Connie has our cover – here’s where Joan stars” (Harrison, in Levin, p. 26). However, although both sisters were blonde (to start with) with blue eyes and a small stature, they had very different personalities."
- Sabine Starmanns, 'Joan And Constance Bennett : Hollywood Sisters'
"She got to the party early, playing the title role in Fritz Lang’s The Woman In The Window in 1944. That was a landmark year for the genre, the same year of Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, and Joan Bennett was right there helping to create the archetype of the noir siren. From there she was off, issuing impressive performances in Scarlet Street, The Woman On The Beach, Secret Beyond The Door…, Hollow Triumph, The Reckless Moment, and Highway Dragnet. It’s a hell of a resume, and it would certainly place her among the great actresses of the genre. Her real life would have made a hell of a movie—a hell of a film noir, in fact. She was raised in prestigious acting family. Her father, Richard Bennett, was a legend of the stage, a hero to Orson Welles, who cast the old man as Major Amberson in his film version of The Magnificent Ambersons. Along with her sisters Constance and Barbara, Joan was shuffled into the family business at a young age. In her early roles she was a flaxen-haired innocent, but she was already married and divorced by the age of eighteen. She knocked down another marriage in her twenties, and married producer Walter Wanger in 1940, a month shy of her thirtieth birthday. The marriage was profitable for both. They formed the production company Diana (named after their daughter) along with Fritz Lang. A brief period of success—the most notable achievement of which was undoubtedly Scarlet Street—was followed by the crushing financial failure of Secret Beyond The Door… and the collapse of Wanger’s career."
- Jane Hinkson, 'Noir’s Hard Luck Ladies : Joan Bennett'
"In an interview with Lang conducted by Peter Bogdanovich (Fritz Lang in America), the German director lets us know how wonderful it was to work with Joan Bennett. And, according to him, she obviously felt the same about working with him. They were friends, perhaps lovers and certainly great collaborators. Fritz Lang was known for his love of women, but unlike many men of this period, he considered them to be equals and hated to see them treated as an inferior sex. (Fritz Lang, a feminism symbol?). Before working on Lang’s film, Joan Bennett had already proved us her talent in films such as Little Women, and even was one of the four final choices for the role of Scarlet O’Hara in Gone With the Wind, along with Vivien Leigh, Jean Arthur and Paulette Goddard. Her screen test impressed David O. Selznick, but apparently not as much as Vivien Leigh’s one. Happily, Joan had other occasions to prove her talent and Fritz Lang has to be praised for that. To his friend, he gives the wonderful chance to prove how a versatile actress she could be."
- Virginie Pronovost, The Wonderful World Of Cinema
"As Fritz Lang himself observed in an extended interview with Peter Bogdanovich, one of the most important transformations in his work from the German to the American period was a shift in focus from Nietzschean supermen like Mabuse, Siegfried or the Master of Metropolis to depictions of “Average Joe” protagonists, played so convincingly by Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford. The bleakness of German expressionism gave way to a guarded optimism in the Glenn Ford films, which no doubt reflected the mellowing impact of over two decades in Hollywood. Lang would even condescend to accept a “happy ending” every once in a while. By the mid-’50s, however, Lang was fed up with fighting the collaborative studio system and all the creative compromises it demanded. After an undistinguished try at a high seas costume drama (1955’s Moonfleet), Lang ended his Hollywood career with two bitter indictments of the Free Press and the criminal justice system, pillars of democracy. Produced on shoestring budgets in 1956, While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt lashed out at yellow journalism and capital punishment with a vitriol not seen since M, but not as eloquently. When Lang returned to Berlin in 1958, he went virtually unrecognized in the capital that he once took by storm. He also returned to filmmaking when a Berlin producer offered him creative control on a remake of a picture originally stolen from him by rival director Joe May, an India diptych The Tiger of Bengal/The Indian Tomb (Der Tiger von Eschnapur/Das Indische Grabmal) that ex-wife Thea Von Harbou had penned in the early ’20s. He followed that up with The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (Die Tausand Augen von Doktor Mabuse, 1960), which brought the Mabuse saga to a successful but not altogether satisfying conclusion. It would be the last film he completed until his death in 1976."
- Dan Shaw, Senses Of Cinema
"Fritz Lang’s final Hollywood production continues with one of his most consistent themes; an innocent man set on a course out of his control in a society that sucks individuals in like a vacuum. Along with “You Only Live Once” and “Fury” this film suggest that individual’s have little power over their life, a lack of control in directing his or her own destiny. Outside forces, like the justice system, or in the case of “Fury,” mob violence and group thinking dominating one man’s fate. Fritz Lang was not a happy camper during the making of this film. Battles with producer Bert L. Friedlob left him drained. Friedlob forced Dana Andrews on Lang. A bad alcoholic, Andrews drank throughout the filming adding to Lang’s despair."
- John Greco, Twenty Four Frames
- Barbara Siegel & Scott Siegel, The Encyclopedia Of Hollywood
"In contrast to Constance Bennett’s image of ‘ageless elegance’, which did not change throughout her acting career, Joan Bennett’s persona underwent three shifts, which roughly correspond to the decades of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s: that of ‘ingénue’, ‘femme fatale’ and ‘mother’. It is for her femme fatale roles in her 1940s ‘noir’ films that Joan is best known today. Fan magazines at the time were quick in attempting to exploit the sibling relationship and suggest a rivalry between the sisters, with headlines such as “Joan Grabs the Bennett Spotlight: Sister Connie has our cover – here’s where Joan stars” (Harrison, in Levin, p. 26). However, although both sisters were blonde (to start with) with blue eyes and a small stature, they had very different personalities."
- Sabine Starmanns, 'Joan And Constance Bennett : Hollywood Sisters'
"She got to the party early, playing the title role in Fritz Lang’s The Woman In The Window in 1944. That was a landmark year for the genre, the same year of Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, and Joan Bennett was right there helping to create the archetype of the noir siren. From there she was off, issuing impressive performances in Scarlet Street, The Woman On The Beach, Secret Beyond The Door…, Hollow Triumph, The Reckless Moment, and Highway Dragnet. It’s a hell of a resume, and it would certainly place her among the great actresses of the genre. Her real life would have made a hell of a movie—a hell of a film noir, in fact. She was raised in prestigious acting family. Her father, Richard Bennett, was a legend of the stage, a hero to Orson Welles, who cast the old man as Major Amberson in his film version of The Magnificent Ambersons. Along with her sisters Constance and Barbara, Joan was shuffled into the family business at a young age. In her early roles she was a flaxen-haired innocent, but she was already married and divorced by the age of eighteen. She knocked down another marriage in her twenties, and married producer Walter Wanger in 1940, a month shy of her thirtieth birthday. The marriage was profitable for both. They formed the production company Diana (named after their daughter) along with Fritz Lang. A brief period of success—the most notable achievement of which was undoubtedly Scarlet Street—was followed by the crushing financial failure of Secret Beyond The Door… and the collapse of Wanger’s career."
- Jane Hinkson, 'Noir’s Hard Luck Ladies : Joan Bennett'
"In an interview with Lang conducted by Peter Bogdanovich (Fritz Lang in America), the German director lets us know how wonderful it was to work with Joan Bennett. And, according to him, she obviously felt the same about working with him. They were friends, perhaps lovers and certainly great collaborators. Fritz Lang was known for his love of women, but unlike many men of this period, he considered them to be equals and hated to see them treated as an inferior sex. (Fritz Lang, a feminism symbol?). Before working on Lang’s film, Joan Bennett had already proved us her talent in films such as Little Women, and even was one of the four final choices for the role of Scarlet O’Hara in Gone With the Wind, along with Vivien Leigh, Jean Arthur and Paulette Goddard. Her screen test impressed David O. Selznick, but apparently not as much as Vivien Leigh’s one. Happily, Joan had other occasions to prove her talent and Fritz Lang has to be praised for that. To his friend, he gives the wonderful chance to prove how a versatile actress she could be."
- Virginie Pronovost, The Wonderful World Of Cinema
"As Fritz Lang himself observed in an extended interview with Peter Bogdanovich, one of the most important transformations in his work from the German to the American period was a shift in focus from Nietzschean supermen like Mabuse, Siegfried or the Master of Metropolis to depictions of “Average Joe” protagonists, played so convincingly by Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford. The bleakness of German expressionism gave way to a guarded optimism in the Glenn Ford films, which no doubt reflected the mellowing impact of over two decades in Hollywood. Lang would even condescend to accept a “happy ending” every once in a while. By the mid-’50s, however, Lang was fed up with fighting the collaborative studio system and all the creative compromises it demanded. After an undistinguished try at a high seas costume drama (1955’s Moonfleet), Lang ended his Hollywood career with two bitter indictments of the Free Press and the criminal justice system, pillars of democracy. Produced on shoestring budgets in 1956, While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt lashed out at yellow journalism and capital punishment with a vitriol not seen since M, but not as eloquently. When Lang returned to Berlin in 1958, he went virtually unrecognized in the capital that he once took by storm. He also returned to filmmaking when a Berlin producer offered him creative control on a remake of a picture originally stolen from him by rival director Joe May, an India diptych The Tiger of Bengal/The Indian Tomb (Der Tiger von Eschnapur/Das Indische Grabmal) that ex-wife Thea Von Harbou had penned in the early ’20s. He followed that up with The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (Die Tausand Augen von Doktor Mabuse, 1960), which brought the Mabuse saga to a successful but not altogether satisfying conclusion. It would be the last film he completed until his death in 1976."
- Dan Shaw, Senses Of Cinema
"Fritz Lang’s final Hollywood production continues with one of his most consistent themes; an innocent man set on a course out of his control in a society that sucks individuals in like a vacuum. Along with “You Only Live Once” and “Fury” this film suggest that individual’s have little power over their life, a lack of control in directing his or her own destiny. Outside forces, like the justice system, or in the case of “Fury,” mob violence and group thinking dominating one man’s fate. Fritz Lang was not a happy camper during the making of this film. Battles with producer Bert L. Friedlob left him drained. Friedlob forced Dana Andrews on Lang. A bad alcoholic, Andrews drank throughout the filming adding to Lang’s despair."
- John Greco, Twenty Four Frames
Joan Bennett
This chilling examination of two lost souls is a cold, bitter, life-wrecking noir from master filmmaker Fritz Lang. It has scorching photography by Milton Krasner who captures every minor deception with glee because it all adds up to something greater. Lang has Krasner shoot Bennett with sheer erotic abandon as she sets her stall as a seducer. The performances are perfectly pitched right down the line and there are many small, affecting moments; I love the brief shot where Kitty realigns her jaw in front of Chris. The music for the movie is composed by Hans Salter. If you enjoy a good film noir, check it out!
